1981 - the start of the digital stuff

In the Studio at Athos House, Hanwell

10 min 26 sec

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Some historical background notes on this piece

During the later half of the 1970s it became clear that a lot of the type of work we were doing, as well as the style we were using to do it, might benefit from a technology that was gradually increasing in public awareness. Dave Hall kept repeating the cry from his corner of the studio so in the end he was the obvious candidate to be tasked with the research needed to learn more about the possibilities.

He came up with a recommendation for 3D software written by Cambridge Interactive Systems designed for automotive, aircraft, and mining design. In no way was it designed to help in the creation of animation but it was the closest we could get at that time.

The MEDUSA software ran on a PRIME mini computer and physical output was via a pen plotter onto paper or celluloid. We committed to this system and purchased it (for an enormous amount of dosh !) in late 1979 early 1980. Installation had to be put on hold because of the H2G2 job but it was resurrected in 1981.

Things moved on quickly from there and the detail of that journey is covered here