1824:

Peter Roget presented his paper 'The persistence of vision with regard to moving objects' to the
British Royal Society.

1831:

Dr. Joseph Antoine Plateau (a Belgian scientist) and Dr. Simon Rittrer constructed a machine
called a phenakitstoscope. This machine produced an illusion of movement by allowing a viewer
to gaze at a rotating disk containing small windows; behind the windows was another disk
containing a sequence of images. When the disks were rotated at the correct speed, the
synchronization of the windows with the images created an animated effect.

1872:

Eadweard Muybridge started his photographic gathering of animals in motion.

1887:

Thomas Edison started his research work into motion pictures.

1889:

Thomas Edison announced his creation of the kinetoscope which projected a 50ft length of film in
approximately 13 seconds.

1889:

George Eastman began the manufacture of photographic film strips using a nitro-cellulose base.

1892:

Emile Renynaud, combining his earlier invention of the praxinoscope with a projector, opens the
Theatre Optique in the Musee Grevin. It displays an animation of images painted on long strips of
celluloid.

1895:

Louis and Augustine Lumiere issued a patent for a device called a cinematograph capable of
projecting moving pictures.

1896:

Thomas Armat designed the vitascope which projected the films of Thomas Edison. This machine
had a major influence on all sub-sequent projectors.

1906:

J. Stuart Blackton made the first animated film which he called "Humorous phases of funny
faces." His method was to draw comical faces on a blackboard and film them. He would stop the
film, erase one face to draw another, and then film the newly drawn face. The stop-motion
provided a starting effect as the facial expressions changed before the viewers eyes.

1908:

In France Emile Cohl produced a film, Phantasmagorie which was the first depicting white figures
on a black background.

1910:

Emile Cohl makes En Route the first paper cutout animation. This technique saves time by not
having to redraw each new cell, only reposition the paper.

1911:

Winsor McCay produced an animation sequence using his comic strip character "Little Nemo."

1913:

J.R. Bray devised "Colonel Heeza Liar," and Sidney Smith created "Old Doc Yak."

1914:

John R Bray applies for a patent on numerous techniques for animation. One of the most
revolutionary being the process of printing the backgrounds of the animation.

1914:

Winsor McCay produced a cartoon called "Gertie, The Trained Dinosaur" which amazingly
consisted of 10,000 drawings.

1914:

Earl Hurd applies for a patent for the technique of drawing the animated portion of an animation
on a clear celluloid sheet and later photographing it with its matching background. [Cel animation]

1917:

The International Feature Syndicate released many titles including "Silk Hat Harry","Bringing Up
Father", and "Krazy Kat".

1919:

Pat Sullivan created an American cartoon "Felix the Cat."

1926:

The first feature-length animated film called "El Apostol" is created in Argentina.

1923:

Walt and Roy Disney found Disney Brothers Cartoon Studio.

1923:

Walt Disney extended Max Fleischer's technique of combining live action with cartoon characters
in the film "Alice's Wonderland".

1927:

Warner Brothers released "The Jazz Singer" which introduced combined sound and images.

1928:

Walt Disney created the first cartoon with synchronized sound called "Steam Boat Willy".

1930:

The King of Jazz is produced by Universal. In it is a short animated sequence done by Walter
Lantz. It is the first animation done with the two strip technicolor process

1934:

Urb Irwek creates a multi-plane camera. This camera is capable of filming several separate
layers of cels giving the final frame a truly three dimensional look.

1943:

John and James Whitney produced "Five Abstract Film Exercises."

1945:

Harry Smith produced animation by drawing directly onto film.

1957:

John Whitney used 17 Bodine motors, 8 Selsyns, 9 different gear units and 5 ball integrators to
create analog computer graphics.

1961:

John Whitney used differential gear mechanisms to create film and television title sequences.

1963:

Ivan Sutherland and SKETCHPAD at MIT/Lincoln Labs

1964:

Ken Knowlton, working at Bell Laboratories, started developing computer techniques for
producing animated movies.

1972:

University of Utah, Ed Catmull develops an animation scripting language and creates an

animation of a smooth shaded hand. Ref: E. Catmull, "A System for Computer Generated
Movies", Proceedings of the ACM National Conference, 1972. (In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal
Graphics collection.)

1972:

University of Utah, Fred Parke creates first computer generated facial animation. >Ref: F. Parke,
"Computer Generated Animation of Faces", Proceedings of the ACM National Conference, 1972.
(In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics collection.)

1974:

National Research Council of Canada releases Hunger/La Faim directed by Peter Foldes and
featuring Burtnyk and Wein interactive keyframing techniques. Ref: N. Burtnyk and M. Wein,
"Interactive Skeleton Techniques for Enhancing Motion Dynamics in Key Frame Animation",
Communications of the ACM, 19(10), October 1976. (In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics
collection.)

1982:

Tron, MAGI, movie with CG premise

1983:

Bill Reeves at Lucasfilm publishes techniques for modeling particle systems. "Demo" is Star Trek
II: The Wrath of Kahn. The paper also promotes motion blur. Ref: W. Reeves, "Particle Systems - A Technique for Modeling a Class of Fuzzy Objects", Computer Graphics, 17(3), July 1983. (In
the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics collection.)

1984:

The Last Starfighter, CG is used in place of models

1984:

Porter and Duff at Lucusfilm publish paper on digital compositing using an alpha channel. Ref: T.
Porter and T. Duff, "Compositing Digital Images", Computer Graphics, 18(3), July 1984. (In the
SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics collection.)

1985:

Girard and Maciejewski at OSU publish a paper describing the use of inverse kinematics and
dynamics for animation. Their techniques are used in the animation "Eurythmy." Ref: M. Girard
and A. A. Maciejewski, "Computational Modeling for the Computer Animation of Legged Figures",
Computer Graphics, 19(3), July 1985. (In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics collection.)

1985:

Ken Perlin at NYU publishes a paper on noise functions for textures. He later applied this
technique to add realism to character animations. Ref: K. Perlin, "An Image Synthesizer",
Computer Graphics, 19(3), July 1985. (In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics collection.)

1987:

John Lasseter at Pixar publishes a paper describing traditional animation principles. "Demos" are
Andre and Wally B and Luxo Jr. Ref: J. Lasseter, "Principles of Traditional Animation Applied to
3D Computer Animation", Computer Graphics, 21(4), July 1987. (In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal
Graphics collection.)

1987:

Craig Reynolds then at Symbolics (now at Dreamworks SKG) publishes a paper on selforganizing behavior for groups. "Demos" are Stanley and Stella and Batman Returns. Ref: C. W.
Reynolds, "Flocks, Herds, and Schools: A Distributed Behavioral Model", Computer Graphics,
21(4), July 1987. (In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics collection.)

1988:

Willow uses morphing in live action film

1992:

Beier and Neely, at SGI and PDI respectively publish an algorithm where line correspondences
guide morphing between 2D images. "Demo" is Michael Jackson video Black and White. Ref: T.
Beier and S. Neely, "Feature-Based Image Metamorphosis", Computer Graphics, 26(2), July
1992. (In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics collection.) v

1993:

Chen and Williams at Apple publish a paper on view interpolation for 3D walkthroughs. Ref: S. E.
Chen and L. Williams, "View Interpolation for Image Synthesis", Computer Graphics Proceedings,
Annual Conference Series, 1993. (In the SIGGRAPH 98 Seminal Graphics collection.)

1993:

Jurassic Park use of CG for realistic living creatures

1995:

Toy Story first full-length 3D CG feature film