SmartSketch

SmartSketch was an early vector-based graphics application from FutureWave Software that eventually evolved into Flash.

Product history
Prior to working on SmartSketch, Jonathan Gay had developed another vector graphics program, IntelliDraw, at Silicon Beach Software. Silicon Beach was acquired by Aldus Corporation in 1990. Gay left Silicon Beach with co-founder Charlie Jackson to establish FutureWave in 1993.

Gay convinced Jackson to invest in a graphics application that would become SmartSketch for PenPoint OS to run on graphics tablets designed by GO Corporation. After AT&T Corporation acquired the rights to the EO Personal Communicator tablets only to discontinue it, Gay and Jackson discovered that they no longer had a viable market for SmartSketch and retooled it to be able to output animated content that could be played back from any web browser. This product became FutureSplash Animator.

FutureWave and its software were acquired by Macromedia in January 1997. FutureSplash then became known as Macromedia Flash.

Articles

 * From SmartSketch to Flash by Charity C. Holloway at Active Interactive (2011-09-18)
 * Here Today, Gone in a Flash by Tali Scheer at Towards Data Science (2019-04-22)