Antic Software was a software company associated with '' Antic'', a magazine for the

Atari 8-bit family The Atari 8-bit family is a series of 8-bit home computers introduced by Atari, Inc. in 1979 as the Atari 400 and Atari 800. The series was successively upgraded to Atari 1200XL , Atari 600XL, Atari 800XL, Atari 65XE, Atari 130XE, Atari 800XE, ...

of computers. Bound into issues of the magazine, the Antic Software catalog initially sold Atari 8-bit games, applications, and utilities from the recently defunct

Atari Program Exchange Atari Program Exchange (APX) was a division of Atari, Inc. that sold software via mail-order for the Atari 8-bit family of home computers. Quarterly APX catalogs were sent to all registered Atari 8-bit owners. APX encouraged any programmer, not j ...

. Original submissions were later added, as well as public domain collections, with all software provided on self-documented disk. When the

Atari ST The Atari ST is a line of personal computers from Atari Corporation and the successor to the Atari 8-bit family. The initial model, the Atari 520ST, had limited release in April–June 1985 and was widely available in July. It was the first pers ...

was released, it became a mixture of Atari 8-bit and Atari ST software and sold some major Atari ST titles such as CAD-3D. The magazine insert changed names several times, eventually being branded as ''The Catalog''. ''Antic'' assistant editor Gigi Bisson wrote in the May 1986 issue that, " ntic Softwarekept the magazine afloat during the lean year," referring to the period following Atari, Inc.'s financial collapse.

History

When the

(APX) was shut down by Atari CEO James J. Morgan in 1984,

Gary Yost Gary Yost (born April 5, 1959) is an American filmmaker and software designer, best known for leading the team that created Autodesk 3ds Max. Antic Software Yost created the Antic Software publishing unit for Antic Magazine in 1984 after Jack ...

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 1985 the magazine insert was called ''Antic Arcade'' (despite including more than games). By 1986 it was branded ''The Catalog'' with the emphasis on

applications.

Software

Atari 8-bit family

*''Colourspace'', light synthesizer from Jeff Minter. *''Dandy Dungeon'', renamed version of Atari Program Exchange game '' Dandy''. *''HomeCard'', filing system written by '' Preppie!'' programmer Russ Wetmore and Sparky Starks. *''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.

Atari ST

*'' CAD-3D'', 3D modeling system and related add-ons. ''CAD-3D'' is a precursor to ''

3D Studio MAX Autodesk 3ds Max, formerly 3D Studio and 3D Studio Max, is a professional 3D computer graphics program for making 3D animations, models, games and images. It is developed and produced by Autodesk Media and Entertainment. It has modeling capabil ...

''. *''Spectrum 512'', Atari ST paint program allowing 512 colors per image instead of the standard 16.

Legacy

Gary Yost went on to form The Yost Group which created and licensed products to Autodesk:

Autodesk Animator Autodesk Animator is a 2D computer animation and painting program published in 1989 for MS-DOS. It was considered groundbreaking when initially released.

Autodesk Animator Pro Autodesk Animator is a 2D computer animation and painting program published in 1989 for MS-DOS. It was considered groundbreaking when initially released.

, Autodesk 3D Studio, and Autodesk 3DS MAX. 3D Studio is a direct successor of CAD-3D.

References

Defunct software companies Atari 8-bit family {{ict-company-stub