Once we had reached this agreement, it was time to decide on a name. We wrestled with several before settling on "White Radish," which, of course, was inspired by the opening animation of DaiCon æ81 and æ83 (the Japanese word \bdaikon\b means "white radish"). At first, the names were centred around what we were originally planning to use as our mascot: a furry, cat-eared, insect-eyed humanoid creature with wings (the prototype of what would become the "TÆkan" race in \bAnnie May).\b "Mettleminx" was one of the first names to stand out, and was quickly dropped, since no one could remember it. "White Rabbit" and "Immaculate Productions" were a few non mascot-oriented ideas I suggested.
"Hybrid" was the one that Jerry liked (mascot-oriented, while suggesting a mix of eastern and western animation styles), but I thought it was too plain as a name, and I expected it was already in use (and in fact it was, in many variations). I pushed for "White Radish," but Jerry was stuck on "Hybrid," so to make it a little more distinctive, I suggested "Purple Hybrid." Jerry was not amused. Eventually, for reasons unclear to me, Jerry decided "White Radish" was a good idea after all.
\b\c04The search for equipment\b\c00
At the time, there werenÆt many choices of computers optimised for video work, at least not in an affordable range. The Video Toaster, it seemed, was our best bet. Thus began the search for information on the Toaster and Amigas in general. I used some free AOL time searching the online databases, and read Amiga discussion groups on local BBSs. Stephen McCloy, a correspondent from my APA days, provided some specific info as well as possible places to get both hardware and software.
For video output, we were hoping to be able to use the new recordable laserdiscs, which would provide us with digital, non-degrading masters of our work. (Little did we know what we would ultimately have to settle for.)
\b\c04The doomed Toaster\b\c00
Around January of 1994, we were shopping around, trying to get a demonstration of the AmigaÆs interface and abilities. We finally found a small place that would show us, and after our meeting was aborted twice because the owner decided to leave the shop early, we saw the thing in action. They spent little time showing us the Amiga interface, spending most of the time in the Toaster interface. We hated the Amiga interface, and the ToasterÆs GUI was little better. ToasterPaint was unusable trash. The only things that were appealing about the obsolete hunk of junk were the character generator (for making titles and overlays) and LightWave. We didnÆt buy one that day, but we \bdid\b see the Toaster demo tape, which was mildly encouraging. It was here that we learnt that recordable LDs were not an option, due to sheer expense and the inability to record more than once. Perhaps digital videotape.
Meanwhile, we were still scouring Amiga and Toaster magazines for any information, since so little was readily available. An issue of \bVideo Toaster User\b had an article describing a computer cel-painting technique using the Amiga and ToasterPaint. Unfortunately, it contained no usable information. The process was sloppy, impractical, and produced poor results. The scary thing is, the writers of the article truly thought the rough, non-antialiased pictures they showed as examples looked \bgood!\b
Software for cel-style animation was hard to find, as well. We had heard of \bAnimo,\b but it was far too expensive for us. Another one was \bThe Animation Stand,\b for which we requested info through the mail. After a delay of several months, they sent us about 6 copies of their crippled demo. It was useless as an evaluation tool, since their only documentation was in the form of a tutorial which required the use of the SAVE command (not present in the crippled demo). I also found a copy of DisneyÆs \bAnimator\b software in the bargain pile at Radio Shack. Judging by the description on the back, though, it wasnÆt worth the bother, but at least now I knew what features to look for in a software package.
