Several years ago, the Molecular Biology computing staff recognized the potential that new computer animation technologies such as Apple's QuickTime have for scientific research and instruction. After gaining the support of scientists who were interested in experimenting with these new technologies, a computer was purchased and a student "Digital Video Specialist" was hired. Our very first digital video machine was a Macintosh Quadra 950 with 32mb of RAM, a 1gb hard drive, and a SuperMac Digital Film board which could digitize and playback JPEG compressed QuickTime movies in 24-bit color and 640x480 resolution at 30 fps. The first student was Erik Buth. He did some very nice work, some of which is described in these pages. Erik graduated in 1994 and moved to California to go into the film business. I took over Erik's job (only because they wanted to keep things as simple as possible and I was the only Eric to apply, I'm told). In 1995, the official Digital Video Machine was made into the Molecular Biology server and I was given a PowerMac 8100. It was much faster, but it only had 24mb of RAM, a 500mb hard drive, and no JPEG compression board. It was used extensively for a short period of time, but RAM and hard drive constraints were limiting. Eventually, a new PowerMac 8500 with 80mb of RAM, 4mb of VRAM, and a 2gb hard drive was purchased as a joint Digital Video/Illustration machine. This is our current video computer. The increased RAM, 10mb/sec SCSI bus, 2gb hard drive, and the fast processor allow larger movie files to play smoother and much more professional output is possible.

I am leaving in September and when that happens, Leanne Olds, our Media Specialist and Illustrator will be taking over the video duties. She does wonderful graphic work and she will add her own artistic touch to future videos.