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Phenakistiscope
First widespread animation device. Several frames spinning very fast give the illusion of animation. This illusion is known as the stroboscopic effect. The stroboscopic effect was also used for several other devices, like the Théâtre Optique. -
Cinematograph
A small, long spool of film was run in front of a projector. The stroboscopic effect allowed images to appear to be moving, and the projector made it easy for more than one person to view at once. Frames were hand-painted onto the film. -
Cel animation
Pieces of a frame, or “cels” were placed onto transparent celluloid sheets. This allowed some parts of a frame to stay the same while other parts changed. This saved a ton of time and effort, and made animation more consistent. -
Rotoscoping
The method of tracing real people to make animation appear more lifelike. The end results of this usually ended up looking uncanny, and rotoscoped films lacked character. -
Synchronized sound
Animation started to utilize sounds to tell stories. -
Disney
Disney was the gold standard of western animation for years. Even now, Disney is probably the most prominent animation studio. They pioneered many types of animation. -
Colored animation
Multiple images layered on top of each other allowed for colored film. In 1932, Disney worked to create the first full-color animation, Flowers and Trees. -
Multiplane cameras and the stereopticon process
Different layers of animation moving at different speeds helped express depth. -
TV animation
Animation and animated cartoons became common on at-home television. What was once exclusive to theatres was now a lot more accessible. -
Stop motion animation
Much less dominant than traditional or computer animation. Stop motion involves taking a picture for each frame and then turning that into a video. A common form of stop motion is claymation, where clay sculptures are moved frame by frame to create a video. -
Anime
A style of Japanese animation, known as anime, became popular in the west. Anime, instead of going for a realistic look, went for a more stylized design. -
Computer animation
Simple digital animations started to emerge. Nowadays, digital animation is the norm. -
3D animation
As computers advanced, their uses in animation advanced too. Instead of digitally drawing on a 2D canvas, 3D images can be sculpted and animated with the use of 3D software, like Blender or Houdini.