page_title: History of animation
section_title: Animation before film
hierarchical_section_title: History of animation / Animation before film
caption_attribution_description: Kineograph
context_page_description: The history of animation started long before the development of cinematography. Humans have probably attempted to depict motion as far back as the paleolithic period. Much later, shadow play and the magic lantern offered popular shows with projected images on a screen, moving as the result of manipulation by hand and/or minor mechanics. In 1833, the stroboscopic disc introduced the stroboscopic principles of modern animation, which decades later would also provide the basis for cinematography. Between 1895 and 1920, during the rise of the cinematic industry, several different animation techniques were developed, including stop-motion with objects, puppets, clay or cutouts, and drawn or painted animation. Hand-drawn animation, mostly animation painted on cels, was the dominant technique throughout most of the 20th century and became known as traditional animation.
  Around the turn of the millennium, computer animation became the dominant animation technique in most regions. Computer animation is mostly associated with a three-dimensional appearance with detailed shading, although many different animation styles have been generated or simulated with computers.
context_section_description: Numerous devices that successfully displayed animated images were introduced well before the advent of the motion picture. These devices were used to entertain, amaze, and sometimes even frighten people. The majority of these devices didn't project their images, and could only be viewed by a one or a few persons at a time. They were considered optical toys rather than devices for a large scale entertainment industry like later animation.  Many of these devices are still built by and for film students learning the basic principles of animation.
caption: An 1868 illustration of the kineograph
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