Rotoscoping is a technique where animators trace live action movement, frame by frame, for use in animated films. Originally, pre-recorded live-film images were projected onto a frosted glass panel and redrawn by an animator. This projection equipment is called a Rotoscope. An animator is one who is involved in the process of animation. ... In film, video production, animation, and related fields, a frame is one of the many still images which compose the complete moving picture. ... Animation refers to the process in which each frame of a film or movie is produced individually, whether generated as a computer graphic, or by photographing a drawn image, or by repeatedly making small changes to a model (see claymation and stop motion), and then photographing the result. ... Frosted glass is produced by the acid etching of clear sheet glass, or sand-blasting. ...

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.

The technique was invented by Max Fleischer, who used it in his series "Out of the Inkwell" starting around 1914, with his brother Dave Fleischer dressed in a clown outfit as the live-film reference for the character Koko the Clown. Image File history File links Roto. ... Image File history File links Roto. ... Max Fleischer (July 19, 1883–September 11, 1972) was an important pioneer in the development of the animated cartoon. ... Year 1914 (MCMXIV) was a common year starting on Thursday (see link for calendar). ... David Fleischer ( July 14, 1894 - June 25, 1979) was a German-American animator, film director, and film producer, best known as a co-owner of Fleischer Studios with his older brother Max Fleischer. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Koko the Clown and Fitz Koko the Clown was 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. Cab Calloway, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1933 Cab Calloway (December 25, 1907–November 18, 1994) was a famous American jazz singer and bandleader. ... Betty Boop from the opening title sequence of the earliest entries in the Betty Boop Cartoons. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... Gullivers Travels is a 1939 cel-animated Technicolor feature film, directed by Dave Fleischer and produced by Max Fleischer for Fleischer Studios. ...

Walt Disney and his animators employed it carefully and very effectively in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs in 1937. Rotoscoping was also used in many of Disney's subsequent animated feature films with human characters, such as Cinderella in 1950. 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. Walter Elias Disney (December 5, 1901 – December 15, 1966), was an American film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, visionary, and philanthropist. ... Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ... 1937 (MCMXXXVII) was a common year starting on Friday (link will take you to calendar). ... Cinderella is the twelfth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ... 1950 (MCML) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... One Hundred and One Dalmatians (often abbreviated as 101 Dalmatians) is the seventeenth animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ... 1961 (MCMLXI) was a common year starting on Sunday (the link is to a full 1961 calendar). ...

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. A reel of film, which predates digital cinematography. ... Princess Iron Fan (Tie shan gong zhu), is Chinas first animated feature film. ... See also: 1940 in film 1941 1942 in film 1940s in film years in film film // Events Top grossing films Sergeant York Buck Privates, starring Abbott and Costello Tobacco Road Academy Awards Best Picture: How Green Was My Valley - 20th Century-Fox Best Actor: Gary Cooper - Sergeant York Best Actress... Combatants Republic of China Empire of Japan Commanders Chiang Kai-shek, Mao Tse-Tung, Yan Xishan, Feng Yuxiang, Zhu De, He Yingqin Hideki Tojo, Matsui Iwane, Jiro Minami, Kesago Nakajima, Toshizo Nishio, Yasuji Okamura. ... Combatants Major Allied powers: United Kingdom Soviet Union United States Republic of China and others Major Axis powers: Nazi Germany Italy Japan and others Commanders Winston Churchill Joseph Stalin Franklin Roosevelt Harry Truman Chiang Kai-Shek Adolf Hitler Benito Mussolini Hideki Tojo Casualties Military dead: 17,000,000 Civilian dead...

