Page 222 - DCAP504_Computer Graphics

Unit 14: Animation in Computer Graphics

The following figure 14.2 depicts the beta phenomenon and provides a clear understanding about how
the image keeps changing its position.

Figure 14.2: Beta Phenomenon

Source: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/09/Phi_phenomenom_no_watermark.gif

Did you know? The earliest example of animation is the 5,000 year old earthen bowl that was found in
Iran in Shahr-i-Sokhta.

Animation came into existence with the advent of cinematography. Georges Melies is considered as the
creator of special effect films and is also the first person to have used animation with special effects.
George Melies came up with the stop motion animation. In this method, the rolling camera was stopped
to make changes in the scene and then continued to roll the film.
This technique was discovered accidently when George Melies’ camera broke while shooting a moving
bus. Immediately after this incident, George restarted shooting; this time he happened to shoot a hearse
pass by. Finally, George observed that he had transformed the moving bus into a moving hearse. This
made George analyze about what he had created. This concept was later used in the field of animation
and George Melies is considered to be a great contributor to the field of animation.

Matches was the earliest stop motion advertising film and was short by Arthur
Melbourne Cooper while J. Stuart Blackton was the first American film maker who
used both stop motion technique and hand drawn animation.

Emile Cohl, a French artist created a film called Fantasmagorie by drawing cartoon strips. This film was
made by using a lot of a stick figures moving about and morphing them. Morphing a wine bottle into a
flower is one such example. Each of the frames was drawn on paper and then they were shot onto
negative films. This gave the picture a blackboard look.

LOVELY PROFESSIONAL UNIVERSITY 215