What is the genesis of animation?

In the most general sense, to animate means “to give something life,” which includes puppetry, such as in Sesame Street, as well as the use of electromechanical devices to move puppets, called animatronics. The story is full of attempts to bring objects to life. It is a combination of myths, hoaxes, spectacles, science and medicine. Many references to animation come in the form of stories about conjuring up the life force in some human form: from Pygmalion, to Prometheus, Wagner’s homunculus in Goethe’s Faust, to Mary Shelley’s Dr. Frankenstein. However, here we will focus on devices that use a sequence of still images to create the effect of a single moving image, as these devices have a closer relationship to the animation of handmade drawings.

Early devices

taumatrop

The persistence of visual sensation and the ability to interpret a series of images as a moving picture were actively studied, long before the invention of the movie camera. Noticing and then studying this effect led to the development of a variety of devices designed to entertain. Perhaps the simplest of these early devices was the thaumatrope – a flat plate with images drawn on both sides and with two strings attached to opposite edges. The plate could be quickly turned over with the twisted strings. If it was turned fast enough, the two images overlapped. A classic example showed an image of a bird on one side and an image of a cage on the other; by turning the plate, the effect was that of placing a bird in a cage.

An equally simple technique turned out to be the inconspicuous flipbook, a block of paper with individual drawings on each sheet.

Zoetrop

During a quick re-cut, the observer has the impression of perceived motion. One of the most famous early animation devices is the zoetrope, or wheel of life. A zoetrope is a flat cylinder rotating around its axis. On its inner surface is drawn a series of images, each slightly different from its neighbors. Longitudinal vertical slits are cut between adjacent images. The observer, looking inside the rotating cylinder through the slits moving in front of his eye, has the impression of movement drawn inside the object.

Similar devices that use rotating (spinning) elements to present a sequence of images to the viewer are the phenakistoscope and praxinoscope. A phenakistoscope consists of two discs rotating simultaneously on a common axis. In one of them slits are cut, and on the other, opposite the slits, painted images. The images are viewed through the slits on the first disk. In the praxinoscope, a smaller spinning cylinder with mirrors attached is placed inside the large cylinder with images. The observer watches the reflections of successive images in the mirrors.

flipbook

Just before the end of the 19th century, moving pictures found their way to the stage. The magic lantern (a projector that has a candle or lamp inside) and shadow-casting puppets became popular theatrical entertainments. To show strings of images during his lectures, Muybridge invented the zoopraxinoscope, a projector based on spinning discs with slits. Later, in 1891, the seeds of revolution were sown: Thomas Edison invented the kinetograph, a device for viewing moving images, bringing a new industry to the world.

Today, everything is done in the digital world. We animate using the computing power of computers. Sample 2D animations and 3D animations can be viewed in our HOW HOW portfolio.