Joe Barbera and Computer-Assisted Animation at Hanna-Barbera

Joe Barbera died on Monday, at age 95. (That's Barbera on the left, Hanna on the right.) From the WSJ obit:

"From the Stone Age to the Space Age and from primetime to Saturday mornings, syndication and cable, the characters he created with his late partner, William Hanna, are not only animated superstars, but also a very beloved part of American pop culture. While he will be missed by his family and friends, Joe will live on through his work," Warner Bros. Chairman and CEO Barry Meyer said Monday.

Little-known fact: Hanna-Barbera was one of the pioneers of computer-assisted animation.... using it before Pixar, Disney, and DreamWorks to keep production costs down. Very little info exists on the Net about their approach. But Mark Levoy of Stanford was involved. Here's a bit more.