CSC 202
INTRO. TO COMPUTER ANIMATION
History of Animation
By Uzoma James Chikwem
DEFINITION

Computer: an electronic device designed to
accept data, performs high-speed mathematical
or logical operations, processes information and
displays these operations on the screen.

Animation: The state of being full of life or
vigor, liveliness or portraying the illusion of
motion.
ANIMATED OR NOT?
Were
cave
paintings
the first
animated
images ?
ANIMATED OR NOT?
4000 years old
Were
burial
chamber
mural
designs
the first
animated
images ?
ANIMATED OR NOT?
Iranian Vase
motion designs
is considered
as one of the
first forms of
animation ever
5200 years old
ANIMATION ON EARLY DEVICES
Magic Lantern (1650)


Predecessor of the
modern day projector!
Images would display
motion as slides, or
plates, moved back and
forth.
Thaumatrope (1824)



A disk, or card, with a
painting on each side
Attached to two pieces of
string.
Twirled quickly between the
fingers the two pictures
appear to combine into a
single image.
ANIMATION ON EARLY DEVICES
Phenakistoscope(1831)



Also known as Magic disc.
Consists of a disk containing
a sequence of images,
around the circumference,
set like a ring.
When spun rapidly created
the illusion of motion, or
animation.
Zoetrope(1834)



Meaning the “Wheel of Life”.
An adaptation of the
Phenakistoscope.
Cylindrical spinning device
with several frames of
animation printed along the
interior circumference.
ANIMATION ON EARLY DEVICES
Flip Book(1868)


Flip book is a collection of
animated images intended
to give the illusion of
movement, or animation.
By bending the pages back
and then rapidly releasing
the pages one at a time so
that our perception of
vision is fooled into
creating motion or
animated short clip.
DEVICE THAT LEAD TO THE AGE OF ANIMATION
Praxinoscope (1877)




the successor to the zoetrope.
used a strip of pictures placed
around the inner surface of a
spinning cylinder.
improved on the zoetrope by
replacing its narrow viewing
slits with an inner circle of
mirrors.
In 1889, an improved version
capable of projecting images on
a screen from a longer roll of
pictures. This allowed him to
show hand-drawn animated
cartoons to larger audiences.
ANIMATION TECHNIQUES STILL USED TODAY
Stop-Motion





Manipulate a character or
object to appear to move on it’s
own.
Moved in small increments
between frames.
Creates illusion of movement
when played in sequence.
Often called clay animation or
claymation.
Used in popular movies like ?
ANIMATION TECHNIQUES STILL USED TODAY
Cel-technique





Also known as cel-animation
an important innovation to
traditional animation
allows some parts of each
frame to be repeated from
frame to frame, thus saving
labor.
a sheet of transparent cellulose
acetate used as a medium for
painting animation frames.
can be laid over other cels
and/or a painted background,
then photographed.
TIMELINE BEFORE VIDEO OR FILM ANIMATION
Vase Design
3000 B.C.
1800 B.C.
Burial Mural
Blueprints
Thaumatrope
1510
1650
Magic Lantern
Zoetrope
1824
1831
Phenakistoscope
Praxinoscope
1834
1868
Flip book
1877
TIMELINE FOR FRAME OR STOP-MOTION ANIMATION
Praxinoscope
1876
Praxinoscope II
1897
1888
1888
Kinetoscope
Stop-Motion
1892
Cinematography
1912
Cel-Technique