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Path: utzoo!lsuc!jimomura
From: jimomura@lsuc.UUCP
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga,comp.sys.atari.st
Subject: Re: Amiga vs Atari ST
Message-ID: <1813@lsuc.UUCP>
Date: Fri, 22-May-87 22:28:25 EDT
Article-I.D.: lsuc.1813
Posted: Fri May 22 22:28:25 1987
Date-Received: Sat, 23-May-87 04:41:06 EDT
References: <943@cooper.UUCP>
Reply-To: jimomura@lsuc.UUCP (Jim Omura)
Organization: Consultant, Toronto
Lines: 52
Keywords: which is better
Summary: Animation


     There are quite a few animation packages on the market for both
the Atari ST and Amigas, but one of the most outstanding from a technological
viewpoint is Aegis Animator, which is available on both.  I run Animator
on the ST and depending on how you use the program, you can run the output
file on both computers.  My freinds have run my own ST output files on
Amigas without problems.  Animator calculates movements over time and
draws the frames according to the parameters you set.  It's fairly easy
to use and is the easiest way to obtain complex movement animation with
simple 2 dimensional objects.  It supports some 3D animation as well, but
the 3D usage.

     Tom Hudson has done some pretty interesting things with Delta files
lately and Jim Kent (author of Animator) has found a way to convert Animator
output to Delta format.  Delta format is only used on the ST right now.
It makes for extremely fast, smooth animation, but requires much more memory
than Animator for storage and for adequate length animation.

     Ironically, what is likely the most flexible animation package on
the ST I've seen is Flicker, which is written by Jim Kent, the author of
Animator.  I've had the opportunity to beta test this program and it's
probably the finest medium res graphics program out for the ST even aside
from the animation capabilities.  Actually, I should qualify my statement:
Flicker as I'm using it is *NOT* available yet for public usage.  There
is an early version of Flicker in this or next month's STart magazine.
What I'm using is a much farther developed program than that version,
however, even the version in STart comes with most of the important
capabilities.  In fact, I've posted demo files to BIX which were made
aside from compression, with only the abilities which the STart version
has.  That is to say, the only thing I used in Flicker which isn't in
the STart version is the ability to compress the files to take up less
disk space.  The latest 'player' program Jim has posted to BIX will play
both the compressed files I've posted and the uncompressed files which
the STart version creates.  Distribution of the latest version of Flicker
has not been finalized as far as I know, so I can't say when the public
will see it.  For the time being, I suggest a combination of Degas Elite,
(or Neochrome, or both) with Flicker, to produce flip book style animation
on the ST.  There may be other good combinations on the ST or on the
Amiga, but I don't expect to see better on the current ST hardware.

     Having said that, I should also say that the current version of Flicker
is a memory glutton compared to Animator.  That's because each frame is
sitting in its own memory (32K per frame).  Keeping in mind that animation
of this type requires at the very least about 8 frames per second, a bit
of math will show you that the 1040ST is really minimal and the 4 Meg.
systems coming later will be much more comfortable.  It will also tell you
that it takes a *lot* of work to produce good animation on this type of
system.
-- 
Jim Omura, 2A King George's Drive, Toronto, (416) 652-3880
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