Scanimate
スキャニメイト / 1969–1980s / Technique / Broadcast Design
An analog video synthesizer that distorted images on a CRT electrically and in real time. It is the true source of the glowing, flying, undulating logos of 1970s and 80s television, and it carried the motion industry before digital.
At a glance
Visual cues
- Glowing outlines
- Electronic undulation
- Rainbow glow
- Scanline texture
Best used for
- Rebuilding the air of 1970s and 80s television as a deliberate effect
- Giving a logo the unstable glow and stretch that digital tools lack
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Dictionary entry
- Type
- Heavy single letters lit from inside their own outline
- Composition
- One element on black, stretched from far to near
- Material
- Scanlines and rainbow bleed, with color fringing left on the edges
- Caution
- Layering glow and scanlines on top while the undulation itself still moves with the smooth interpolation of today's tools.
- Further study
- Computer Image Corporation / Dave Sieg's preservation work / the modern reappraisal of analog wobble
Related entries
- New Wave (ニュー・ウェーブ)Shared effects: Exhilaration.Compare Scanimate and New Wave
- Synthwave (シンセウェーブ)Shared effects: Exhilaration / Nostalgia.Compare Scanimate and Synthwave
More from Broadcast Design
Continue through styles in the same Broadcast Design family, prioritised by shared effects.
- Test Card (テストパターン)Shared effects: Technique / Nostalgia.
- Saul Bass Title Design (ソール・バスのタイトルデザイン)Shared effects: Exhilaration.
Browse all Broadcast Design entries
Cite this entry
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- Link
- https://indexstyle.org/styles/scanimate
- Markdown
- [Scanimate — IndexStyle](https://indexstyle.org/styles/scanimate)
- HTML
- <a href="https://indexstyle.org/styles/scanimate">Scanimate — IndexStyle</a>