Although the SC4020 (1959) was the main device for recording computer animation early on, other systems were tried and later other microfilm recorders were used. By 1970 the list included:
- SC4060, 4096 × 4096 addressing (1966)
- Benson-Lehner 120, view of Culham Laboratory's Benson-Lehner 120
- BETA 90
- BETA COM 600 (4096 × 4096)
- CALCOMP 890 and CALCOMP 1670 (UCL, 4096 × 4096 addressing)
- Scangraphics 1200, (1200 × 1600)
- III FR80, (16384 × 16384)
Of these, by far the most successful was the III FR80
To help users move graphics from Calcomp plotters to the SC4020, Woody Anderson produced a system to do the conversion; see his 1970 UAIDE paper VECTOR, A Translation Subroutine for converting Calcomp Programs into DatagraphiX 4020 Tapes.
Logic Data Systems was an early developer of computer animation and a 1970 UAIDE paper Current Areas of Graphics and Animation Development at Logic Data Systems describes some of the areas they were interested in developing and the problems they had encountered.