Visual Effects and Rotoscoping

-Bob Sabiston’s early career is very much in keeping with the tradition of individual innovation not unlike Blackton, Cohl, McCay, The Fleischers, etc.

-He invented software that allowed for simple tracing over existing footage; It was essentially a modern, digital version of the “rotoscoping” technique.

-Along with Tommy Pallotta, he made Roadhead (1999) which premiered at that year’s ResFest.

-His software allows even novice animators artistic freedom to create poetic animation works; unlike the often mechanical movement in older rotoscoped films, Sabiston’s animation movements are much more fluid and abstract.

-Sabiston and Pallotta team with fellow Austin, Texas resident Richard Linklater to make Waking Life.

-Sabiston was one of the key creative figures responsible for the animation in 2006’s A Scanner Darkly.