Alessandra Kelley
04-15-2011, 08:41 PM
My husband Richard Garfinkle, who is awesomely multitalented, has just released an app for the iPad which does 3D modeling, image manipulation, and animation. It's called "IgorAnimation" and you can find it on the Apple iTunes store here (http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/igoranimation/id430379511?mt=8&ign-mpt=uo%3D4%2522).
We're really excited about it. It's pretty powerful and flexible, and we hope it'll be a helpful tool for modelers and animators.
The first version of the program (now retired) was called Igor, because it's a laboratory assistant that helps you bring things to life, y'see ...
Igor was inspired by one of our oldest friends, Robert Ellis, one of the original animators of "VeggieTales" and one of the sweetest guys you'd ever care to meet. Robert was struggling with computer model creation and Richard, who was a math major, was shocked to learn just how difficult certain animation programs were to work with and how much they were memory hogs. Things which ought to be simple mathematical transformations were a huge, unnecessary struggle.
So Richard set out to create a tool that would make a difficult job easier. Igor lets you create models and color them and move them using mathematical transformations which take up very little computer memory. You can control every piece of math that makes a shape or color (and math, after all, is what computers do best). Igor has been eight years in the making, gone through numerous incarnations, and even has a patent pending. It uses far less memory than current animation techniques. Most modern computer animation programs are built on older ones dating back to when computers were less capable, and there's a lot of old kludges that aren't really necessary any more. Richard has been programming most of his life, and he started this program from first principles. Its underpinnings are completely different from every other modeling and animation program out there.
IgorAnimation for the iPad is a streamlined version of Igor owing to the very tight memory and processing power of the iPad, but it's still extremely versatile.
In fact, I'm kind of excited about this because a lot of people said 3D modelling couldn't be done on a tablet at all because of the limitations of processor power -- But that was based on the memory requirements of the massive, older, kludged programs. IgorAnimation is sleek and intelligently compacted and nimble.
It's also an imaging program, which as an artist I've had fun with. It's not as all-encompassing as Photoshop, but it gives you more control over what you're doing because it lets you dig into every mathematical aspect of computer color.
Igor is meant to supplement, not replace, other modeling and imaging programs. It does certain things far quicker and more easily, and makes portable files which can be used in other programs. And hey, you can do it on your iPad!
We have a website, www.igoranimation.com (http://www.igoranimation.com/), where we offer information and support for the program (and a free online manual). There's a forum too, but it hasn't had much use yet because most of the people who have used the program have been friends and relations who can talk to us directly.
This is a big step for us, and I'm still a little dazed and excited that it's really out there. We got approved!
We're really excited about it. It's pretty powerful and flexible, and we hope it'll be a helpful tool for modelers and animators.
The first version of the program (now retired) was called Igor, because it's a laboratory assistant that helps you bring things to life, y'see ...
Igor was inspired by one of our oldest friends, Robert Ellis, one of the original animators of "VeggieTales" and one of the sweetest guys you'd ever care to meet. Robert was struggling with computer model creation and Richard, who was a math major, was shocked to learn just how difficult certain animation programs were to work with and how much they were memory hogs. Things which ought to be simple mathematical transformations were a huge, unnecessary struggle.
So Richard set out to create a tool that would make a difficult job easier. Igor lets you create models and color them and move them using mathematical transformations which take up very little computer memory. You can control every piece of math that makes a shape or color (and math, after all, is what computers do best). Igor has been eight years in the making, gone through numerous incarnations, and even has a patent pending. It uses far less memory than current animation techniques. Most modern computer animation programs are built on older ones dating back to when computers were less capable, and there's a lot of old kludges that aren't really necessary any more. Richard has been programming most of his life, and he started this program from first principles. Its underpinnings are completely different from every other modeling and animation program out there.
IgorAnimation for the iPad is a streamlined version of Igor owing to the very tight memory and processing power of the iPad, but it's still extremely versatile.
In fact, I'm kind of excited about this because a lot of people said 3D modelling couldn't be done on a tablet at all because of the limitations of processor power -- But that was based on the memory requirements of the massive, older, kludged programs. IgorAnimation is sleek and intelligently compacted and nimble.
It's also an imaging program, which as an artist I've had fun with. It's not as all-encompassing as Photoshop, but it gives you more control over what you're doing because it lets you dig into every mathematical aspect of computer color.
Igor is meant to supplement, not replace, other modeling and imaging programs. It does certain things far quicker and more easily, and makes portable files which can be used in other programs. And hey, you can do it on your iPad!
We have a website, www.igoranimation.com (http://www.igoranimation.com/), where we offer information and support for the program (and a free online manual). There's a forum too, but it hasn't had much use yet because most of the people who have used the program have been friends and relations who can talk to us directly.
This is a big step for us, and I'm still a little dazed and excited that it's really out there. We got approved!