CURRENT NOTES: COLUMN #1 By Steve Marshall I feel like I've just walked into a huge room, filled with unfamiliar but friendly faces. I'm wearing one of those sticky nametags pasted over my shirt pocket (with my name "Steve" scrawled in red marker) and a look of excitement mixed with apprehension is working its way across my face. I don't know you and you don't know me. Nothing to do except plunge in and start shaking hands. So here I am, one of Joe Waters' new recruits, all set to pen a monthly column for Current Notes that will focus on the very broad subject of computer graphics. Since this is going to be a one-sided conversation for awhile, let me start by telling you a little about myself. And in so doing, I think you will see where this column will be going and where I may be of help to you. I'm going to skip all of the really interesting fluff like my age, my pets' names and how many kids I have, and get right down to the basics. First, and foremost, I am an artist. I was one of those lucky few who knew what I wanted to do in life from the time I was in fourth grade and the teachers made such a fuss over my drawings. I've worked as a free-lance illustrator, owned my own art gallery and worked over the years in advertising and television. For the past 5 years I've been involved in the new and rapidly expanding field of computer graphics and currently have a job that many people would envy; I spend most of my working day creating computer graphics on an Atari ST. I suppose I have video games to thank for my new career. Like many others, I was intrigued by the early video games with their colorful graphics and animated characters. I have always been fascinated with animation and one of my early dreams was to work for Walt Disney creating his classic animated films. I became equally fascinated with the video games. The idea that you could actually control a moving character on a television screen was intriguing, and the animation, while crude, showed the tremedous potential of computers in creating cartoon-like movement. But I wasn't content to just play video games. I wanted to learn how to create them myself. I wanted to explore this exciting new medium that many thought childish or a passing fad, and see if there might be a future in it for me. So I went out and bought an Atari 800. (This was back in 1983 when an Atari 8- bit system was king of the hill and cost as much as a Mega2.) Well, I spent all my spare time (when I wasn't playing games) learning to draw with Micropainter and the Koalapad, and teaching myself to program in Basic. Shortly after that, through a bit of serendipity, I found myself creating Atari graphics for the pilot project of an interactive communications system called PIRCS (an acronym for Personal In-Room Communication System). The PIRCS system was developed for the hotel industry as a means of improving guest services and establishing new areas for revenue for the hotel. PIRCS is an interactive system which allows the guest to not only receive information but request specific information through the hotel television. This is accomplished through a high-speed two-way communciations network utilizing the latest in computer and video technology. In addition to viewing standard television fare, the PIRCS guest can set a wakeup call, order Room Service, read messages or checkout from his room. He can also play video games, purchase pay movies, or access a giant information database with information on local restaurants, entertainment, sporting and leisure activities and transportation. All of this is accomplished through the hotel television set using a standard remote control device. As you might suspect, this is no ordinary television. In fact, the television (which is actually quite ordinary) is controlled by a black box about the size of a portable VCR. This box contains custom electronics centered around a Z-80 microprocessor, and an Atari 65XE board. The Z-80 communicates with a centrally located head-end computer (typically an NCR Tower), while the Atari displays the computer generated text and graphics. In essence, the Atari sees the main computer as a giant disk drive, while the Z-80 controls the Atari, telling it what to display and "pressing its keys" on behalf of the user. In its prototype days, PIRCS made use of an Atari 400 (remember those?) upgraded to 16K of RAM. Its five years later and PIRCS is now an established product with systems aboard cruise ships and in prestigious hotels in the U.S. and Canada, including the new Grand Floridian Resort at Walt Disney World. And I'm still busy using my Atari ST to create both ST and 8-bit graphics for client systems and to do everything from technical drawings to marketing presentations. I rely on the ST and great Atari software like DEGAS Elite, Easy Draw, Publishing Partner, CAD-3D, Cyber Paint, Laser C and Flash to allow my one- man graphics department to not only keep up with the demands of our customers, but also enable me to offer exciting new graphic capabilities within the system. In next month's column I'll go into more detail on how PIRCS works and the important role both the Atari ST and the Atari 65XE have in the PIRCS system that have contributed to its success in the marketplace. Although my job keeps me busy, I still find some spare time to play games (my current favorite is DungeonMaster); serve as managing editor of NYBBLES and BYTES, the combined newsletter of the Phoenix, Arizona area Atari User Groups; produce a series of high resolution clip art disks for desktop publishing (marketed by Magnetic Images); work with my friend David Lindsley writing commercial video games (our latest, due out this spring, is called "LOST DUTCHMAN MINE"); and have fun creating CAD-3D animations with the great Cyber software. As for this column, I guess I'm here to serve as the so- called graphics "expert". I'll share my experiences and try to answer your questions. I've used practically every graphics package available on the ST, from desktop publishing to paint programs to the aforementioned Cyber 3D animation software. I'm a fairly proficient programmer with experience in C, Pascal and Basic, including the new STOS Basic. While I work primarily with the ST, I still have my old Atari 800 and still keep up with the new software. Over the course of this column I'll be reporting on the advances in the computer graphics field in general, and Atari ST graphics in particular, whether it be new software, new hardware or intriguing uses for the Atari in business or industry. As I've said, this has been a one-sided conversation so far, but I hope that will change. Please feel free to send in your questions and comments and I'll do my best to find the answers. If you use an Atari to produce graphics in a professional environment, please share that information with us. I'm sure all of us could benefit from seeing how the Atari is being used in the exciting and ever-expanding field of computer graphics. Well, I've introduced myself and shaken a lot of hands, and now its time to take off this nametag and head home. Until next time ...