ANIMATION
ANIMATION
The word 'animation' is derived from anima, the Latin
word for soul or spirit. The verb 'to animate' literally
means 'to give life to'.
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_history_01.html
ANIMATION
Pictures of Motion
Lascaux cave drawings in the Dordogne, France.
From carbon dating, these prehistoric paintings,
drawings, and engravings have been dated to about
15,000–13,000 BC.
http://encyclopedia.farlex.com/Lascaux+cave
Five images sequence from a vase found in Iran.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2D_Animation
The Egyptian mural, found in the thomb of
Khnumhotep and Niankhkhnum, at the Beni Hassan
cemetery. The paintings are approximately 4000
years old and show scenes of young soldiers being
trained in wrestling and combat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2D_Animation
ANIMATION
Animation is a type of optical illusion. It involves the
appearance of motion caused by displaying still images
one after another.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-animation.htm
ANIMATION
Animation is a type of optical illusion. It involves the
appearance of motion caused by displaying still images
one after another.
This animation moves at 10
frames per second.
http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-animation.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2D_Animation
ANIMATION
Perception
Eyes or Brain??
THE SYNTHESES OF MOTION
Animation - as we might understand it as a technical
process of synthesising motion from a series of static
images - precedes the invention of the cinematograph
by several decades. It has its roots in the numerous
parlour-game toys popular in the early 1800s which
experimented with persistence of vision effect known
as the Phi phenomenon.
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_history_02.html
Persistence of Vision
First noted in 1820 by Peter Mark Roget, refers to the
length of time the retina (the "screen" at the back of our
eyes which is sensitive to light) retains an image. This
illusion of pictures that seem to move occurs because the
human brain remembers images slightly longer than the
eye sees them.
http://www.randommotion.com/html/zoe.html
Persistence of Vision
Identification of persistence of vision can be traced to
experiments by Newton and later to nineteenth-century
Belgian scientist, Joseph Plateau. Scientific toys based
upon the principle were developed in the early 1800s,
but public fascination did not begin until the Victorian
era. Toys such as the zoetrope became especially
popular during this time.
http://www.randommotion.com/html/zoe.html
The myth of persistence of vision is the mistaken belief
that human perception of motion (brain centered) is the
result of persistence of vision (eye centred). The myth
was debunked in 1912 by Wertheimer but persists in
many citations in many classic and modern film-theory
texts.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Persistence_of_vision
The Phi phenomenon is a result of human instinct. Our
brains strive to make meaning from what we perceive.
When we see different images close together our brains
quickly create a relationship between them. The
metamorphosis of an umbrella into a mushroom makes a
certain kind of sense, even though this is not something
you would ever see in the real world.
http://www.absoluteastronomy.com/topics/Persistence_of_vision
In the lilac chaser, we see a moving purple dot (a standard
illustration of the phi phenomenon). However, if you stare at
the image for long enough the dot appears to erase itself.
This is because the dot produces an afterimage which is
green (the complementary colour of the original dot).
http://www.answers.com/topic/persistence-of-vision
When the green afterimage combines with a purple dot, a
gray dot is produced, exactly the same colour of the
background. Now, the existence of after image is presumed
to be evidence for the persistence of vision hypothesis, but
as you can see here, the afterimage actually interferes with
the movement of the dot. Thus the presence of after image
cannot be the cause of the movement.
http://www.answers.com/topic/persistence-of-vision
Brain Tries to Make Sense
ANIMATION
What Toys Did Victorian Children Play With?
During Victorian times, people became fascinated by
toys that made pictures move. One of the earliest and
simplest of these was the thaumatrope. This is a disc with
a picture on either side that is attached to two pieces of
string or a stick. When you spin the disc quickly, the two
pictures appear to combine into one.
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/victorians/toys.htm
Many of the early inventions designed to animate images
were meant as novelties for private amusement of children
or small parties. Animation devices which fall into this
category include:
1.Thaumatrope (1824)
4. Zoetrope (180 AD; 1834)
2. The magic lantern
5. Flip book (1868)
3.Phenakistoscope (1831) 6. Praxinoscope (1877)
http://www.woodlands-junior.kent.sch.uk/Homework/victorians/toys.htm
A thaumatrope is a toy that was popular in Victorian times.
A disk or card with a picture on each side is attached to two
pieces of string. When the strings are twirled quickly between
the fingers the two pictures appear to combine into a single
image due to persistence of vision.
pediaview.com/openpedia/Thaumatrope
The magic-lantern -- the first
projector -- was invented in the
1650s, and soon became a
showman's instrument. By the end
of the 17th century, wandering
lanternists were putting on smallscale shows in inns and castles,
using a lantern lit with a feeble
candle. Often these shows
featured goblins and devils -hence the name the "magic
lantern."
www.magiclanternshows.com/filmhistory.htm
Phantasmagorias were a type of popular early magic lantern
show (essentially the predecessor of the horror film). By the
19th century this genre was a standard part of the repertoire
of the magic-lantern showman who traveled the country,
playing in theaters. Some of these bizarre slides showed
terrifying figures of the underworld, some were "dissolving
views" in which beauty was transmogrified into beast, and some
were moving caricatures -- the first animated cartoons.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasmagoria
In the Tim Burton film Sleepy Hollow, the
thaumatrope is on a necklace which Johnny Depp's
character Ichabod Crane carries with him.
