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Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which animators trace over live-action film movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames An animator is an Artist who creates multiple images called frames and Key frames that form an illusion of movement called Animation when rapidly displayed A film frame, or just frame, is one of the many single photographic images in a motion picture. The bouncing ball animation (below consists of these 6 frames Originally, pre-recorded live-action film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and re-drawn by an animator. Frosted glass is produced by the Acid etching of clear sheet Glass, or sand-blasting This projection equipment is called a rotoscope, although this device has been replaced by computers in recent years. A computer is a Machine that manipulates data according to a list of instructions. In the visual effects industry, the term rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating a matte for an element on a live-action plate so it may be composited over another background. Visual effects (commonly shortened to Visual F/X or VFX) are the various processes by which imagery is created and/or manipulated outside the context of a Live For the technique of creating backgrounds see Matte painting. Compositing is the combining of visual elements from separate sources into single images often to create the illusion that all those elements are parts of the same scene

Contents

History

Patent drawing for Fleischer's original rotoscope. The artist is drawing on a transparent easel, onto which the movie projector at the right is throwing an image of a single film frame.
Patent drawing for Fleischer's original rotoscope. The artist is drawing on a transparent easel, onto which the movie projector at the right is throwing an image of a single film frame.

The technique was invented by Max Fleischer, who used it in his series Out of the Inkwell starting around 1915, with his brother Dave Fleischer dressed in a clown outfit as the live-film reference for the character Koko the Clown. Max Fleischer ( July 19, 1883 – September 11, 1972) was an important Austrian American pioneer in the development of the Out of the Inkwell was a major animated series of the silent era produced by Max Fleischer from 1919 to 1929 David Fleischer ( July 14 1894 – June 25 1979) was an Austrian-American Animator of Jewish ancestry Film director Clowns are comic performers stereotypically characterized by their Grotesque appearance colored wigs stylistic makeup, outlandish Costumes unusually Koko the Clown is an animated character created by animation pioneer Max Fleischer.

Fleischer used rotoscope in a number of his later cartoons as well, most notably the Cab Calloway dance routines in three Betty Boop cartoons from the early 1930s, and the animation of Gulliver in Gulliver's Travels (1939). Cabell "Cab" Calloway III ( December 25, 1907 &ndash November 18, 1994) was a famous American Jazz Singer Betty Boop is an animated Cartoon character appearing in the Talkartoon and Betty Boop series of films produced by Gulliver's Travels is a 1939 Academy Award nominated cel-animated Technicolor Feature film, directed by Dave Fleischer The Fleischer studio's most effective use of rotoscoping was in their series of action-oriented Superman cartoons, in which Superman and the other animated figures displayed very realistic movement. Superman is a fictional Comic book Superhero widely considered to be one of the most recognized of such characters and an American Cultural icon The Leon Schlesinger animation unit at Warner Brothers, producing cartoons geared more towards exaggerated comedy, used rotoscoping only occasionally. Leon Schlesinger ( May 20, 1884 – December 25, 1949) was an American Film producer, most noted for founding Warner Bros Entertainment Inc (or Warner Bros, Warner Bros Pictures) is one of the world's largest producers of Film and

Walt Disney and his animators employed it carefully and very effectively in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. Walter Elias Disney (December 5 1901 – December 15 1966 was a multiple Academy Award -winning American Film producer, director, Screenwriter Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is a 1937 American film based on the eponymous German fairy tale by the Brothers Grimm. The year 1937 in film involved some significant events Events April 16 - Way Out West premieres in Rotoscoping was also used in many of Disney's subsequent animated feature films with human characters, such as Cinderella in 1950. Cinderella is a 1950 Animated feature produced by Walt Disney, and released to theaters on February 15, 1950 by RKO Radio The year 1950 in film involved some significant events Events February 15 - Walt Disney Studios Later, when Disney animation became more stylized (e. g. One Hundred and One Dalmatians, 1961), the rotoscope was used mainly for studying human and animal motion, rather than actual tracing. One Hundred and One Dalmatians (often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians) is the seventeenth Animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. The year 1961 in film involved some significant events Events Last Year at Marienbad ( L'année dernière

Rotoscoping was used extensively in China's first animated feature film, Princess Iron Fan (1941), which was released under very difficult conditions during the Second Sino-Japanese War and World War II. China ( Wade-Giles ( Mandarin) Chung¹kuo² is a cultural region, an ancient Civilization, and depending on perspective a National In the Film industry, a feature film is a Film made for initial distribution in theaters and being the "main attraction" of the screening Princess Iron Fan ( is the first Chinese animated Feature film. The year 1941 in film involved some significant events in particular the release of a film consistently rated as one of the greatest films of all time The Second Sino-Japanese War ( July 7, 1937 to September 9, 1945) was a major war fought between the Republic of China and the World War II, or the Second World War, (often abbreviated WWII) was a global military conflict which involved a majority of the world's nations, including

