Cabel Sasser Profile picture
Dec 20, 2021 11 tweets 4 min read Read on X
A quick thread about something I find interesting:

A specific visual aesthetic that is 100% lost to time.

It's just gone. Nobody cares about it. Nobody is replicating it for nostalgia. Most people don't even know how it was done.

Let's start with this video (via @stevesi)…
…and now, please watch a bit of this incredible classic.
If you don't know already:

How do you think these two videos were made?

Traditional cut-and-splice film editing? Cel animation or optical animation for the special effects? Something else entirely?

The answer…
…slide projectors.

Lots and lots and lots of slide projectors, containing lots and lots of carefully choreographed slides, all controlled by a computer, and the whole thing filmed at the end. Image
That's why every image seems to "cross-fade" — you had no choice as one bulb lit up while the other cooled down.

Want a zoom or glow on your logo? Layer it on top of the base logo slide!

Want to "animate" a person? Rapidly switch between a dozen still photography frames! ImageImage
This fantastic video shows a multi-image slideshow in action: pay close attention to the bulbs on the projectors on the left and see how they're creating the "effects" on-screen.

Entire companies sprung up to serve this world — also used in museums and visitor centers and probably EPCOT — building specialized computers (like this EAGLE II) and programming languages (PROCALL!) to make it all happen. Image
And then… poof. Non-linear editing, VHS tapes, character generators, the Video Toaster, you name it, all rendered the whole technique obsolete.

Progress marches on, and slide projectors weren't part of our future.

At least I can tweet about it at the end of the year 2021!
Yes, I'm still thinking about multi-image slideshows.

Douglas Mesney, involved since day one, has a must-read presentation (despite the jokey slides) laying out the full history of the industry: incredibleimages.com/Shows_Keynote.…

The first shows were programmed with punched tape?! Image
Also, of COURSE there were "generic" shows you could buy, where they would drop in your logo and key photos.

PS: I'll be singing this song every time I go to the office
Finally, here's an absolutely incredible "programmer's view" of a complex Chevy Revolution slideshow.

Deeply mesmerizing. What a thing.

[Via "AV Archaeology" on YouTube: youtube.com/channel/UCdGRN…]

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More from @cabel

Mar 2, 2023
How's everybody doing this week? I hope you are well. Here are some of the semi-latest #new cereals.

• Fruity Pebbles Crunch'd
• Cocoa Pebbles Crunch'd

"With Snackable Crunchy Shapes" makes me wonder if customers complained they couldn't eat handfuls of Fruity Pebbles?
More #new cereals:

• Disney 100: Mickey Mouse Club
• Disney 100

"Average cereals in nice boxes." —Cabel
Even more #new cereals:

• Cap'n Crunch's Birthday Crunch 60th Birthday!
• Cap'n Crunch's Oops! All Red Berries

I simply do not understand how the Cap'n found ANOTHER way to screw up the production line??? Stop leaning on the dang control panels man!!!
Read 5 tweets
Dec 14, 2021
Let's compare the three — three!!! — totally separate ways to save PNG files in Photoshop.

① "Save for Web (Legacy)" is the classic interface we grew up on, and the only one that supports animated gif. (How legacy? They save as "Adobe ImageReady" files, discontinued in 2005 😅)
② "Export As…" is the new, "modern" interface for saving files in Photoshop. "Modern" in this case means kind of a weird UI, and missing a lot of options and features. But it's pretty zippy and doesn't block your other windows like (Legacy) does.
③ "Save a Copy…" is the wildcard. I think it's the only way to save a 16-bit PNG in Photoshop. And — oddly — this approach gives you three compression settings that "Export As…" does NOT have!?!?

I love "Save the smallest PNG from over a hundred possibilities!". drstrange.gif
Read 5 tweets
Sep 28, 2021
I am glad Ferrari is partnering up with Jony Ive and Marc Newson, because FINALLY someone will design a car for multi-millionaires
(Actually, Marc Newson's Ford 021C concept was my dream car right around 2000. It's the perfect encapsulation of the style of that time, a Deee-Lite/CD-ROM/Dreamcast/iMac/Virgin Megastore car. I still want one today!!! But the Fun Design Train now only stops at Luxury Station ☹️)
Pivoting my lazy joke into a Ford 021C appreciation thread! The trunk opened up like a drawer! There was also a green one and I always wondered if it would have a different name, since 021C is Pantone Orange! The ceiling looks like it used electroluminescent wire lights, too good
Read 4 tweets
Sep 28, 2021
ALERT. This amazing Donkey Kong coaster with the "hidden" track seems to be officially happening!!! Press Release: nintendo.co.jp/corporate/rele…
FYI, today's rendering seems to match 2019's leaked model! And the coaster looks to have a massive show building for indoor show scenes? Keep it up, Universal!!!
(Alas, the waterfall got "value engineered")
Read 4 tweets
Aug 26, 2021
Here's a quick story about design.

When I was a kid there was a funky, late-70's mall in downtown PDX called "The Galleria", in a converted department store.

The Galleria had an equally funky logo that I always liked as a kid — but also always made me feel a little weird.
The logo reminded me of other visuals surrounding my childhood, like the 7-Up signs at the corner store, or the "Pinball Number Count" sequence on Sesame Street (one-two-three four five!)

Eventually The Galleria closed, and later it became a Target, and the logo was history.
One day, fairly recently, I was talking to my parents about this lost logo and how it made me feel. And my dad goes down to the basement, brings this piece of paper up, and hands it to me.

Yeah. Turns out, my parents designed The Galleria logo.
Read 6 tweets
Jul 25, 2021
The snacks have piled up! The Frito-Lay strike has ended! So, forgive me: I'm gonna destroy your feed this Sunday with all #new products I've found this year. Go!

• Pillsbury Soft Baked Cookies 🤨*
• KitKat Thins 😀
• Hawaiian Kettle Way Out Wasabi 🙂

*they're kinda gritty ImageImageImage
• Pop Chips Grain-Free Cajun Heat 😁
• Pop Chips Corn Chips Perfectly Salted 😕
• Tim's Cascade Special Batch Cajun 🙂
• Poppables Southwest Ranch 🙂
#new ImageImageImageImage
• Kroger Kaleidos: Sparkly Unicorn 😐
• Lay's Kettle Cooked Extra: Extreme Cheddar 😐
• Pepsi Mango 🙂
• Chips Ahoy! Chip's Got Talent 😒
#new ImageImageImageImage
Read 18 tweets

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