ScuzzBlog: Diaries June 2017
Entry 20th June 2017: Post: 02
Simon Says
Paul
Computers were a real luxury in the early eighties and even then it was
much much easier to do stuff the conventional way so when money was
short it was always going to be the cheaper option. I spent what little
spare cash I had in those days on camera equipment, art supplies, paper
and pens. My main tool of the day was my A1 drawing board. Not having a
computer didn't restrict my activities.. just that most things were one
off creations. That really was the difference in truth.
So when I couldn't afford or justify the VIC-20 I bought a ZX-81. The
little black box was a marvel in truth though wouldn't dominate my life
as say the Amiga did. Again paper was king and my work particularly was
still pen and paper dominated and would be until 1995.
So when I moved up a notch to the Spectrum I was simply trying to use
the computer to help and assist and play a few games. When it came to
producing my thesis I was still using a Brother typewriter or employing
the services of my sister, My data was stored on a massive card index
the size of a large drawer. I had hundred of card entries logging
publications, useful information. I actually also used photo albums to
collate articles and cuttings from magazines. Remember though I was
training to be an architect. Magazines just filled my room and books ,
loads of books. The electronic gear revolved around music and
entertainment. I also played guitar so I wasn't that dedicated to the
computer. Cameras though played a very big part in what I did.
Interestingly it would be as late as 1992 when I was hand drawing an
animation that I decided to get an Amiga to help with the still frame
captures. Up to then I had been using video and a camera to create my
animations.
The Amstrad, however, was a tool. It was purchased to do a job and it
certainly was very capable. I couldn't have survived without the
computer when I was running my own practice. I must have mended the
armature on the daisy wheel printer a dozen times. The disk drive was
mended a few times. I literally hammered the computer. But the computer
was a work tool no different to anything else I used around me. But I
was still drawing on a board and hand creating all my artwork. Images
and pictures were still being created in watercolour and text was more
likely to mean stuck on Letraset than any fonts on a computer. To create
a 3D image I would create a crude model of an area and simply identify
buildings with sticks set to the correct height and then take a black
and white image. I spent a lot of time developing pictures and printing
them off and using my home made ' epidiascope' to project onto paper so
I could draw the image and then paint the artwork. My fingers have
lumps and ridges of dead skin from using a pen and pencil over the years.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opaque_projector
When I finally got the Amiga it took a while to get up to steam, but
when I was able to capture images and then start using them in
presentations the computer took on a whole new meaning. Sadly as
information became more fluid and I needed to power up AutoCAD, trust me
the Amiga was just never going to cut it. AutoCAD really needs a PC and
a powerful one at that. Also I needed files, libraries, documents and
the internet. Information was starting to flow through in PC format
disks and even simple backing up to tape needed the PC tape drive. The
PC world from around 1995 just was doing everything related to the job.
From AutoCAD, to libraries, Photoshop to Office etc. And home became an
extension of work. I had to, I was a director of a practice and my
clients expected my services 24/7. The Amiga was just never going to be
able to do the job. That is why in 1996 I moved over to the Win95
machine and have been running Windows based machines able to read
AutoCAD drawings and convert dxl files. Interaction with my colleagues
was key and with four offices we all had to be singing from the same
hymn sheet.
So my route was one of the computer slowly dominating and evolving into
the tool that would serve me best. The Amiga, however, holds a special
place in my heart because at a time when I needed a good friend it
helped me through a difficult time. I never gave up on the Amiga and
used the computer as a vehicle to fire a general interest that I
developed in my leisure time. I certainly needed the Amiga as a form of
escape. I always saw the PC as a workhorse, but the Amiga as somewhere
quite different. Nothing has changed.
scuzz
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