Autodesk Animator

What Does Autodesk Animator Mean?

Autodesk Animator is a 2D animation and painting program that runs on a PC under MS DOS. It was created in 1989 by Yost Group for American-based software firm Autodesk.

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Autodesk Animator was able to create frame-by-frame animation in which each frame is created as an individual picture. This program is also able to transform one shape into another by allowing the computer to draw in between shapes on separate frames.

This first step into animation was at the time considered a breakthrough in computer animation.

Techopedia Explains Autodesk Animator

Animator had a simple interface designed for artists, and it worked without crashing on any memory in the operating system. Autodesk Animator also had a number of utilities that converted animations from other platforms. The major drawback of this version is that it was confined to 320×200 resolution, 256 colors and had no sound. The graphics on the PC were strangled by a narrow bus such that even a fast PC was not able to provide a good video viewing experience.

In 1991, Autodesk created a second product, Animator Pro, which allowed for higher resolution animations.

In 1995, the final 2D animation software, Animator Studio, was released. It featured unlimited color spectrum and excellent sound quality. While Animator and Animator Pro supported only the input and output of .fli and .flc animation files, Animator Studio supported the input and output of AVI animation format.

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Margaret Rouse

Margaret Rouse is an award-winning technical writer and teacher known for her ability to explain complex technical subjects to a non-technical, business audience. Over the past twenty years her explanations have appeared on TechTarget websites and she's been cited as an authority in articles by the New York Times, Time Magazine, USA Today, ZDNet, PC Magazine and Discovery Magazine.Margaret's idea of a fun day is helping IT and business professionals learn to speak each other’s highly specialized languages. If you have a suggestion for a new definition or how to improve a technical explanation, please email Margaret or contact her…