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. 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. Only in the early 1960s, after the Khrushchev Thaw, did animators start to explore very different aesthetics. This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ... The 1950s was the decade spanning from the 1st of January, 1950 to the 31st December, 1959. ... The history of Russian animation is a very rich, but so far nearly unexplored field for Western film theory and history. ... Roses for Stalin, Boris Vladimirski, 1949 Socialist realism is a teleologically-oriented style of realistic art which has as its purpose the furtherance of the goals of socialism and communism. ... The Night Before Christmas (Russian: , Noch pered Rozhdestvom) is a 1951 Soviet traditionally-animated feature film directed by the Brumberg sisters and produced by the Soyuzmultfilm studio in Moscow. ... The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish (1950 animated film) The Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish (Сказка о рыбаке и рыбке) is a 1835 poem by Aleksandr Pushkin. ... The 1960s decade refers to the years from January 1, 1960 to December 31, 1969, inclusive. ... In Soviet history, Kruschevs Thaw or Khrushchev Thaw refers to the period between the end of 1950s and the beginning of 1960s, when repressions and censorship reached a low point. ... 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). 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.)^[1][2] Ralph Bakshi (October 29, 1938) is an American director of animated and occasionally live-action films. ... Wizards (originally titled War Wizards[1][2]) is an animated post-apocalyptic science fiction/fantasy film about the battle between two wizards, a good wizard representing the forces of magic and an evil wizard representing the forces of technology. ... For the album by Ash, see 1977 (album). ... J.R.R. Tolkiens The Lord of the Rings is the title of an animated film produced and directed by Ralph Bakshi, and released to theaters in 1978. ... 1978 (MCMLXXVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday. ... American Pop is a 1981 American animated film directed by Ralph Bakshi. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) was a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... DVD cover Fire and Ice, released in 1983, was a collaberation between cult heroes (and friends) Ralph Bakshi and Frank Frazetta, distributed by 20th Century Fox, who also distributed the 1977 Bakshi hit Wizards The animated feature, based on characters Bakshi and Frazetta co-created was made using the process... 1983 (MCMLXXXIII) was a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... George Walton Lucas, Jr. ... Opening logo to the Star Wars films Star Wars is a science fantasy saga and fictional galaxy created by writer / producer / director George Lucas during the 1970s. ...

Rotoscoping was also used in Heavy Metal, the 1985 A-ha music video Take on Me, and Don Bluth's Titan A.E.. Heavy Metal is a 1981 Canadian animated film from executive producer Leonard Mogel, who also was the publisher of Heavy Metal magazine. ... 1985 (MCMLXXXV) was a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... . The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions. ... Take on Me is a song by the Norwegian band a-ha. ... Donald Virgil Bluth (born September 13, 1937) is a former Disney animator who, along with fellow animators Gary Goldman and John Pomeroy, set out on his own in 1979 to start his own animation studio, Don Bluth Productions. ... Titan A.E. is a 2000 animated sci-fi space adventure film from Fox Animation Studios and Twentieth Century Fox. ...

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. The first Filmation logo. ... Limited animation is a process of making animated cartoons that does not follow a realistic approach. ... Flash Gordon is a science fiction comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, first published on January 7, 1935. ... BlackStar promotional poster The animated television series Blackstar was a science fantasy epic, sometimes reported as a product inspired by the immense popularity of the 1980s Thundarr, the Barbarian. ... He-Man and the Masters of the Universe is an American animated television series produced by Filmation based on Mattels successful toy line Masters of the Universe. ...

Robert Downey, Jr. in A Scanner Darkly

Smoking Car Productions invented a digital rotoscoping process in 1994 for the creation of its critically-acclaimed adventure game The Last Express. The process was awarded U.S. Patent 6061462: Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. In the mid-1990's, 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 and A Scanner Darkly. 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. Image File history File links Downeyascannerdarkly. ... Image File history File links Downeyascannerdarkly. ... Robert Downey Jr. ... A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 film by Richard Linklater starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey, Jr. ... Jordan Mechner founded Smoking Car Productions to create the computer game The Last Express. ... The Last Express, a video game by Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions, is a real-time adventure game and one of the most expensive and innovative ever made. ... Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ... The Massachusetts Institute of Technology, or MIT, is a private coeducational research university located in Cambridge, Massachusetts, USA. MIT has five schools and one college, containing 32 academic departments,[2] with a strong emphasis on theoretical, applied, and interdisciplinary scientific and technological research. ... The Wiesner Buildings Atrium The MIT Media Lab in the School of Architecture and Planning at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology engages in education and research in the digital technology used for expression and communication. ... Richard Linklater at press conference for Before Sunrise at the 1995 Berlinale (photo by Michael Weiner) Richard Rick Linklater (born July 30, 1961, in Houston, Texas) is an American film director and writer. ... Waking Life is a digitally rotoscoped and animated film, directed by Richard Linklater and made in 2001. ... A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 film by Richard Linklater starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey, Jr. ...

Additionally, a 2005-06 advertising campaign by Charles Schwab uses rotoscoping for a series of television spots, under the tagline "Talk to Chuck." This distinctive look is also the work of Bob Sabiston. Please wikify (format) this article as suggested in the Guide to layout and the Manual of Style. ...

Technique

A horse animated by rotoscoping from Edweard Muybridge's 19th century photos.

