Ever since I started learning animation in early 1998, the importance of computer hardware was clear to me. Due to the high price of a personal computer, I had to rent a computer by the hour from a newly established computer training school. These computers, which were usually Intel i386 models, were used to teach the DOS operating system and did not have a mouse. That’s why I had to travel to another city to get a Genius mouse so I could start learning Autodesk Animator Pro. Subsequent experiences over the following years made me more aware of the importance of hardware for animation production. To be independent in this field, I started learning hardware. It took me years to acquire the necessary knowledge in this field by reading books, following hardware news, watching various videos, assembling parts, and various tests. Later, when I started teaching computer graphics, I used these experiences and information to advise my students to buy a suitable computer for learning and doing projects. In some cases, I also advised companies to buy suitable hardware for animation production.
In the video below, you can see the steps of assembling the parts of a workstation system for use in rendering. I prepared the parts of this workstation system in 2014 for an animation company in Tehran. The video includes detailed explanations about the components and their performance testing in Maya software.
During these years, I tried to increase my experience working with different hardware and use every opportunity to learn more about them. Below are the names of the hardware that I experienced working with:
- DPS Perception Video Recorder (PVR): When I was working at Mahabad local TV channels
- DPS Personal Animation Recorder (PAR): When I was working at Kelk-e-Khial
- Sony Betacam SP UVW-1800: When I was working at Mahabad and Kish local TV channels
- DVCAM Recorder: When I was working at Ima Film
- Power Mac G4 and G5: When I was working at Ima Film
- SGI O2 Workstation: When I was working at Saba Animation Center
- Arduino
- Leap Motion Controller
- Oculus Quest 1: When I was working on the VR Doctor project
- Oculus Quest 2: When I was working on Autism VR and WHMIS 2015 VR projects