In the film The Prestige, Michael Caine's character
repeatedly uses a thaumatrope as a way of explaining
persistence of vision.
Louis XIV's music video for "Guilt by Association"
was inspired by thaumatrope. The video is edited in a
way that even if only one member is on the screen, the
other can be seen by persistence of vision.
pediaview.com/openpedia/Thaumatrope
The phenakistoscope use a spinning
disc attached vertically on a handle.
Around the center of the disc a series
of pictures was drawn corresponding
to frames of the animation; around its
circumference was a series of radial
slits. The user would spin the disc and
look through the moving slits at the
disc's reflection in a mirror.
The scanning of the slits across the
reflected images kept them from simply
blurring together, so that the user
would see a rapid succession of images
with the appearance of a motion
picture (see also persistence of vision).
orums.watchuseek.com/f1/angular-momentum-new-product-phenakistoscope-timepiece-450994
The zoetrope was invented in 1834 by William Horner, who
originally called it a Daedalum ("wheel of the Devil"). It was
based on Plateau's phenakistoscope, but was more
convenient since it did not require a viewing mirror and allowed
more than one person to use it at the same time.
http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit10.htm#video
Horner's invention strangely became forgotten for nearly
thirty years until 1867, when it became patented in England by
M. Bradley, and in America by William F. Lincoln. Lincoln
renamed the Daedalum, giving it the name of "zoetrope," or
"wheel of life."
http://courses.ncssm.edu/gallery/collections/toys/html/exhibit10.htm#video
Click picture to see it work
If, when you spin the zoetrope, you look over the top of the
drum at the drawings instead of looking through the slots
all you will see is a blur. The illusion of motion is gone. The
slots of the zoetrope simulate flashes of light, creating a
strobe. Persistence of vision is a stroboscopic effect. The
images you see must be interrupted by moments of
darkness in order for the illusion to work.
http://www.museumstuff.com/learn/topics/history_of_animation::sub::Victorian_Parlor_Toys
A flip book
The first flip book appeared in
September, 1868, when it was
patented by John Barnes
Linnett under the name
kineograph ("moving picture").
They were the first form of
animation to employ a linear
sequence of images rather than
circular (as in the older
phenakistoscope). The
German film pioneer, Max
Skladanowsky, first exhibited
his serial photographic images in
flip book form in 1894.
www.flipbookshd.com
Praxinoscope
In 1877, Frenchman Charles Émile Reynaud, painter
of lantern slides, refined the principle of the Zoetrope
to use reflected light creating the Praxinoscope
(patented December 1877). This was the first device
to overcome the blurred distortion caused by viewing
through narrow fast moving slots and it quickly replaced
the Zoetrope in popularity.
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_history_02.html
Praxinoscope
Like the Zoetrope, a paper strip of pictures is placed
inside a shallow outer cylinder, so that each picture is
reflected by the inner set of mirrors. The number of mirror
facets equaled the number of pictures on the paper strip.
When the outer cylinder rotates, the quick succession of
images reflected in the mirrors gives the illusion of
movement. This produced a image that was more brilliant
and sharper than with any previous device.
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_history_02.html
'Praxinoscope Theatre'
Reynaud set up this apparatus behind a translucent
screen and gave most of the presentations himself, deftly
manipulating the picture bands to and fro to extend the
sequences, creating a twelve or fifteen minute
performance from the 500 gelatine images. Other titles
prepared for his 'Theatre Optique' ran to an
astonishing 700 images.
http://minyos.its.rmit.edu.au/aim/a_notes/anim_history_02.html
Types of Animation
Traditional
Stop Motion
Computer Generated
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Traditional Animation
Also called cel animation, the frames of a traditionally
animated movie are hand-drawn. A group of animators
illustrated and colored the images on celluloid. The
celluloid was transparent sheets, where the hand
drawings were transferred. Each of these "cells", as they
were called, were then photographed individually with a
super 8 or Oxford camera.
Example: The Lion King
http://www.brighthub.com/internet/web-development/articles/67635.aspx
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Stop Motion Animation
Stop-motion animation is any type of animation which requires the
animator to physically alter the scene, shoot a frame, again alter the
scene and shoot a frame and so on, to create the animation.
•Claymation
•Cutouts
•Lego
•Puppet
•Model
•White Board
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Since the general animation renaissance headlined by
the likes of Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Little
Mermaid at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of
the 1990s, there have been an increasing number of stop
motion feature films, despite advancements with
computer animation. The Nightmare Before Christmas,
directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim
Burton was one of the more widely-released stop
motion features. Henry Selick also went on to direct
James and the Giant Peach and Coraline, and Tim
Burton went on to direct Corpse Bride.