It was used extensively in the Soviet Union, where it was known as "Éclair", from the late 1930s to the 1950s; its historical use was enforced as a realization of Socialist Realism. The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR was a constitutionally Socialist state that existed in Eurasia from 1922 to 1991 The history of Russian animation is a very rich but so far nearly unexplored field for Western Film theory and history Socialist realism is a teleologically -oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of Socialism and Communism Most of the films produced with it were adaptations of folk tales or poems - for example, The Night Before Christmas or The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. The Night Before Christmas (Ночь пе́ред Рождество́м Noch pered Rozhdestvom) is a 1951 Soviet traditionally-animated The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish (Сказка о рыбаке и рыбке Skazka o rybake i rybke is a Fairy tale in verse by Alexander Pushkin Only in the early 1960s, after the Khrushchev Thaw, did animators start to explore very different aesthetics. Khrushchev's Thaw or the Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period from the mid 1950s to the early 1960s when repression and Censorship in the Soviet Union The history of Russian animation is a very rich but so far nearly unexplored field for Western Film theory and history

Ralph Bakshi used the technique quite extensively in his animated movies Wizards (1977), The Lord of the Rings (1978), American Pop (1981), and Fire and Ice (1983). Ralph Bakshi (born October 29 1938 is an American director of animated and occasionally live-action films Wizards (originally titled War Wizards) is an animated Post-apocalyptic Science fiction / Fantasy film about the battle JRR Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings is a 1978 animated Fantasy film directed by Ralph Bakshi. American pop is a vague and nebulous term applied generally to whatever form of music is most popular among mainstream American teenage audiences Fire and Ice, released in 1983 was a collaboration between Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta, distributed by 20th Century Fox, which also distributed Bakshi first turned to rotoscoping because he was refused by 20th Century Fox for a $50,000 budget increase to finish Wizards, and thus had to resort to the rotoscope technique to finish the battle sequences. (This was the same meeting at which George Lucas was also denied a $3 million budget increase to finish Star Wars. George Walton Lucas Jr (born May 14, 1944) is an Academy Award -winning American Film director, producer, Screenwriter Star Wars Episode IV A New Hope (originally released as Star Wars) is a 1977 Space opera )[1][2]

Rotoscoping was also used in Heavy Metal (1981), the a-ha music video "Take on Me" (1985), and Don Bluth's Titan A.E. (2000). Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian Animated film from executive producer Leonard Mogel who was also the publisher of Heavy Metal a-ha is a band from Norway. They initially rose to fame during the 1980s but have had continued success in the 1990s and 2000s " Take on Me " is a song by the Norwegian band A-ha. The song is a track from a-ha's first album Hunting High and Low, released Donald Virgil Bluth (born September 13, 1937 in El Paso Texas) is an American Animator and independent studio owner Titan AE is a 2000 Post-apocalyptic animated science fiction Adventure film from Fox Animation Studios

While rotoscoping is generally known to bring a sense of realism to larger budget animated films, the American animation company Filmation, known for its budget-cutting limited TV animation, was also notable for its heavy usage of rotoscope to good effect in series such as Flash Gordon, Blackstar and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. For the unrelated isometric graphics engine used by Ultimate Play the Game in their 8-bit computer games see Filmation engine. Limited animation is a process of making Animated cartoons that do not follow a "realistic" approach Flash Gordon is the hero of a Science fiction adventure Comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, which was first published on January 7, The Animated television series Blackstar was a Science fantasy story sometimes reported as a product inspired by the popularity of Thundarr the He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American Animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattel 's successful

Smoking Car Productions invented a digital rotoscoping process in 1994 for the creation of its critically-acclaimed adventure video game, The Last Express. Jordan Mechner founded Smoking Car Productions to create the computer game The Last Express. The Last Express is a Video game created by Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions, published in 1997 The process was awarded U. S. Patent 6061462: Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. In the mid-1990s, Bob Sabiston, an animator and computer scientist veteran of the MIT Media Lab, developed a computer-assisted "interpolated rotoscoping" process which the director Richard Linklater later employed in the full-length feature films Waking Life (2001) and A Scanner Darkly (2006). Bob Sabiston (born 1967 is an American film Art director, computer programmer, and creator of the Rotoshop software program for Computer animation The MIT Media Lab (also known as the Media Lab) is a department within the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Richard Stuart Linklater (born July 30, 1960) is an Academy Award -nominated American Film director and Screenwriter Waking Life is a digitally enhanced live action rotoscoped film directed by Richard Linklater and made in 2001. A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 film directed by Richard Linklater based on the novel of the same name by Philip K Linklater licensed the same proprietary rotoscoping process for the look of both films. Linklater is the first director to use digital rotoscoping to create an entire feature film.

