PrimeMover

Real-time animation for home and education.

Key Stage: 2/3/4 | RISC OS: 2/3/RISC PC  |  Memory: 2MB

PrimeMover is a new animation system for Acorn RISC OS Machines. Unlike other animation software, PrimeMover is more than just a sequencer for hand drawn frames. The system allows the creation of frame sequences for simple animation but takes this one step further by enabling these animated sprites to be moved about on the screen in a highly controlled manner, using a very simple user interface.

PrimeMover is also unique in using a real time system for all its animation control. This means that it is easy to understand the relationship between the various elements of an animation and to understand how the finished animation will appear. Rather than simply providing a series of frames to be displayed in sequence as fast as possible, the user is able to specify actual times at which events occur or periods over which movements take place. This also means that synchronisation with other media or activities is easy and that it is possible to accurately represent events where time is an important factor. A further advantage of this system is that animations may be created and displayed using hardware of widely differing capabilities (eg A3000 and A5000) without this compromising accuracy; a faster computer will simply animate more smoothly.

The user interface to PrimeMover is carefully designed to offer the greatest degree of access at all levels. Despite the sophisticated real time control system animations may be created very quickly using only the mouse in a simple, intuitive way. There is an emphasis on flexbility, giving control over the degree of access users have to the different facilities available in the software. It is possible to set up a very simple level of interface where a small subset of functions is available to allow the easiest possible creation of animations or vary this through all levels right up to the most sophisticated where the user has access to all the most advanced functions of the software.

PrimeMover is RISC OS compliant, further enhancing the ease of access to the software. It is designed to integrate with the desktop and communicates readily with other tasks such as Draw and Paint, etc. Sophisticated software technology allows the software to make the most of the hardware. Faster computers or computers with more memory will automatically make smoother and more effective animations. These can still be used on all variations of the hardware without compromising accuracy.

• RISC OS Compliant
• Real time animation regardless of system performance or complexity of film
• Animation is described in terms of time (hours, minutes, seconds etc) rather than frames
• Flicker free animation even in the desktop
• Simple user interface; animations can be created and edited using simple click and drag operations. No keyboard input required.
• Configurable button bars to control access to program features