What is this old vfx tech called ?

Hi everyone,

Years ago I came across a video on YouTube (most likely) that was about old (70s/80s?) CGI technology.

IIRC it was basically a very fancy oscilloscope, took up a whole room and was used mainly to produce 3D titles.

I think it was operated using a bunch of knobs.

My apologies for the limited amount of details, like I said it's been years...

I hope you can help me scratch that itch, I've been trying to find it every now and then but no luck :(

Thanks for reading and for the potential help!

Edit: corrected 60s to 80s

13 points · 4 comments · view on lemmy.world

4 Comments

graham1@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 223d (1 reply)

You could be describing a rotoscope or a modified version of one https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping

MacAnus@sh.itjust.works · 2 pts · 223d

It was really more some kind of oscilloscope that needed to be programmed then it played the whole animation.
I have never heard of that before or after seeing that video and I think it's a bit of an obscure technology.

deathmetal27@lemmy.world · 5 pts · 222d (1 reply)
MacAnus@sh.itjust.works · 4 pts · 222d

Yes! Thank you!!!