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Period: Jan 1, 1420 to
Projectors
Probably one of the most remarkable inventions in he history of animation and motion pictures, projectors were first taught in 1420, when Johannes de Fontana has drawn a monk with a lantern projecting an image on a window.
The magic lantern was later invented, even though it was quite big, but it had the ability to project images.
Developed over time, the projector was re-designed in 1990, by Texas Instruments, that created a device using 1.3 mil microscopic mirros. -
The magic lantern
Known as being invented in the 17th century, it is a debate over the inventor of this projector, between the Dutch mathematician Christiaan Huygens and the Venetian engineer Giovanni Fontana.
Using a curved concave mirror(bulged inwards), it is being placed in front of a light source(oil lamp), so that it can project an image from a heavy glass slide, using a reflector and a condensing lens to focus the light. -
Thaumatrope
A popular invention from either John Ayrton Paris or Peter Mark Roget, having two parts of a string in each side of a disk having two different pictures on both sides.
Due to the effect of persistence of vision( refering to the image that remains on the retina for a very short length of time), the images give the impression of combining into one.
Some examples of a thaumatrope could include a dog chasing birds, a tree having leafs falling off, or a bird getting in a cage. -
Period: to
Cel Animation
Invented in 1824 by Peter Roget, cel animatin was first use using a zoetrope to view the images moving.
It was later used by Emile Cohl in 1889 to create the film Fantasmagorie and than for historic animations such as Gertie the Dinosaur and Felix the Cat.
When Walt Disney appeared in the industry of animation, he used the rotoscope for the "Steam Boat Willy" film, which also used the technique known as cel animation.
Later on, "Snow White and the Seven Dwarves" and Bugs Bunny used it. -
Phenakistoscope
A disk compromising of a number of images, following a logical order of motion, as in a modern day animation frame by frame drawn.
Another good usage of the persistance of vision, used among with a handle and a mirror, in order to visualise through the moving cuts on the disk spinning very fast, giving the impression of a real motion happening.
Invented by the Belgian Joseph Plateau, a phenakistoscope can only be used by one person at a time. -
Zoetrope
The zoetrope was invented by William Horner, using the same principles as the previous two inventions, it consists of a cylinder which is open in the middle, being supported by a vertical handle, having a number of paper drawn images, inside the cylinder, close to the bottom.
By spinning the zoetrope, and looking through the equally placed "spots" in the apparatus, more than one people can see the disk spinning very fast, giving the impression of motion. -
Period: to
Rotational inventions
From the zoetrope, to the praxinoscope, many devices used to give the illusion of motion, worked by rotating the usually hand-drawn frames, taking use of the persistance of vision phenomenon.
The devices have evolved in time, to offer a sharper and more realistic animation, offering a slot for normally one viewer, to position so that a single animation is being created from re-drawn frames. -
Flip book
One great and innovative invention used even today to display computer generated content, the flip book was invented in 1868 by John Barnes Linnett.
Consisting of a number of pages attached to a central node, with drawn images on each page, at the same coordinates from the previous draw, in order to simulate a motion, giving the impression of an animation. It is realised by using the persistence of vision, by flipping the pages fast, nowadays precisely created by a digital printer, using a PC -
Praxinoscope
Emile Reynaud invented it in 1877, in order to provide a better version of the previous zoetrope. It's usage provides higher quality animations, using a set of mirrors inside the cylinder, in order to reflect and give the impression of motion, less distorted and clearer. The viewer needs to look directly into the mirror instead of placing his eyes through the slits. The Theatre Optique invented by Reynaud, presented a praxinoscope using a projector to display images to a large audience of peopl -
Kinetoscope
Allowing only one person to view a film at a time, it was invented by Thomas Edison in 1889.
Another illusion creator, that can be regarded as the grandfather of modern projectors.
At 46 frames per second, it gives the impression of movement, by showing a number of images, using an electric bulb as a light source, and a shutter, in order to allow the film to be exposed to the light.
Starting in May 1893, Edisson released some of his first film's lasting 20 seconds, using the kinetoscope. -
Cinematograph
Intended to be an improved version of Eddison's cinematograph, it was invented by the Lumiere brothers, with it's first demonstration in 1895.
Weighting 7 kg, it was easily viewable by larger audiences, projecting images on big screens.
The grandfather of the modern motion picture industry, it used a camera, a frame, a link which has a side to provide the film(located in the threading slot) from top to bottom. -
"The Humpty Dumpty Circus"
Directed by Albert E Smith, this theatrical release, was included in the Guiness Book of Movie Facts and Feats as being the first film to the the stop-motion technique.
It uses toy animals and acrobators to give the impression of an imaginary circus happening. -
"Humorous Phases of Funny Faces"
J Stuart Blackton created this cartoon with no sound(silent), drawing a number of phases and other objects(umbrella), giving the illusion of motion.
Using the stop-motion technique, as well as a cutout animation, to offer a more realistic approach, it is often credited as one of the first animated movies. -
Clay animation
Another type of stop-motion animation, using clay figures for the characters and background, played as over 10-12 frames per second, giving once more time a realistic approach to animation and the illusion of actual movement.