Additionally, a 2005-08 advertising campaign by Charles Schwab uses rotoscoping for a series of television spots, under the tagline "Talk to Chuck. The Charles Schwab Corporation, based in San Francisco, California is a company founded as a traditional (brick-and-mortar Brokerage house, and which " This distinctive look is also the work of Bob Sabiston. Bob Sabiston (born 1967 is an American film Art director, computer programmer, and creator of the Rotoshop software program for Computer animation

A rotoscope-like video effect, "Neonize", is also available for live or recorded videos by using Logitech's QuickCam software.

Technique

A cartoon horse animated by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's nineteenth century photos. Artistic license has been used to achieve the cartoony look.
A cartoon horse animated by rotoscoping from Eadweard Muybridge's nineteenth century photos. An animated cartoon is a short hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to something hand-drawn Film for the cinema, Television or computer Eadweard J Muybridge ( April 9, 1830 &ndash May 8, 1904) was an English photographer, known primarily for his early use Artistic license has been used to achieve the cartoony look. Artistic license (also known as dramatic license, poetic license, narrative license, licentia poetica, or simply license) is a colloquial
Cross-gallop rotoscoped with a more realistic look, from Eadweard Muybridge's "Horses and Other Animals in Motion"
Cross-gallop rotoscoped with a more realistic look, from Eadweard Muybridge's "Horses and Other Animals in Motion"

Rotoscoping is decried by some animation purists but has often been used to good effect. This is an article on horse gaits for other meanings see gait (disambiguation. When used as an animator's reference tool, it can be a valuable time-saver.

Rotoscope output can have slight deviations from the true line that differ from frame to frame, which when animated cause the animated line to shake unnaturally, or "boil". Avoiding boiling requires considerable skill in the person performing the tracing, though causing the "boil" intentionally is a stylistic technique sometimes used to emphasize the surreal quality of rotoscoping, as in the music video Take on Me. " Take on Me " is a song by the Norwegian band A-ha. The song is a track from a-ha's first album Hunting High and Low, released

Rotoscoping has often been used as a tool for special effects in live-action movies. The illusions used in the Film, Television, Theater, or Entertainment industries to simulate the imagined events in a story are traditionally called By tracing an object, a silhouette (called a matte) can be created that can be used to create an empty space in a background scene. For the technique of creating backgrounds see Matte painting. This allows the object to be placed in the scene. While blue and green screen techniques have made the process of layering subjects in scenes easier, rotoscoping still plays a large role in the production of special effects imagery.

Rotoscoping has also been used to allow a special visual effect (such as a glow, for example) to be guided by the matte or rotoscoped line. One classic use of traditional rotoscoping was in the original three Star Wars films, where it was used to create the glowing lightsaber effect, by creating a matte based on sticks held by the actors. Star Wars is an epic Space opera franchise initially conceived by George Lucas during the 1970s and significantly expanded The lightsaber is a Fictional weapon that plays a key role in the Movies, games and Novels that constitute the Star Wars

The term "rotoscoping" (typically abbreviated as "roto") is now generally used for the corresponding all-digital process of tracing outlines over digital film images to produce digital mattes. This technique is still in wide use for special cases where techniques such as bluescreen will not pull an accurate enough matte. Chroma Key is the name under which ex- Dream Theater Keyboardist Kevin Moore records Rotoscoping in the digital domain is often aided by motion tracking and onion-skinning software. Onion skinning is a 2D computer graphics term for a technique used in creating animated cartoons and editing movies to see several frames at once Rotoscoping is often used in the preparation of garbage mattes for other matte-pulling processes. For the technique of creating backgrounds see Matte painting.

Examples

Main article: List of rotoscoped works

Animated films

Live action films

Video games

Music videos

Television shows

Commercials

Miscellanea

See also

References

  1. ^ Ralph Bakshi: The Wizard of Animation making-of documentary. Rotoshop is a proprietary Graphics Editing program created by Bob Sabiston. In the mathematical subfield of Numerical analysis, interpolation is a method of constructing new data points within the range of a Discrete set of Motion capture, motion tracking, or mocap are terms used to describe the process of recording movement and translating the movement onto a digital model
  2. ^ Bakshi, Ralph. Wizards DVD, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment, 2004, audio commentary. DVD (also known as " Digital Versatile Disc " or " Digital Video Disc " - see Etymology)is On disc based video formats an audio commentary is an additional audio track consisting of a lecture or comments by one or more speakers that plays in real time with video ASIN: B0001NBMIK

External links

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