My old pal Pix

The company upgraded my version of Pro/E to 4.0 on Monday. As I was looking through the program, I found my old pal Pix:

Pix and I go back a long way. Nowadays Pix gets put in 3D models of equipment to see how the ergonomics of said drawn equipment will work out. Good work if you can get it.

Like I said, Pix and me, we go back a few years, probably right around thirty years ago. I remember meeting Pix when he was a simple collection of four-bit sprites. I think one of the first things I saw Pix in was the game Berzerk:

Back then, Pix, like me, was young, simple, and not as rounded off. He and I spent a lot of time together back in the early '80's, until Pix caught his big break back in 1985, and he got work in the famous Dire Straits video 'Money for Nothing'.

That's Pix in the background, the skinny mover. They made him up a lot for the video-added a few more bits of resolution and a lot more color. The crew, I think, enhanced a lot of his features.

After Money For Nothing, Pix found himself with plenty of work. I remember next seeing Pix playing a batter in Accolade's Hard Ball, a game I played a lot of on the old C64.

Well, I was surprised at how Pix had changed! He got a bit rounder, and somehow seemed to move more smoothly in his environment. His whole world seemed to acquire more depth and detail as he got older. I suppose that happens to all of us, though.

Time marches on. A few years passed. I surprisingly ran across Pix playing a part in Activision's fun automotive shoot-'em-up and homeage to 1970s Detroit, Interstate '76.

That's Pix on the left. I could see he'd been working out-he'd gotten all angular and full of polygons. He could move and shoot and drive at least as well as I was able to. I told him it was good to see him, and gave him some crap about the tan he was sporting. He told me that color palettes and shape renderings had come a way since his Berzerk days. I could see that technology was good for him and I was glad to see him still working.

Life happens, and somehow I lost touch with Pix until this week. As you can see from the very first pic, Pix has matured-all animated and much more flexible then when he was younger. Must be yoga and increased computer capabilities.

Pix says his next big ambition is to be portrayed as a three-dimensional hologram. I told him I wouldn't be surprised if someday he managed to do that. I wished him the best right before I powered down for the night.

Always good to see your friends hit the big time.

yankeedog out.