A cel, short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-drawn animation. Celluloid was used for animation and film production up until the late 20th century, however, it burned easily and suffered from spontaneous decomposition, and was largely replaced by cellulose acetate plastics. Cel is an object-oriented prototype-based programming language based on Self and Smalltalk. ... Celluloid is the name of a class of compounds created from nitrocellulose and camphor, plus dyes and other agents, generally regarded to be the first thermoplastic. ... Traditional animation, also referred to as classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation, is the oldest and historically the most popular form of animation. ... Cellulose acetate, first prepared in 1865, is the acetate ester of cellulose. ...

Generally, the characters are drawn on cels and laid over a static background drawing. This reduces the number of times an image has to be redrawn and enables studios to split up the production process to different specialised teams. Using this assembly line way to animate has made it possible to produce films much more cost-effectively. The invention of the technique is generally attributed to Earl Hurd, who patented the process in 1914. For the illustrated magazine, see Studio Magazine. ... A team comprises many group of people or animals linked in a common purpose. ... Modern car assembly line. ... “Moving picture” redirects here. ... Look up Technique in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Earl Hurd (September 14, 1880 – September 28, 1940) was a pioneering American animator and film director. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Wednesday of the 13-day-slower Julian calendar). ...

The outline of the images are drawn on the back of the cel. The colors are also painted on the back to eliminate brushstrokes. Traditionally, the outlines were hand-inked but now they are almost exclusively xerographed on. Another important breakthrough in cel animation was the development of the APT (Animation Photo Transfer) process, first seen in The Black Cauldron. Disney later stopped using cels in 1990 when CAPS replaced this element in the animation process. Chester F. Carlson Xerography (or Electrophotography) is a photocopying technique developed by Chester Carlson in 1938 and patented on October 6, 1942. ... The Black Cauldron (also known as Taran and the Magic Cauldron in some countries) is the twenty-fifth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ... The Computer Animation Production System (CAPS) is a proprietary collection of software programs, scanning camera systems, servers, networked computer workstations, and custom desks developed by The Walt Disney Company together with Pixar in the late-1980s. ...

Actual production cels are sometimes sold after the animation process is complete. More popular shows and movies may demand higher prices for the cels, with some selling for thousands of dollars. Some cels are not used for actual production work, but may be a "special" or "limited edition" version of the artwork, sometimes even printed ("lithographed") instead of hand-painted. These normally do not fetch as high a price as original "under-the-camera" cels, which are true collector's items. Some cels have fetched record prices at art auctions, e.g. a cel depicting numerous characters from the finale of Who Framed Roger Rabbit sold for $50,600 at Sotheby's in 1989. The term special edition implies a kind of an extraordinary, rare quality. ... Lithography stone and mirror-image print of a map of Munich. ... A collectors item is an object or item of any kind that has become valuable -- often unexpectedly. ... Who Framed Roger Rabbit is a 1988 film produced by Amblin Entertainment and The Walt Disney Company (released on its Touchstone Pictures banner), which blends traditional animation and live action. ... Sothebys (NYSE: BID) is the worlds second oldest international auction house in continuous operation. ...

With the advent of computer assisted animation production, the use of cels has been practically abandoned in major productions. This article is about the machine. ...

See also

• Cel-shaded animation, a non-photorealistic rendering method of computer graphics to give it a feeling that it is drawn on a cel.
• Traditional animation, contains info about the process of using cels to produce animation and has a section about cels and xerography, APT, etc.