The engineer preserving the last analog motion graphics machine (2017) [video] | Hacker News Reader

The engineer preserving the last analog motion graphics machine (2017) [video]

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180 pointskilovoltaire37 comments

This is about https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scanimate an analog video synth.

I had hoped that it was about a mechanical optical printer that could composite and project multiple film images.

The closest thing I can think of was a multihead, aerial-image optical printer built by Ub Iwerks for Disney.

If anyone has knowledge of such devices I love to hear it. Apparently it could composite text, animation and live images.

http://nzpetesmatteshot.blogspot.com/2015/10/optical-effects...

Are you perhaps thinking of Slitscan, famously used by Douglas Trumbull to produce the stargate scenes in 2001: A Space Odyssey?? https://indiefilmhustle.com/stanley-kubrick-slit-scan-2001/

There is an amazing 100m lecture from Douglas Trumbull linked from above, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBaZQojd1_s

This is super cool, but not the optical setup I thinking of.

When he says the Scanimate had a scene in the first Star Wars, he most certainly means the Death Star plans animation shown during the briefing before the Trench Run. Nothing else in Star Wars looks like what this crazy machine outputs.

I knew that the plans show an equatorial "cannon" because the scene used an earlier design of the Death Star, but I didn’t know it used an analog machine to make them. I wrongly assumed it was made by a digital computer.

I don't think the Scanimate was used for this. This video shows a digital computer being used to create the animated trench sequence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMeSw00n3Ac

I think this is what scanimate was used for: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Overbridge/Legends?file=DS_...

Really? Why? It looks like a static image in the movie.

Maybe it’s this:

youtube.com/watch?v=AA_D__HMuFw&t=229s

It’s what was called out in the Wikipedia.

The Wikipedia page for the scanimate lists "Star Wars (tactical display in Death Star war room)"

I’m curious what that dial system was, it looked like an oscillator based vector display with how it was controlled with dials and how the programmer used a separate computer to run the software and dot pen.

This video explains how it was done and a full repair/refurb of the original system https://youtu.be/_mtLUws1bOk

It wasn't used for the wire frames of the Death Star/trench run briefing. Those were digitally generated on a PDP-11.

I'm like 75ish percent sure the Scanimate was used to generate the orbits the Death Star's targeting computer was showing as they were showing the moon coming out from behind the planet.

oh.. spoilers... for Star Wars....

https://www.retrothing.com/2008/04/star-wars-prehi.html

Yeah, you're right and I was wrong. Perhaps only the gas planet was animated using the Scanimate though. The firing solution circles might have been done on a computer.

Probably worth pointing at Dave Sieg's own YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UHjkMThH0aE

Thanks. Also, check out his website: http://scanimate.com/

Previously: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=15314486

and OP already shared this again 5 months ago

If you're wondering why I shared it again, I got an email(!) from HN inviting me to share it again, which is an interesting thing I didn't know existed

You can read more about it here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=26998308

And see other invited posts here: https://news.ycombinator.com/invited

fairplay. thx for clarification

The seemingly handwritten manual was great.

I love the use of patch cables to make graphics, like a visual modular synthesizer

For real. It'd be interesting to see a Reason-like software interface with plug-in cabling for motion graphics. Node-based is cool, but it's also neat to see how the physical hardware worked.

Maybe not quite what you're looking for, but I've had a lot of fun playing with https://lumen-app.com/

Still waiting for Lumen to get cross-platform support. Maybe someday.

He even pronounces Moog correctly, /moʊg/!

Noticed that, too. He lives in Fletcher, NC about 20 minutes from Ashville, the home of Moog.

I thought the home of Bob Moog was somewhere in upstate New York?

The company is in Asheville NC. They even allow tours.

These folks make modern modular video synths: https://lzxindustries.net

I think the point of the exercise is to get a specific look of the ‘75 to ‘85 era graphics that can only come with a Scanimate.

Oh wow this is cool. Thanks for sharing. Sadly kinda expensive.

It‘s not the same thing but I feel like you may get a kick out of the Ming Mecca [0]. It‘s a hardware patchable video game creation system. It‘s a really inspiring concept to me and I hope to play with one someday.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ming_Mecca

Someone should show this guy blender's (or similar software's) node based shader and now geometry pipelines. I bet he'd love how you can similarly play with "dials" and sliders to view realtime changes in visuals and shapes.

What a beautiful machine.

Anyone else notice the Bob Dobbs, Church of the SubGenius logo, on the monitor behind Dave Sieg's head in several of the shots? So rare, the logo's placement in this documentary piece is them being cheeky.

can it be emulated digitally? :) Seriously, this way it could be preserved for eternity.

Yes, probably easily in these GPU days. I have an many excellent hardware and software implementations of analog modular synthesizers; it' soften easier to plan a patch virtually before doing it in hardware (where it does sound better but behave less predictably).

Synthesizing color video might be a bit more work, but not that much more; I have analog synth patches that display animated logos and even allow you to play pong when hooked up to an oscilloscope (analog or digital). It's absolutely doable.

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