Episode 88 - BEFLIX, Early Digital Animation

Advent of Computing

Digital animation has really become an artform in and of itself. In the current epoch these animations play out on fancy bitmapped displays, but it's origins are far more visceral. Or maybe we should say far more hacky. This episode we are diving in to BEFLIX: an early animation toolchain from Bell Labs that produced computer films on physical rolls of film.

Selected Sources:

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/363958.363993 - Paper on Zajac animation

https://jimboulton.medium.com/studies-in-perception-a-restoration-story-241cd8c75ab1 - Recreation of Studies in Perception I

https://dl.acm.org/doi/10.1145/1464122.1464130 - BEFLIX Paper

https://techchannel.att.com/playvideo/2012/09/10/AT&T-Archives-Computer-Technique-Production-Animated-Movies - BEFLIX animation about BEFLIX