【Digital Technology】Fenachiscope – How were the earliest animations created? --
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Take a look at this animated video first. Would you be surprised to learn that it’s already 180 years old? @The wise are enlightened
The Phenakistoscope was the first animation device in human history to be sold publicly and widely distributed. It made clever use of the persistence of vision in the human eye, creating the illusion of motion from a series of still images, and is considered to be the precursor to early films. The Phenakistoscope is a device that was invented almost simultaneously in 1832 by the Belgian Joseph Plateau and the Austrian Simon von Stampfer; Michael Faraday’s research also played a very important role in the invention of this device. The Farnace mirror was created based on the phenomenon of visual persistence. Although this phenomenon was already known from the experiments of the Greek mathematician Euclid and later Newton, it was not until 1829 that Joseph Plateau established it as a distinct phenomenon.
The Fénachère mirror is composed of two disks mounted on the same axis. The disk rotation directions of the Fénachère mirrors are the same. When viewing, face the patterned side of the disc toward the mirror; by rotating the disc, one can see the continuous movements in the mirror through the slit on the back side of the disc. Unlike kaleidoscopes and subsequent inventions, the Fenachis mirror could only be used by one person at a time. The Fénach mirror existed for only two years before being replaced by other technologies.
It was more than just surprise; my glasses fell to the ground.
Seeing this reminds me of the ‘film showmen’ at the old Beijing overpasses...
I learned something new today. Fenach mirrors, so many fun things.