Computer History Lecture Series 2000

"Recollections of Early Paint Systems"

		Richard Shoup and Alvy Ray Smith
Richard Shoup				Alvy Ray Smith

January 13, 2000  

In the early 1970's, with the advent of 1 Kbit integrated circuit memories, it became practical for the first time to build a semiconductor memory capable of holding an entire image and displaying it on a video monitor -- a picture memory or "frame buffer".

This led to developments in interactive frame buffers, painting and drawing programs and other graphics-oriented software at Xerox PARC, the University of Utah, MIT, the New York Institute of Technology, and elsewhere, and ultimately to the entire field of pixel-based graphics.

Original SuperPaint menu.

Dick Shoup built the first video-compatible frame buffer and painting system, "SuperPaint," at Xerox PARC in 1973. His colleague and friend Alvy Ray Smith collaborated on SuperPaint, and then went on to develop the first full-color paint program and much more at New York Tech in the late 1970s.

Dick Shoup showing the first frame captured by SuperPaint (1973)		Pioneer Venus mission animation made with SuperPaint (1978)

In this talk, Dick and Alvy will describe and demonstrate -- hardware gods willing -- the original 1973 SuperPaint graphics system, and a Windows-based PC emulation of the NYIT full-color Paint3 program, play some tapes, and tell some stories of their early adventures in pixel graphics.

Following the lecture, tours of Computer History Museum's Exhibit Area will be conducted by Center staff. Refreshments will be served and admission is free.

Original SuperPaint hardware. Part of Computer History Museum's permanent historical collection and currently on display in our Exhibit Area.

Attending:
Please RSVP by January 12 to Wendy-Ann Francis. Due to government regulations, all lecture attendees must register to be admitted to NASA Ames Research Center. If you are a U.S. citizen or Green Card holder, please provide your full name and affiliation. If you are not a US citizen and do not have a Green Card, please provide your full name, affiliation, citizenship, VISA type and expiration date, passport number and expiration date, date of birth, and country of birth. We look forward to seeing you on the 13th!

"Green Guy," a SuperPaint animation by Damon Rarey during Pioneer Venus mission depicting what he imagined may have happened when one of the probes suddenly stopped transmitting shortly after landing on the surface.		Alvy Ray Smith and Dick Shoup at 1998 Oscar ceremony--with their technical award given for "pioneering inventions in Digital Paint Systems."

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