1834-01-01 00:00:00 William George Horner invents the ZoetropeWilliam George Horner invented the zoetrope in 1834 under the name Daedaleum. As shown in the image, the zoetrope was a cylindrically shaped object with slits in the side of it. By looking through these slits you can see small images which are placed inside the cylinder of the zoetrope.
Whilst the zoetrope is spinning round, if you look through these slits, you can see an illusion of movement with the sequence of images inside the cylinder. It uses persistence of vision, where the retina in the eye retains an image after it moves which creates the illusion of movement when the zoetrope is turned.
1841-01-01 00:00:00 Joseph Plateau invents the PhenakistoscopeJoseph Plateau invented the phenakistoscope. It used a spinning disc with visually similar images next to each other which created the illusion of movement when turned. It was fairly similar to the Zoetrope however you viewed it from above instead of through slits in a cylinder. This design made it much easier to see the illusion and made it less likely that you would break the illusion, as with the zoetrope you can easily break the illusion by looking at the wrong angle. 1877-01-01 10:13:30 Charles-Emile Reynaud invents the PraxinoscopeCharles-Emile Reynaud invented the praxinoscope. The praxinoscope was modelled around the zoetrope which was invented by William George Horner.
Instead of using slits in the side of the cylinder the praxinoscope used mirrors located around a smaller cylinder located inside the praxinoscope. By looking at these mirrors you can see the reflection of the images that are against the outer cylinder which makes it less likely to break the illusion of motion and make the images generally easier to see. This GIF shows the illusion it creates. 1881-12-12 19:41:58 Life of Harry WarnerHarry Warner was born. He was an American film executive who formed Warner Bros. Together with his brothers Albert, Sam and Jack.
He first started working as a shoe maker when he was 19, but in 1905 him and his brother Sam took an interest in film making and animation after seeing the Kinetoscope, made by Thomas Edison. Therefore the Kinetoscope was a key inspiration for the Warner brothers to found Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. He was born on the 12th of December 1881 and died on the 25th July 1958. 1891-01-01 00:00:00 Thomas Edison invents the KinetoscopeThomas Edison invented the kinetoscope. It was a device used for showing videos for one person at a time by looking through a small hole at the top of the device. It showed videos by conveying a film strip beneath the small hole.
This film strip had small images on it which when illuminated by a light source and conveyed along quickly the viewer could see a small animation from the images on the film strip. Edison took inspiration for it from Eadweard Muybridge’s zoopraxiscope.
It inspired the current forms of cinema projection. When it was revealed to the public in 1894 it was a relatively large success, resulting in a lot of Kinetoscope sales in Europe especially. 1895-01-01 00:00:00 The Lumiere brothers invented the CinematographThe cinematograph was invented by the lumiere brothers. It acted like a film projector and the lumiere brothers invented it to rival Edison’s kinetoscope. It was much lighter than the kinetoscope and projected an image onto a large screen which could be viewed by an audience, whereas Edison’s Kinetoscope could only be viewed by 1 person at a time. It was operated by turning a crank which spun a film wheel and illuminated the images on the reel. The image shows what it looks like and how it is operated.
1917-01-01 02:27:16 Rotoscoping invented by Max FleischerRotoscoping was invented by Max Fliescher. Rotoscoping is a technique which combines live action footage with drawn animation, in which artists trace over previously filmed footage, using a device called a rotoscope. Max Fliescher used this in Betty Boop and animation of Gulliver in Gulliver’s travels.
In 1917 he invented the rotoscope which projects the filmed footage onto a glass plane under animation cels for tracing over. Rotoscoping is still used today. For example it was used to make some of the artwork for the video game Grand Theft Auto V and the movie A Scanner Darkly. 1920-06-29 02:27:16 Life of Ray HarryhausenRay Harryhausen was born. He was an American visual effects artist who created dynamation, a form of photographic still/stop motion animation that is merged with live action footage. He worked with a wide range of animation companies such as Warner Bros., Disney and Hammer Film Productions.
Films he made include Mighty Joe Young in 1949 with Willis O' Brien and Clash of the Titans in 1989. He was born on the 29th of June 1920 and Died on the 7th of May 2013. 1952-01-01 02:06:45 Norman McLaren released NeighboursNorman McLaren, who was currently working for The Canadian National Film Board, released arguably his most popular film “Neighbours”. Neighbours used an animation technique called Pixilation which involved actors in live action sequences posing for individual frames, which are played together to create the animation. This is often used for combining both live action and animated television for scenes with both real people and animated characters. The video shows the short film 'Neighbours'. 1957-01-01 02:06:45 Hanna-Barbera Productions Inc.
Is foundedHanna-Barbera Productions Inc. Was founded by William Hanna, Joseph Barbera and George Sydney.
They produced many world famous childrens cartoons such as Scooby Doo, The Flintstones and The Smurfs. They used a Limited Animation technique where certain parts of each frame are often reused to save having to redraw them, which saves time and money. The frames for each animation were originally hand drawn, until 2D computer animation became popular, where they changed to that.
1969-10-05 02:06:45 First Monty Python sketch aired on the BBCThe group “Monty Python” was formed by Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Michael Palin, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Eric Idle. They went on to create some very popular comedy films such as Monty Python’s Flying Circus and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Terry Gilliam used Cut-out animation in their shows opening credits. For instance a giant cut-out of Cupids foot from a reproduction of the renaissance painting Venus, Cupid, Folly and Time by Bronzino crushes the show’s title in the opening sequence of Monty Python’s Flying Circus. 1994-01-01 02:06:45 Toon Boom Studio releasedThe first version of Toon Boom Studio was released by Toon Boom Animation Inc. Toon Boom Studio is a piece of software which is used for making digital animations and storyboards for a wide range of platforms such as television, mobile, gaming, web applications and films.
Different Kinds Of Animation
The software may be a bit complex for beginners but supports a wide range of output formats. It is also capable of exporting animations to popular gaming software such as Unity and Cocos2D-x.
It was also used for famous animated films such as The Simpsons Movie and The Jungle Book. 2006-05-25 02:06:45 Anime Studio is released by Smith Micro SoftwareThe software Anime Studio was released by Smith Micro Software.
2d Vector Based Animation Examples
Anime Studio is used to create 2D animations using vector graphics. The name suggests it is mainly used to make animations using the Japanese anime art style, however it is also used for other 2D animations and some basic forms of 3D animation. Anime Studio uses layers like other animation software and also has a range of useful features such as changing the camera angle and using a skeletal bone figure callede Smart Bones to make character movement look realistic.