Introduction to animation 1

Humans have probably attempted to depict motion as far back as the paleolithic period. While there were several predecessors, the 17th century invention of the magic lantern provided the first apparatus with which convincing moving images have been created. However, the movement of these images were the result of moving parts rather than a rapid succession of sequential images. The introduction of the Phenakistoscope in 1833 marks the start of true animation, although it could only show loops of a limited number of "frames".






Phenakistoscope.

The zeotrope concept was suggested in 1834 by William George Horner, and from the 1860s marketed as the zoetrope. It operates on the same principle as the phenakistoscope. It was a cylindrical spinning device with several frames of animation printed on a paper strip placed around the interior circumference. The observer looks through vertical slits around the sides to view the moving images on the opposite side as the cylinder spins.











Zeotrope.


 The first known animated projection on a screen was created in France by Charles-Émile Reynaud, who was a French science teacher. Reynaud created the Praxinoscope in 1877 and the Théâtre Optique in December 1888. On 28 October 1892, he projected the first animation in public, Pauvre Pierrot, at the Musée Grévin in Paris. This film is also notable as the first known instance of film perforations being used. His films were not photographed, but drawn directly onto the transparent strip. In 1900, more than 500,000 people attended these screenings.

  Praxinoscope.