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Clay Animation
Often abbreviated to claymation, this is a type of stopmotion animation using figures made of clay or a similar
malleable material.
Example: Wallace and Gromit
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Another individual who found fame in clay animation is Nick
Park, who created the characters Wallace and Gromit. In
addition to a series of award-winning shorts and featurettes, he
won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for the
feature-length outing Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the
Were-Rabbit. Chicken Run, his first feature-length production,
grossed over $100 million at the North American box-office,
and garnered critical praise. Other notable stop motion feature
films released since 1990 include Fantastic Mr. Fox and $9.99,
both released in 2009, and The Secret Adventures of Tom
Thumb (1993). In December 2010, the NBC show
Community had an entire episode in Stop-motion when
character Abed wakes up to discover that everything is in stop
motion animation, Professor Duncan and the study group help
him try to discover the true meaning of Christmas.
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Cutout Animation
In this type of stop-motion animation, the animation
is formed by moving 2-dimensional pieces of
material such as paper or cloth.
Example: South Park
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Puppet Animation
Puppet animation typically involves puppet figures interacting
with each other in a constructed environment, in contrast to the
real-world interaction in model animation The puppets
generally have an armature inside of them to keep them still and
steady as well as constraining them to move at particular joints.
Example: The Nightmare Before Christmas
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Model Animation
In this form of animation, model animated characters
interact with, and are a part of, the live-action world.
Example: Old School King Kong
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
Computer Animation
It is simply a technique that uses software to mimic the
animation tools of the past. Computer Generated Imagery
involves creating multiple frames of a drawing and assigning
keyframes, with a couple of clicks of the mouse. The
animator still has to create the animated character or scene,
either traditionally by hand drawing one image, or creating it
from scratch with the computer. The main difference is
instead of thousands of drawings, you can now use a
handful which are duplicated with your software program.
You can then manipulate the images to form the animation.
• 2D animation
• 3D animation
http://www.brighthub.com/internet/web-development/articles/67635.aspx
2D Computer Animation
Figures are created and/or edited on the computer
using 2D bitmap graphics or created and edited using
2D vector graphics. This includes automated
computerized versions of traditional animation
techniques such as of tweening, morphing, onion
skinning and interpolated rotoscoping.
Examples: Simpsons
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
3D Computer Animation
Figures are created in the computer using polygons.
To allow these meshes to move they are given a
digital armature. This process is called rigging.
Various other techniques can be applied, such as
mathematical functions, simulated fur or hair, effects
such as fire and water.
Examples The Incredibles.
http://www.aaacaricatures.com/animation.html
History of Animated Film
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Film projectors usually run at a rate of 24 frames, or
pictures, per second. VCR and DVD players play
and/or record at a rate of 30 frames per second.
But old silent movie projectors run at 16 or 18
frames per second. They are so slow they seem to
flicker.
http://www.randommotion.com/html/zoe.html
The zoopraxiscope is an early
device for displaying motion
pictures. Created by
photographic pioneer Eadweard
Muybridge in 1879, it may be
considered the first movie
projector. The zoopraxiscope
projected images from rotating
glass disks in rapid succession to
give the impression of motion. The
stop-motion images were initially
painted onto the glass, as
silhouettes.
medlibrary.org/medwiki/Zoopraxiscope
A second series of discs, made in 1892-94, used
outline drawings printed onto the discs
photographically, then colored by hand. Some of
the animated images are very complex, featuring
multiple combinations of sequences of animal and
human movement.
medlibrary.org/medwiki/Zoopraxiscope
Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze
1894 was a pivotal year for Thomas Edison and his crew. It
was the beginning of commercial film activity with the opening
of the first public kinetoscopic parlors, and Edison was
poised to be the prime supplier of films for this new form of
entertainment.This film of Fred Ott's sneeze was among the
earliest of these short subjects and was shot by Edison's
masterful assistant, W. K. L. Dickson.
www.opticaltoys.com/edison.htm
First animated film
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces (1906) by J. Stuart
Blackton. It features what appears to be a cartoonist
drawing faces on a chalkboard, and the faces apparently
coming to life; whereas it was actually black line art drawn on
white paper and then printed as a film-negative to look like
white chalk.
www.juggle.com/humorous-phases-of-funny-faces
French animated film
by Émile Cohl.
This makes Fantasmagorie (1908) the first animation
on film created using what came to be known as
traditional (hand-drawn) animation.
medlibrary.org/medwiki/Fantasmagorie_(1908_film)
Influenced by Cohl, Russian scientist Ladislas Starevitch
started to create animated films using dead insects with wire
limbs. In 1911 he created "The Cameraman's Revenge", a
complex tale of treason, suicide and violence between
several different insects. It is a pioneer work of puppet
animation, and the oldest known example of an animated film
of such dramatic complexity, with characters filled with
motivation, desire and feelings.
In 1914, American cartoonist Winsor McCay released
Gertie the Dinosaur, an early example of character animation.
Resources
I would like to thank all of the individuals cited on these
slides. These slides are based upon the work from a
variety of resources from the internet.