The history of animation

     I will use simple words and examples to illustrate the history of animation in theis blog.

Precursors of animation
     The idea of animation can date back to 2.6 million years ago when people at the 'stone age' leave their distinguished cave painting where animals are depicted with multiple sets of legs in superimposed positions, clearly attempting to convey the perception of motion. Other examples include a 5,200-year old earthen bowl found in Iran in Shahr-e Sukhteh and an ancient Egyptian mural. Although these picture series cannot be called as animation in modern concept, they are the precursors of animation.
Early divices
     The first device to show a moving picture is called zoetrope created in China in around 180 AD by the prolific inventor Ting Huan.  The principle is to show the pictures in a fast speed by rotating the zoetrope where a series of pictures are painted.
     Similar idear was developed in the 19th centery when Thaumatrope(1824), Phenakistoscope (1831), and Flip book (1868) were invented.
Praxinoscope
     The next great progress was the Praxinoscope (1877) invented by Charles-Émile Reynaud, an animation system using loops of 12 pictures which is the base of modern animation. And the first animation film came out the following year using the Praxinoscope by the same person. Since then, animation film began to develope.
CGI
     However, in nowadays, nearly all the animation film are using the CGI(Computer-generated imagery). The first animation film using CGI is Toy Story produced by pixar in 1995, which means that it was not until 1995 when animations are accoumplished on computers.

referrence: http://www.myholler.com/155online/lectures/history.pdf
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_animation
you can read more:Animation History Timeline
Animation History