SuperPaint was a pioneering graphics program and framebuffer computer system developed by Richard Shoup at Xerox PARC. The system was first conceptualized in late 1972 and produced its first stable image in April 1973. SuperPaint was among the earliest uses of computer technology for creative works, video editing, and computer animation, all which would become major sections within the entertainment industry and major components of industrial design. A graphics program is a piece of computer software that enables a user to modify or view graphics files. ... The framebuffer is a part of RAM in a computer allocated to hold the graphics information for one frame or picture. ... Bold text // Headline text Link title This article is about the computer research center. ... 1972 (MCMLXXII) was a leap year starting on Saturday (the link is to a full 1972 calendar). ... 1973 (MCMLXXIII) was a common year starting on Monday. ...

SuperPaint had the ability to capture images from standard video input or combine them with preexisting digital data. SuperPaint was also the first program to use now-ubiquitous features in common computer graphics programs such as changing hue, saturation and value of graphical data, choosing from a preset color palette, custom polygons and lines, virtual paintbrushes and pencils, and auto-filling of images. SuperPaint was also the first graphics program to use a graphical user interface and was one of the earliest to feature anti-aliasing. Color is an important part of the visual arts. ... Look up Polygon in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... A graphical user interface (or GUI, often pronounced gooey) is a method of interacting with a computer through a metaphor of direct manipulation of graphical images and widgets in addition to text. ... In digital signal processing, anti-aliasing is the technique of minimizing aliasing (jagged or blocky patterns) when representing a high-resolution signal at a lower resolution. ...

SuperPaint was used early on to make custom television graphics for KCED-TV in San Francisco and later was used to make promotional graphics and animations for the Pioneer Venus project mission in late 1978. Due to differences with management at PARC's Computer Systems Lab, Shoup and colleague Alvy Ray Smith left the Xerox facility to work at the New York Institute of Technology. In 1980, Shoup and Smith joined Industrial Light and Magic, George Lucas' movie special effects firm and in 1983, Shoup won an Emmy award for his work using SuperPaint to make on-screen television graphics. The Pioneer mission to Venus consisted of two components, launched separately. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1978 calendar). ... Alvy Ray Smith III (born 1943) is a noted pioneer in computer graphics. ... The New York Institute of Technology (NYIT) is a private, co-educational college in New York in the USA. The college has three campuses, two on Long Island, and one in New York City. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ... Industrial Light & Magic original logo, designed by Drew Struzan Industrial Light & Magic (ILM) is a motion picture special visual effects company, founded in July 1975 by George Lucas and owned by Lucasfilm Ltd. ... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... An Emmy Award. ...

Hardware

The SuperPaint system was a custom computer system built around a Data General Nova 800 minicomputer CPU and a hand-wired shift register framebuffer containing 16 memory cards, allowing for a resolution up to 640 x 486 x 8 bits. Also included in the SuperPaint configuration was an 8-bit video digitizer, various digital-to-analog conversion hardware, and a CPU interface. Data General SuperNova The Data General Nova was a popular 16-bit minicomputer built by the United States company Data General starting in 1969. ... Minicomputer (colloquially, mini) is a largely obsolete term for a class of multi-user computers which make up the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the largest multi-user systems (traditionally, mainframe computers) and the smallest single-user systems (microcomputers or personal computers). ... In digital circuits a shift register is a group of registers set up in a linear fashion which have their inputs and outputs connected together in such a way that the data is shifted down the line when the circuit is activated. ...

References

• Dealers of Lightning: Xerox PARC and the Dawn of the Computer Age, 1999, Michael A. Hiltzik, HarperBusiness, ISBN 0887308910

External links

• Richard Shoup personal website - The SuperPaint System (1973-1979)
• Lowendmac.com - The Pixar Story: Dick Shoup, Alex Schure, George Lucas, Steve Jobs, and Disney