Asteroid Computer Animation

A clip used in the award winning Super8 short film "Asteroid". (1981) The computer was an Apple ][.
Originally shot in Super8, this is a 16mm recreation.
The version made for the film had an error in the program. The file that described the XYZ coordiates of the vector endpoints was overwritten a little more with each frame, causing the object to unravel.
Runing the film backwards made it look like the object was being knitted! Go to the Asteroid clip to see!

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• Asteroid
• Apple2
• Computer
• Graphic
• Old
• 3D
• Animation
• CineMagic

[RET80]

I've finally have done this using a commodore 64 and time lapse shooting with an HD 720p camcorder. For some reason shooting it from a screen to a camcorder makes it looks better than just hooking it up directly from the AV cables to the PC for import. It's got a softer, mystique feel to it, just like this!

[jsl151850b]

Check  out my "Fire Organ" and "Fast Rods Pattern" videos.

Recorded directly from the Apple //e composite video.

The rest are Super 8 or 16mm from a monochrome CRT, colorized by gel filters and multiple exposures.

See my animation rig at flickr dot com. Same user name.

Your camcorder has stop motion?

REAL SINGLE FRAME stop motion?

What does it record to?

Tape? HardDisk? SD card?

Your recording from screen probably averages ajacent video fields.

[yaKC]

I like this a lot, looks cool seeing it made up. As if you could transform the object while drawing/rotating :)

Is this ASM or Basic? I know it can`t be real time Basic, but you have some stop frame vids, so hope it`s not a stupid question :)

[jsl151850b]

The 'knitting' was a serendipitus accident!

It was SubLogic's A2-3D1 Graphics Package running as a subroutine in a BASIC program.

I think that it wasn't the object that was rotated, but the virtual camera looking at it was orbited around the object.

The 3d database was made from circles with random numbers to roughen it up.

Yes... stop motion. Each frame took 15 seconds or so to draw, and probably as long to photograph.

I'll have a good DVD of the movie soon.

[Kg277]

Hmm?? Seems not all my original posting got posted. This is the real pioneering stuff. Not the useless shit we have today. Today we use thousands of lines of code to draw a line on the screen!

[Kg277]

useless shit

[RET80]

saw them both and they're fantastic!

It has the option for single frame and stop motion SD card 720p HDMI.

Progressive scan.