Amazing Animation
Encyclopedia
Amazing Animation was a program published by Claris
for the Apple
Macintosh
in 1994.
Amazing Animation was targeted mainly at children and young teenagers, allowing them to produce their own animated short films
with relative ease. The program featured pre-made backgrounds and sounds, and "actors" in the form of so-called "stamps". The stamps pictured various objects, such as a boy, a girl or a dolphin, and when dragged, these stamps would play a pre-programmed animation – the boy would walk, the dolphin swim, etc.
Users could also draw their own backgrounds, make their own stamps and record audio.
Included with the application was a special "player" application. This player application was free to copy, the idea being that when one wanted to distribute a movie (presumably by floppy disk
, as this was before the days when files were regularly shared via the Internet
), one would distribute the player application along with it. The player allowed people to watch the movie without having to buy the complete Amazing Animation package.
Claris
Claris was a computer software developer formed as a spin-off from Apple Computer in 1987. It was given the source code and copyrights to several programs that were owned by Apple, notably MacWrite and MacPaint, in order to separate Apple's application software activities from its hardware and...
for the Apple
Apple Computer
Apple Inc. is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh line of computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad...
Macintosh
Macintosh
The Macintosh , or Mac, is a series of several lines of personal computers designed, developed, and marketed by Apple Inc. The first Macintosh was introduced by Apple's then-chairman Steve Jobs on January 24, 1984; it was the first commercially successful personal computer to feature a mouse and a...
in 1994.
Amazing Animation was targeted mainly at children and young teenagers, allowing them to produce their own animated short films
Animation
Animation is the rapid display of a sequence of images of 2-D or 3-D artwork or model positions in order to create an illusion of movement. The effect is an optical illusion of motion due to the phenomenon of persistence of vision, and can be created and demonstrated in several ways...
with relative ease. The program featured pre-made backgrounds and sounds, and "actors" in the form of so-called "stamps". The stamps pictured various objects, such as a boy, a girl or a dolphin, and when dragged, these stamps would play a pre-programmed animation – the boy would walk, the dolphin swim, etc.
Users could also draw their own backgrounds, make their own stamps and record audio.
Included with the application was a special "player" application. This player application was free to copy, the idea being that when one wanted to distribute a movie (presumably by floppy disk
Floppy disk
A floppy disk is a disk storage medium composed of a disk of thin and flexible magnetic storage medium, sealed in a rectangular plastic carrier lined with fabric that removes dust particles...
, as this was before the days when files were regularly shared via the Internet
Internet
The Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite to serve billions of users worldwide...
), one would distribute the player application along with it. The player allowed people to watch the movie without having to buy the complete Amazing Animation package.