Vector art has hit the big screen. A recent film based on a Phillip K. Dick novel used 50 animators working for 18 months to create vector effects. A Scanner Darkly, a film about a futuristic world, was done entirely in vector. Each minute of film took 500 hours to complete, using a licensed software program not available to consumers. Adobe Illustrator is also a vector program (if not the vector software), and we can create similar images using it.

Adobe Illustrator Techniques Managing Editor Chad Neuman recently caught up with Starling Allen, the lead animator for A Scanner Darkly, and asked him about vector technology, his inspirations, and the methods used for this vector animation film. Continue