One of the hardest materials to be used for figures, as it may get damage very easily, plasticine and other appropriate materials, can also be used to replicate. -
"En route"
Emil Cohl released this theatrical short, having only 6 minutes of footage, it is a cut-out animation, using puppets made out of paper, different from the previous drawn example, in order to make modelling of the characters much easier. -
"Gertie the dinosaur"
Another short film, created this time by Winsor McCay, it had a very attractive central figure, 6.5 by 8.5 inch sheets of rice paper, were used for the drawing of numerous frames.
Using another drawing as the "master", in order to trace the background, McCay used the keyframe technique to save time, by drawing the most important position of the dinosaur.
Registration marks were also used in order to keep the background from moving, in order to make it look more professional. -
Cel Animation
Of the most popular and effective types of traditional animation, used before the computer-era for animation has come.
Every well known cartoonist and animator, aproximately 20 or more years ago, was drawing each frame by hand, requiring high analytical and design skills.
There were many techniques and materials which could be used for painting and drawing on the cels, using a camera to take pictures of it afterwards. -
Rotoscoping
One of the most popular techniques used even today in newer motion pictures, it started as a device(rotoscoper) used to draw an image, from the projected footage.
Max Fleischer invented this technique, which was later used in the 1939 Gulliver's Travels, as well as most notably in the Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, by Walt Disney.
Requiring complex drawing skills, in order to make it look very realistic, rotoscoping is also used for tracing backgrounds, which can be used later on. -
Period: to
Rotoscoping
A technique used to draw frames straight on the footage, by imagination or tracing other pictures.
Invented by Max Fleischer, it was first used in the "Out of the Inkwell", and than adapted in Gulliver's Travels, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs(for studying humans, The Lord of the Rings(1978), Take on Me(1985) and many others. -
"El apostol"
Taking use of cutout images, it was the first full-length(70 min.) animated movie, running at 14 frames per second, created by Quirino Cristiani in Argentina.
Used to redicule the then president of the country( Hipólito Yrigoyen, the only copy was lost in a fire at the film studio. -
"Felix the cat"
The undisputed popular character created by either Pat Sullivan or Otto Mesmer, it was mainly targeted to a young audience, but because of its realism and funny attitude, it was attracting more viewers than expected.
After the Mickey Mouse was introduced, the silent version of the felix cat looked outdated, and it was revived years later in a tv-series that was extremely popular. -
"Steamboat Willie"
Another black and white cartoon, this time created by one of the most important animators of all time. Walt Disney.
The first Mickie Mouse cartoon, featuring Minnie, it was one of the first cartoons to have sound synchronised to the pictures.
The budget was aproximatelly at $5000, -
"Donald Duck"
Another animation created by Walt Disney, it is the one the most published character in comic books, first appearing in the The Wise Little Hen, along with Peter Pig. -
Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
Released by Walt-Disney, it is a stop-motion cel animation, first full length in the history of movie making.
Considered to be one of the best animated movies of all time, it went on to gross over $416 million worldwide. -
Period: to
Computer animation
Starting around 1940, 1950, where computers were still huge boxes that could not create better animation than drawings, the computer animation industry has expanded over time to use all the previous techniques, such as rotoscoping, key frames, tweening and many others.
Starting in 1970s, it was used in famous movies such as : the Star Wars, Alien, Toy Story 3(3D graphics) and many others.
Some of the world's most popular computer animation software include Autodesk Maya, Blender and Adobe Flash -
"Huckleberry Hound"
Another popular character in the history of 2D animation, released by the Hanna-Barbera company.
The Huckleberry Hound Show, featured 3 episodes, each of 7 minutes, introducing supporting characters such as the Yogi Bear and Hokey Wolf. -
"The Flinstones"
The original show, consisting of over 166 episodes, was created by Hanna-Barbera, featuring a modest family in the Stone-Age.
There were often moments in the show, when modern machines appeared as huge dinosaurs or stone made equipment.
It was the first American animated show, to feature two sexes co-starring with each other(Fred and Wilma). -
"One Hundred and One Dalmatians"
The novel was written by Dodel Smith but the animation by Walt Disney, the action taking place in London.
Instead of using rotoscoping to draw the movements of the character "Anita" recorded with one of the actors, the animators decided to follow the natural movements and draw them, for a more realistic look. -
Morphing
The process of changing one picture to another, it is mostly used in movies to present a transformation of a character into another.
The first movie to use this effect, was "The Golden Child", starring Eddie Murphy, presenting a transformation from human to animal and reverse, which wasn't very realistic.
The process was later refined by many companies, including George Lucas's Industrial Light & Magic. -
"Toy Story"
The first animated film produced by Pixar, who would later become the most successfull company in the animation industry, it was the first full-length film, using only computer generated images.
Using 400 computers, Pixar had each character created in clay, after the animators made it on computer.
It had the voice of popular actors such as Tom Hanks and Tim Allen, to be synchronised with the images.
