ANIMATION TECHNIQUES
THAUMATROPES
THAUMATROPES
• 1824 by Dr. John Ayrton Paris, an English Doctor.
• Dr. Paris used one to demonstrate persistence of
vision to the Royal College of Physicians in London.
• He called his toy a thaumatrope, which is Greek for
'wonder turner‘.
It consisted simply of a disc with
two pieces of string attached to it.
When the disc was spun between
the strings, the images on the
back and front blended together
to form a single picture.
THAUMATROPES
THE PHENAKISTOSCOPE
THE PHENAKISTOSCOPE
• Greek Meaning deceptive view (to deceive / to
cheat)
• It was invented in 1830 simultaneously by Joseph
Plateau in Belgium and Simon Stampfer in Austria.
• It had a disc carrying a series of images set in a ring
around the circumference, with small slits between
the images. When a rod was placed through the
Centre of the disc, and it was spun in front of a
mirror, a person looking through the slits from the
back of the disc would see a moving image
reflected in the mirror. The images used could either
be abstract patterns or performers such as jugglers
or acrobats.
THE PHENAKISTOSCOPE
THE PHENAKISTOSCOPE
ZOETROPE
ZOETROPE
• The zoetrope was invented in 1834 in England
by William George Horner
• He called it the 'Daedalum' ('the wheel of the
devil)
• It didn't become popular until the 1860s, when
it was patented by makers in both England
and America. The American developer,
William F. Lincoln, named his toy the
'zoetrope', which means 'wheel of life'.
ZOETROPE
ZOETROPE
ZOETROPE
PHONOTROPE
• Formerly the Phonographantasmascope
• The turntable is set to spin at 45rpm, and figures are
placed on it at carefully spaced intervals and lit so
that they appear to remain in the same position but
moving.
• It can be used to animate both two-dimensional
and three-dimensional objects, and its depth
means that it can also offer backgrounds.
PHONOTROPE
• The Phonotrope is the term coined by Animation
Director Jim Le Fevre in 2006.
FLICK BOOK / FLIP BOOK
The first flip book was patented in 1868 by John
Barnes Linnett as the kineograph.
• Several pieces of paper are used, usually
long and narrow
• In each page a drawing is made, starting
from the back, as when it is viewed the
images are seen from back to front
• On each page moving forward through
the book, the drawing is slightly different
• Once completed, the book can be
flicked through and, because the images
are moving past your eyes at speed, the
drawings give the illusion of movement.
FLICK BOOK / FLIP BOOK
FLIP BOOK
ACTIVITY
Think of an action to animate
• The action should have a beginning, middle, and
end.
• Eg.: Plant Growing or a circle to square and then
back into a circle
• Draw the starting image in pencil at the bottom of
the last page
• Draw a sequence of at least 24 visuals
THE PRAXINOSCOPE
• The praxinoscope, invented in 1877 by the
Frenchman Charles Reynaud.
• It was the first device to overcome the picture
distortion caused by viewing through moving slots.
THE PRAXINOSCOPE
THE PRAXINOSCOPE
THE PRAXINOSCOPE
THE PRAXINOSCOPE
PRAXINOSCOPE THEATRE
THEATRE OPTIQUE / PRAXINOSCOPE
THEATRE
• Using this principle, Reynaud found a way to project
the series of pictures onto a screen. He called this
the "Theatre Optique“ in 1878.
• This improved version included a glass viewing
screen which allowed the moving image to be
superimposed over a changeable background. He
continued to improve the design and in 1880
created the first projection version.
• The Projection Praxinoscope used
a lantern to project the moving
images onto a small screen,
allowing a larger audience to view
it, but was still limited to 12 images.
PRAXINOSCOPE THEATRE
THEATRE OPTIQUE / PRAXINOSCOPE
THEATRE
REYNAUD'S THEATRE OPTIQUE
• A standard praxinoscope, can only accommodate a
second or two of animation because of the limited
number of pictures it contains.
• Reynaud's "Theatre Optique" used a long roll of paper to
increase the number of pictures, and was therefore able
to create a much longer show for an audience.
• Exhibited animations consisting of loops of about 500
frames
REYNAUD'S THEATRE OPTIQUE
KINETOSCOPE
• The kinetoscope was invented by Thomas Edison,
who also invented the lightbulb and the phonograph
in 1883.
• The kinetoscope machine could be loaded with a
sheet of perforated film which, when moved over a
light, gave the impression of moving images.
• This was the forerunner of modern film projection,
such as the type which is used in cinemas today,
although this is being overtaken now by digital film.
