Antic Software

Antic Software was the name of the software company associated with Antic, a magazine for the Atari 8-bit computers. The catalog of software was bound into issues of Antic, and products were sold via mail order. By 1986 it was branded The Catalog.

When the Atari Program Exchange (APX) was shut down by Atari CEO James J. Morgan in 1984, Gary Yost convinced Antic magazine's publisher, James Capparell, to create Antic Software. Yost contacted many of the programmers from APX to re-publish their works with Antic. The APX software was rebranded in mid-1984 as APX Classics from Antic.

In addition to select APX programs, original submissions were added as well as public domain collections. All software was provided on self-documented disk. When the Atari ST was released, The Catalog became a mixture of Atari 8-bit and Atari ST software.

The catalog helped save Antic during the home computer-market's collapse.[1] Gary Yost went on to form The Yost Group which created and licensed a number of products to Autodesk, Inc. (Autodesk Animator, Autodesk Animator Pro, Autodesk 3D Studio, and Autodesk 3DS MAX).

Notable products

Atari 8-bit

  • Colourspace, light synthesizer from Jeff Minter.
  • HomeCard - filing system written by Preppie! programmer Russ Wetmore and Sparky Starks.[2]
  • Mars Mission II, sequel to Caverns of Mars. Another sequel, Phobos, was previously sold through the Atari Program Exchange, then later by Antic Software.
  • RAMbrandt, image editor.[3]

Atari ST

  • CAD-3D - 3D modeling system and related add-ons. CAD-3D was a precursor to 3D Studio MAX.[4]
  • Spectrum 512 - Atari ST paint program allowing 512 colors per image instead of the standard 16.[5]

References

  1. ↑ Bisson, Gigi (May 1986). "Antic Then & Now". Antic. pp. 16–23. Retrieved 28 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "HomeCard advertisement". Antic. 4 (3): 26. July 1985.
  3. ↑ "RAMbrandt". Atari Mania.
  4. ↑ Doudoroff, Martin. "The Antic Cyber Graphics Software and the Pre-history of Autodesk 3D Studio".
  5. ↑ "Spectrum 512". Atari Mania.


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