Definition of Animation:
Animation (an·i·ma·tion):
1. The act, process, or result of imparting life, interest, spirit, motion, or activity.
2. The quality or condition of being alive, active, spirited, or vigorous.
3. A. The art or process of preparing animated cartoons. B. An animated cartoon.
History of Animation:
30,000-15,000BCE Paintings on Walls in France & Spain
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5000BCE-30BCE Egyptian Art
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3000BCE-300 Greek & Roman Art
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1824 Peter Roget presented his paper 'The persistence of vision with regard to moving objects' to the British Royal Society.
According to the theory of persistence of vision, the perceptual processes of the brain or the retina of the human eye retains an image for a split second. This theory supposedly accounts for the fact that when a motion picture flashes a series of progressive images, instead of the mind seeing the flashing of a series of images, it sees the illusion of motion.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision
1831 Dr. Joseph Antoine Plateau (a Belgian scientist) and Dr. Simon Rittrer constructed a machine called a phenakitstoscope.
This machine produced an illusion of movement by allowing a viewer to gaze at a rotating disk containing small windows; behind the windows was another disk containing a sequence of images. When the disks were rotated at the correct speed, the synchronization of the windows with the images created an animated effect.
1826 The Thaumatrope
This device consisted of a disc with an image painted on each side which was twirled using a threaded string thus 'combining' the two images -- the bird appears in the cage.
1870s Eadweard Muybridge Animal Locomotion
Eadweard Muybridge started his photographic compilation of animals in motion. Hired by the former governor of California, Leland Stanford, to investigate the question of 'unsupported transit' -- whether or not a trotting horse ever had all four feet off the ground, Muybridge took series of up to 25 sequential photographs a second and, despite the dim and shadowy results, proved that a trotting horse does indeed have all four hooves off the ground at certain moments. Muybridege's further studies of animal and human motion have become enduring standard reference sources for animators.
http://web.inter.nl.net/users/anima/chronoph/muybridge/him/index.htm
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1887 Thomas Edison started his research work into motion pictures.
1906 J. Stuart Blackton made what some consider to be the first American animated film, "Humorous Phases of Funny Faces."
It features an artist's hand drawing the faces of a man and a woman with chalk. The two faces then begin to interact, as the man blows cigar smoke and tips his hat. Blackton used a combination of chalk drawings and cutouts to achieve the movement.
1908 Emile Cohl's Fantasmagoric
Cohl made over 700 drawings for 'Fantasmagoric' to produce a film with startling perspectival alterations, fluidity of movement, and a convincing illusion of solid forms moving in spatial depth.
1909 - 1914 Winsor McCay Produces Early Animated Works Little Nemo & Gertie the Trained Dinosaur
1926 Lotte Reiniger produced the first feature-length animated film, 'Prince Achmed'
1928 Walt Disney Creates the first cartoon with synchronised sound, Mickey Mouse in 'Steamboat Willie'
1930 Warner Bros. Cartoons was born.
The First Warner Bros. short was SINKING IN THE BATHTUB with the character BOSKO who was a take off on Mickey Mouse.
1937 Disney's Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs
1940 Disney's Pinocchio & Fantasia, Hannah Barbara's Tom & Jerry
1941 Fleischer's SuperMan Series
1963 Ivan Sutherland and Sketchpad at MIT/Lincoln Labs
For his Ph.D., Sutherland went to Massachusetts Institute of Technology were he developed his thesis, "Sketchpad: A Man-machine Graphical Communications System.", the first Graphical User Interface. In early 1960s, computers would run "batches" of jobs and were not interactive. The TX-2 was an "on-line" computer used to investigate the use of Surface Barrier transistors for digital circuits. It included a nine inch CRT and a lightpen which first gave Sutherland his idea. He imagined that one should be able to draw on the computer. Sketchpad was able to do just this, creating highly precise drawings.
1982 Disney's TRON
This feature film had 15 minutes of computer animation (most all computer animation by now is digital except effects done on tape using the analog system) for 235 scenes at a cost of $1,200 per second.
1987 The Simpsons started as spots on the Tracey Ullman Show
1991 Disney's Beauty And The Beast becomes the first animated feature to be nominated for the Academy Award as Best Picture, Ren & Stimpy Premiere
1992 Frog Baseball a short by Mike Judge eventually becomes Beavis & Butthead
1993 Jurassic Park use of CG for realistic living creatures, Nick Park's The Wrong Trousers, & Nightmare Before Christmas, by Tim Burton
1995 Pixar's Toy Story, the first computer animated feature released and it takes in more money at the box office than any other film in 1995
2002 Shrek from Dreamwork Feature animation won the first ever Oscar for animated feature they beat out Pixar's Monsters Inc.
Note: This page originally found on Matthew Belanger's animation website - used with permission of artist.
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