None of these lamps are known to have featured sequential substitution of images depicting motion and thus don't display animation in the way that the zoetrope does.įour phase animation device as depicted in Hopwood's Living Pictures (1899) Some versions added extra motion with jointed heads, feet or hands of figures triggered by a transversely connected iron wire. The moving silhouettes are projected on the thin paper sides of the lantern. This is a lantern which on the inside has cut-out silhouettes or painted figures attached to a shaft with a paper vane impeller on top, rotated by heated air rising from a lamp. It is possible that all these early Chinese examples were actually the same as, or very similar to, the "trotting horse lamp" known in China since before 1000 AD. Needham mentions several other descriptions of figures moving after the lighting of a candle or lamp, but some of these have a semi-fabulous context or can be compared to heat operated carousel toys. When placed over a lamp it would give an impression of movement of animals or men. It had pictures painted on thin panes of paper or mica on the sides of a light cylindrical canopy bearing vanes at the top. Possibly the same device was referred to as "umbrella lamp" and mentioned as "a variety of zoetrope" which "may well have originated in China" by historian of Chinese technology Joseph Needham. However, it is unclear whether this really created the illusion of motion or whether the account was an interpretation of the spatial movement of the pictures of animals. As such, it remains very uncertain if the artist who created the bowl actually intended to create an animation.Īccording to a 4th-century Chinese historical text, the 1st-century BC Chinese mechanical engineer and craftsman Ding Huan created a lamp with a circular band with images of birds and animals that moved "quite naturally" when the heat of the lamp caused the band to rotate. Though the images are sequential and seem evenly distributed around the bowl, to have the images appear as an animation the bowl would have to rotate quite fast and steadily while a stroboscopic effect would somehow have to be generated. This bowl is decorated in a series of images portraying a goat jumping toward a tree and eating its leaves. The faster the drum is spun, the smoother the animation appears.Įarlier rotating devices with images ĭevice described in John Bate's The Mysteries of Nature and Art (1635)Īn earthenware bowl from Iran, over 5000 years old, could be considered a predecessor of the zoetrope. For viewing, this is placed against the inner surface of the lower part of an open-topped metal drum, the upper part of which is provided with a vertical viewing slit across from each picture. Instead of being radially arrayed on a disc, the sequence of pictures depicting phases of motion is on a paper strip. Zoetrope works on the same principle as its predecessor, the phenakistoscope, but is more convenient and allows the animation to be viewed by several people at the same time. The phenàkistope is also a success and The From the late 19th century, devices working on similar principles have been developed, named analogously as linear zoetropes and 3D zoetropes, with traditional zoetropes referred to as "cylindrical zoetropes" if distinction is needed. The scanning of the slits keeps the pictures from simply blurring together, and the user sees a rapid succession of images, producing the illusion of motion. As the cylinder spins, the user looks through the cuts at the pictures across. On the inner surface of the cylinder is a band with images from a set of sequenced pictures. The zoetrope consists of a cylinder with cuts vertically in the sides. The term was coined by inventor William E. The name zoetrope was composed from the Greek root words ζωή zoe, "life" and τρόπος tropos, "turning" as a translation of "wheel of life". 4.5 James Clerk Maxwell's improved zoetrope.4.4 William Ensign Lincoln & Milton Bradley's Zoetrope (1865–1867).4.3 Experimental photographic sequence viewers (1850s–1860s).
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
Details
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |