Animation Timeline

1645 -Magic lantern is invented
1794 -Phantamagoria opens in Paris
1824 -The basis of animation, the Persistence of Vision is explained

Persistence of Vision
Peter Mark Roget describes persistence of vision in 1824. He discovered that the eye holds on to an image even after it is gone for just a split second. This is the whole basis behind animation. Several still images pass by the eye very quickly and because of persistence of vision, they appear as one flowing smooth action to us.
You can see how persistence of vision works by making your own animation tools such as a flip book, a thaumatrope, or a zoetrope

Praxinoscope
1877- Emile Reynaud invents the praxinoscope, the most complex of all early animation device, it was the grand-daddy of the motion picture projecter.

1892- Emile Reynaud's Theatre Optique opens in Paris. It shows animated stories using his praxinoscope.

1896- Thomas Edison introduces the motion-picture projector.

1906- James S. Blackton makes the first animated film.
Humorous Phases of Funny Faces



McCay first used cel animation to create the 25 minute flim The Sinking of the Luisitania which used over 25,000 drawings. Cel animation was also used by Walt Disney in all of his animated films including Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs. Cel animation continues to be the technique used by most quality animators.





In order to make cel animation work correctly, everything has to be "registered". This means that both edges of every cel need to be punched with holes and placed over pins or pegs so that each cel lines up perfectly with the cel underneath it.

In order to save time and money Winsor McCay invented the animation cel in 1915. Instead of drawing on a single sheet of paper, and then redrawing the entire scene for every frame (12 for every second), the scene was drawn in parts, on a thin, transparent celluloid acetate or "cel". For example, the background would be drawn on the first layer, then the body of a character would be drawn on the next layer, then the head on the next layer and the expresion on the next layer. This made it easy to change an expression without having to redraw everything.

1915-1917 -Winsor McCay invents the animation cel.
1928- Walt Disney's Steamboat Willie is the first sound cartoon.

1933 -Willis O'Brien animates King Kong.

1937- Walt Disney releases Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
1941-1945- The UPA studio begins a revolution in animation graphics.
1949- Crusader Rabbit is the first cartoon show made for TV.

1951-UPA's Gerald McBoing Boing receives the Oscar for best animated film.

1960- The Flinstones is the first animated TV show to be broadcast in prime time.

1966- The TV networks launch a full lineup of Saturday morning cartoons.

1968-Pixilation is used in stop-motion photography to make humans look like they can do impossible antics

1982 -Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan is the first feature film to utilize computer animation extensively.

1990-The Simpsons, a prime-time TV cartoon show, attracts a large audience of both adults and children.
1990- Computers are used to create computer animated special effects for Terminator 2: Judgment Day.

1996- Toy Story, the first fully computer animated feature film is released by Pixar and Disney.