KINETOSCOPE
KINETOSCOPE
CEL ANIMATION
• Celluloid is film which is made up of a line of cels
• Cel : A single clear rectangle in a roll of traditional film
which contains the image for a fragment of a second of
the animation.
• For cel animation, each picture is drawn onto a cel.
• The invention of the technique is generally attributed to
Earl Hurd, who patented the process in 1914.
• When the film is run at speed over a light, the images are
projected and give the illusion of movement
• Time consuming process
CEL ANIMATION
• Cel animation artwork begins with keyframes (the
first and last frame of an action).
• The animation techniques made famous by Disney
use a series of progressively different on each
frame of movie film which plays at 24 frames per
second.
• A minute of animation may thus require as many as
1,440 (24 * 60 ) separate frames.
CEL ANIMATION
Disney stopped using cels in 1990 when
Computer Animation Production System (CAPS)
replaced this element in their animation process
CEL ANIMATION
Filming the Cels
• Once all the cels have been inked and painted,
• They are given to the camera person who
photographs the backgrounds, along with their
matching cels, according to the instructions on the
dope sheet.
• The processed film, vocal tracks, music and sound
tracks are then synchronized and edited together.
• The final film is sent to the lab to make a film project
print or to be put on video.
• If the studio is employing digital equipment, all
these stages happen in the computer before the
finished film is output.
DOPE SHEET
A summary, ordinarily in
the form of a document,
containing important
facts and background
information concerning
a person, activity, or
other subject matter.
COMPUTER ANIMATION
• Computer animation programs typically employ the
same logic and procedural concepts as cel
animation, using layer, keyframe, and tweening
techniques, and even borrowing from the
vocabulary of classic animators
• On the Computer, paint is most often filled or drawn
with tools using features such as gradients and anti-
aliasing.
COMPUTER ANIMATION
• The primary difference between the animation
software program is in how much must be drawn by
the animator and how much is automatically
generated by the software
• In 2D animation the animator creates an object
and describes a path for the object to follow. The
software takes over, actually creating the
animation on the fly as the program is being viewed
by your user.
• In 3D animation the animator puts his effort in
creating the models of individual and designing the
characteristic of their shapes and surfaces.
FIRST FEATURE FILM
• Toy Story (1995) developed by
Pixar and released by Disney
was the first major animated
movie to be made entirely
using computer animation,
and the trend has continued
to develop from that point.
KINEMATICS
• Kinematics is the study of the movement and
motion of structures that have joints
• Walking man.
• Inverse Kinematics is the process by which you link
objects such as hands to arms and define their
relationships and limits.
• Once those relationships are set you can drag
these parts around and let the computer calculate
the result.
MORPHING
• Morphing is popular effect in which one image transforms
into another.
• Morphing application and other modeling tools that offer
this effect can perform transition not only between still
images but often between moving images as well.
• The morphed images were built at a rate of 8 frames per
second, with each transition taking a total of 4 seconds.
• Some product that uses the morphing features are as
follows
• Black Belt’s Easy Morph and WinImages,
• Human Software’s Squizz
• Valis Group’s Flo , MetaFlo, and MovieFlo.
MORPHING
ROTOSCOPING
• Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which
animators trace over footage, frame by frame, for
use in live-action and animated films
• Originally, recorded live-action film images were
projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn
by an animator.
• This projection equipment is called a rotoscope,
although this device was eventually replaced by
computers
ROTOSCOPING
• This process was invented by the animator Max
Fleischer for his cartoon animation series Out of the
Inkwell in 1915.
• In 1917, Fleischer patented the process.
• Walt Disney Studios had used rotoscoping for some
animation movies such as Snow White and the
Seven Dwarfs, Peter Pan and Cinderella in order to
create realistic movements for otherwise stylized
characters
ROTOSCOPING
ROTOSCOPE
• Rotoscope animation describes the process of
creating animated sequences by tracing over live-
action footage frame by frame.
• Though it can be time consuming, rotoscoping
allows animators to create lifelike characters who
move just like people in the real world.
MOTION CAPTURE
• Motion Capture technology focuses on capturing
the movements, body language, gesture, gaits etc.
of performers it is limited to movement only.
• Actors are connected to a computer and their
movements are captured and turned into a
skeleton.
• The computer then maps the animation to the
skeleton and the character is created.
• Facial expressions and vocalizations must be
recorded separately.
PERFORMANCE CAPTURE
• Performance capture is the next level up from
motion capture technology.
• Performance capturing simultaneously captures the
performer's facial expressions, vocalizations, and
body movements allowing for a more seamless and
realistic end result.
• This technique was used in The Polar Express (2004)
and Avatar (2009).
PERFORMANCE CAPTURE
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