Autodesk Animator
 |
 Screenshot of Autodesk Animator | |
| Developer(s) | Yost Group, Autodesk |
|---|---|
| Final release | "Studio"
/ 1995 |
| Operating system | MS-DOS, Windows 95 |
| Platform | x86 |
| Type | Animation software |
| Website | animatorpro |
Autodesk Animator was a 2D computer animation and painting program created in 1989 by Jim Kent for Gary Yost's "Yost Group" under license to Autodesk and ran on a PC on MS-DOS.
The program was considered[by whom?] to be groundbreaking in the field of computer animation when it was initially released, and was very popular in the late 1980s and the early 1990s. Eventually development on the product ended and it became no longer supported by Autodesk.
Animator gave the ability to do frame-by-frame animation (creating each frame as an individual picture, much like traditional cel animation). Animator Studio also had tweening features (transforming one shape into another by letting the computer draw each in-between shape onto a separate frame).
Animator and Animator Pro supported FLI and FLC animation file formats. Animator Studio also supported AVI format.
| Version | Platform | Release date | Significant changes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Animator | DOS | October 1989 | 320×200 pixels in 256 colors |
| Animator Pro | DOS | July 1991 | almost any resolution and color depth |
| Animator Studio | Windows 95 | 1995 | Re-write for Windows |