Animation History
A Few Web links
Background
- Persistence of Vision
"Animation involves the production of a series of still images that,
when played back in quick succession (usually on film or video),
appear as continuously moving. This illusion is produced by a physiological
characteristic of our eyes known as persistence of vision. That is,
when human eyes are stimulated - for example, by a still image - a slight
afterimage is left on the retina of each eye after the stimulus is taken way.
As a sequence of still images, or frames, plays back, each eye retains an afterimage
of each frame for a brief moment, and this afterimage fills in the minuscule gap between the frame
just past and the frame yet to come. As a result, adjacent frames seem to
flow together smoothly" (from Principles of Three-Dimensional Computer Animation
by O'Rourke.)
- Phi Effect
More recently, it is believed that Persistence of Vision is not quite correct.
The Phi effect is an optical illusion in which the rapid appearance and disappearance of
two stationary objects such as flashing lights are perceived as the movement back and forth of a single object.
Note: the term "flicks" for movies came from the
flickering of the projector.
The flicker is used to separate the images and are controlled by the shutter.
- Cave Paintings
Early examples of attempts to capture the phenomenon of motion into a still drawing can be found in
paleolithic cave painting, where animals are depicted with multiple legs in superimposed positions,
clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion. In torch light,
the figures looked like they were moving. For example, see Cave of Chauvet Cave (Hillaire Chamber,
Panorama of the north wall, Panel of the Horses, Right wall of the alcove)
- Egyptian Book of the Dead: 1240 BCE contains
a series of sequential drawings consisting of
chapters on how to get along in afterlife.
- Trajan's Column is a monument in Rome raised in honour of the Roman emperor Trajan and constructed by the architect Apollodorus of Damascus at the order of the Roman Senate. It is located in Trajan's Forum, built near the Quirinal Hill, north of the Roman Forum. Completed in 113, the freestanding column is most famous for its spiral bas relief, which commemorates Trajan's victory in the Dacian Wars.
- Thaumatrope:
Two images rotated by thumb.
- Zoetrope, "wheel of life": cylinder spun on an axis. inside strip of drawings. Drum had slits through which one viewed the drawings.
Build your own! or Click here for animation.
- Wikipedia - Eadweard Muybridge
- Early animation techniques (also see Centennial Of American Animation
- In Gertie (1914) by Winsor McCay, each frame was inked on rice paper
and mounted on cardboard. Each picture, background included, was
completely redrawn for each frame.
- In 1914, John Randalph Bray patented the method of
printing many copies of the background
on translucent paper. On different sheets, specific portions
would be blocked out
and then laid over blank paper on which the artist would
animate the part of the scene that
was to move. Translucent sheets would blend together under the
camera lens. Later, more
layers were added.
- Celluloid or cel for short is still used today. It was one of the
most important developments in animation production. Patented by
Earl Hurd in 1914. He proposed drawing a complete stationary
background on paper, with characters inked and painted on clear
celluloids laid on top.
- "Peg System" invented by Raoul Barrè made it easier to perfectly align
successive tracings
- Bill Nolan discovered that if a background was drawn on a long sheet of
paper, then it could pass underneath to give the effect of the character
moving even though the character stayed in place.
- Master animators draw the most important frames (called a key frame)
and then less experienced animators would draw the in-betweens.
Computer animation of today is based on the same idea except that the
computer plays the part of the in-betweeners.
Early Animations
Invovations of Animators at Disney
- Webb Smith at Disney was credited with developing storyboarding.
- First to combine animation with sound.
- First to make use of color and to make use of color's
psychological as well as esthetic effects.
- First to develop pencil tests (photographing the rough animation
drawings before proceeding with cleanup, inking, and painting.
- First to give characters real personality.
- First to view animation as not just a series of drawings, but as movement and
expression.
- developed the multiplace camera - 14 ft high - which looks though a
series of places to give depth and dimension.
- first company to have an "effects" department.
- first to create a feature length film (Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs)
- See Disney web page for more history.
Book Reference
Much of the above material on this web page was obtained from:
Of Mice and Magic, Leonard Maltin
- Of Mice and Magic, Leonard Maltin
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