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Laughably OT: Can you ID an old graphics system?
I just know there are a bunch of old-timers lurking here who can answer this.
I’m trying to remember the name of what could best be described as a 2.5-D graphics system from the early/mid 90s. It combined paint box functions with compositing and limited motion graphics. Definitely not Hal or Henry, definitely not SGI, but in the same general class (only cheaper). Custom keyboard and joystick controller, along with a pen and tablet. Not Mac/PC-based like a Toaster or software-based like After Effects. Tell-A-Vision Post (aka TVPost) in Hollywood had one. Maybe three people in Hollywood at that time knew how to use it.
It’s driving me crazy. Anyone?
Jeff M.
Old Fart Who Loves My FCP-X But Sometimes Misses Linear Editing -
40 Replies
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Quantel Paintbox?
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Nope. It did a lot more than a Paintbox. I think it had a three letter name, like DPS, but obviously not DPS. Any other takers?
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“Old Fart Who Loves My FCP-X But Sometimes Misses Linear Editing”
One thing I’ve never ever missed is linear editing.
Though at various IBCs I’ve walked down the corridor and heard a very familiar ancient sound in the distance which did evoke a bit of nostalgia –
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuhLGc0gsa4
Bernie
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Maybe something from the ADO line – though they were quite high end …? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_video_effect
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0rxuU_TaFiw
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You don’t mean the Dubner system, do you? It was the grandfather of TypeDeko, and the other Pinnacle boxes/software, and had paint, motion graphics, a live sequencer, and a basic 3D wireframe system (but the shading was pitifully poor – kind of like Phong shading). For its time, it was an amazing box. I moved up to that from a Quantel Paintbox, and was thrilled with the fact that the Dubner had K Language, which would allow you to convert graphic designs to text, which could then be programmed to take CG input from our CG operators. It was a system I could “monkey proof”, in that all the operators had to input was the data, and the correct fonts, colors, and sizes were hard wired into the macro. It save time and mistakes, and kept me sane, since most of the new CG ops seemed to have a great love for the Hobo typeface…
Joe Bourke
Owner/Creative Director
Bourke Media
http://www.bourkemedia.com -
Ampex AVA ?
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In the late 80’s I working for a Swedish TV co based in London. We had a graphics system there which I think was called Matisse.. If I remember rightly it was PC based but with its own hardware board.
Fairly sure its what the ITV weather team used for a number of years as well.
Michael Sanders
London Based DP/Editor -
Ever see one of those suckers fly across the room on rewind after somebody forgot to lock the capstan? It could take a head off. Well, not really, but would have hurt a whole lot.
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Probably DFX Composium. Used it at Grace & Wild (RIP) in the Detroit area in the mid-90’s. Great system until I got my hands on After Effects in 1995.
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And the prize goes to John Kaley!
DFX Composium it is – er, was. You have no idea how this has been driving me crazy for weeks. Interesting box with a weird, in-between feature set. So much more than a switcher/ADO/CG, yet so much less than a Henry/Hal or the like. Killed by the transition from hardware to software.
Wow. Grace and Wild. There’s a revered name from the past.
Thanks for the ID.
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