How animations became realistic: The invention of Rotoscoping

[09:59 Thu,12.December 2019 by Thomas Richter]

In early animated films, the movements of characters were usually very awkward - it was only the invention of Rotoscoping by the animation pioneer Max Fleischer, patented in 1917, that made it possible to realistically move drawn figures. The step-by-step projection of individual images of a person&s movements from behind onto the drawing surface of an animator made it possible to transfer the real movements to a drawn figure.

In his first Rotoscoping experiments, Fleischers used photographs of his brother taken on the roof of his house in front of a white sheet as animation models. Later, for example, he copied the very special dance style of the famous jazz musician Cab Calloway to realistically dance animated figures such as a walrus or a ghost.

Modern motion (and also facial) capturing is a further development of this technique, which also uses real movements as a model for animations - but spatially and abstractly. This enables the quasi-automated animation of arbitrary virtual figures.

Fleischers Studio also invented an early multi-layered animation device that allowed the independent movement of different parts of the background to create the illusion of depth, leading to even more realism.

Max Fleichers Rotoscoping Patent 1917

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deutsche Version dieser Seite: Wie Animationen realistisch wurden: Die Erfindung des Rotoscopings