The Evolution of Animation-A Journey through Time


The animation is in demand and one can find a lot of Graphic design courses in Pune. You will also find VFX courses in Pune and do amazing work in the world of animation. Animation has evolved centuries.

The Early stages: Shadowgraphy. In the 18th century, people used hand-drawn shadows to tell stories.In 1659, Christiaan Huyges invented the magic lantern used to project moving images.

The Beginning: It all began in 1832. Joseph Plateau invented the first animation device called the Phenakistoscope. It used images in sequential substitution creating fluid illusion images.

The celluloid or the crude era: The crude animation era lasted from 1887-1914. H.W. Goodwin created the celluloid film that held images together. In 1892 Émile Reynaud invented the system-the theatre Optique or praxinoscope. It used simple devices like reflecting mirrors that reflected images in a series. In 1983 Thomas Edison used H.W. Godwin's celluloid technique to create moving pictures.

Adding Sound to images: In 1899, sound enthusiasts added sound to animation images using magnetic tapes.

The animation drawing: In 1900, James Stuart Blackton-the father of animation made a short film on the drawing process using previous century animation techniques.

The first official movie: Fantasmagorie is the first official animated film made in 1908 and produced by the French Caricaturist Émile Cohl. It is the ever first completely animated movie but no live-action involved.

Start of the traditional animation: Traditional animation started in 1914 and lasted till 1967. It made use of hand-drawn images and cel technology. They drew images on cels (transparent sheets pf camphor and cellulose nitrate). They layered these on common background images to reduce the number of frames used. The first cartoon series of such a kind was Colonel Heeza Liar in 1914. The dinosaur-Gretie by Winsor McCay got more popular in the same year.

Animation series: Some animation characters created until the computer animation times. Flexi the cat was created in 1920 by Otto Messmer. 1922 saw the start of Walt Disney. In 1928 Mickey Mouse debuted in Steamboat Willie. In 1930 new characters-Popeye, Daffy Duck appeared. Betty Boop and Looney Tumes-a part of the Silly Symphonies series also made their way. Movies like King Kong in 1933, the snow white and the seven dwarfs in 1937 also used animation. In 1961, the movie 101 Dalmatians a full-fledged feature film used xerography technique.

The Computer Era: The Computer Era lasted from 1967-1984. Hummingbird (1967) was the first animation movie made using computers. It used the 2D technique. A complete computer-generated movie was made with 25 sequences and 30,000 images. One of the first 2D films was “sword in the stone”. Others were jungle book, Aristocrats, Marry Poppins.

Real Characters and Animation: Animation advanced with time with 2D real-life characters on screen. Some of the noted ones are Roger Rabbit in 1988. Jurassic Park in 1993 took it to the next level using mixed animatronics and stop motion with CGI.

The onset of 3D Animation and CGI: In 1995, Pixar made Toy story, the first movie made using 3D animation. It was a complete computer-generated animation motion picture. It made a breakthrough in the 3D animation pune field. Avataar, paranorman, the rise of the Lord of the Rings-Twin tower also used CGI and 3D techniques.

Animation has come a long way with changing times and existed much before the silent era. It will only become more robust in the coming years. Graphic design courses in Pune.

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