Horse gallop rotoscoping from Edweard Muybridge's "Horses and Other Animals in Motion"

Rotoscoping is decried by some animation purists but has often been used to good effect. When used as an animator's reference tool, it can be a valuable time-saver. Image File history File links Animhorse. ... Image File history File links Animhorse. ... The Horse in Motion Eadweard Muybridge (April 9, 1830 – May 8, 1904) was a British-born photographer, known primarily for his early use of multiple cameras to capture motion. ... Image File history File links Horse_gif. ... Image File history File links Horse_gif. ... The Horse in Motion Eadweard Muybridge (April 9, 1830 – May 8, 1904) was a British-born photographer, known primarily for his early use of multiple cameras to capture motion. ...

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. ...

Rotoscoping has often been used as a tool for special effects in live action movies. 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. This allows the object to be placed in the scene. However, this technique has been largely superseded by bluescreen techniques. Special effects (abbreviated SPFX or SFX) are used in the film, television, and entertainment industry to create effects that cannot be achieved by normal means, such as depicting travel to other star systems. ... In film and video, live action refers to works that are acted out by flesh-and-blood actors, as opposed to animation. ... Mattes are used in photography and filmmaking to insert part of a foreground image onto a background image, which is often a matte painting, a background filmed by the second unit, or computer generated imagery. ... The bluescreen setup. ...

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. Opening logo to the Star Wars films Star Wars is a science fantasy saga and fictional galaxy created by writer / producer / director George Lucas during the 1970s. ... This article does not cite its references or sources. ...

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. Rotoscoping in the digital domain is often aided by motion tracking and onion-skinning software. Rotoscoping is often used in the preparation of garbage mattes for other matte-pulling processes. Digital film refers to cinema production and performance systems which work by using a digital representation of the brightness and colour of each pixel of the image. ... The bluescreen setup. ... Motion tracking can mean one of two things: Video tracking or Match moving see also Motion capture This is a disambiguation page: a list of articles associated with the same title. ... 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. ... A garbage matte can be used to exclude parts of an image that a procedural prossess, such as bluescreen, would not remove. ...

Examples of rotoscoping

Main article: List of rotoscoped works

in animated films: A list of works that were produced using rotoscoping. ...

Rotoscoping procedure of the computer game The Last Express

• Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs
• The 1940s Superman cartoons
• A Scanner Darkly (film)
• Waking Life

in live action films: Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (300x1114, 643 KB)Example of the rotoscoping technique used in the computer game The Last Express. ... Image File history File links Download high-resolution version (300x1114, 643 KB)Example of the rotoscoping technique used in the computer game The Last Express. ... The Last Express, a video game by Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions, is a real-time adventure game and one of the most expensive and innovative ever made. ... Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs is the first animated feature in the Disney animated features canon. ... This image of Superman appeared at the beginning of each of the cartoons. ... A Scanner Darkly is a 2006 film by Richard Linklater starring Keanu Reeves, Winona Ryder, Woody Harrelson, Robert Downey, Jr. ... Waking Life is a digitally rotoscoped and animated film, directed by Richard Linklater and made in 2001. ...

• A Fistful of Dollars (title sequence)
• Star Wars (lightsaber effects)

in video games: A Fistful of Dollars (Per un pugno di dollari in Italy, and officially on-screen in the United States as simply Fistful of Dollars) is a 1964 film directed by Sergio Leone and starring Clint Eastwood. ... Opening logo to the Star Wars films Star Wars is a science fantasy saga and fictional galaxy created by writer / producer / director George Lucas during the 1970s. ...

• Commander Blood
• The Last Express

in music videos: This article needs to be wikified. ... The Last Express, a video game by Jordan Mechner and Smoking Car Productions, is a real-time adventure game and one of the most expensive and innovative ever made. ...

• Take on Me by a-ha
• Money for Nothing by Dire Straits

in television shows: Take on Me is a song by the Norwegian band a-ha. ... . The initial letter is shown capitalized due to technical restrictions. ... The music video for the song featured early computer animation illustrating the lyrics. ... This article or section does not cite its references or sources. ...

• Delta State
• Flash Gordon (Filmation 1978)

in commercials All the main characters (except the man on the left) Delta State is a Canadian animated television series, based on a comic book by Douglas Gayeton, featuring four amnesiac roommates with the ability to enter the Delta State, an ethereal realm. ... Flash Gordon is a science fiction comic strip originally drawn by Alex Raymond, first published on January 7, 1935. ... The first Filmation logo. ...

• Charles Schwab commercials

Charles Schwab can refer to: Charles M. Schwab, 19th century industrialist and financier. ...

See also

• Rotoshop is also referred to as interpolated rotoscoping

Image example from A Scanner Darkly 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 from a discrete set of known data points. ...

References

DVD (Digital Versatile Disc) is an optical disc storage media format that can be used for data storage, including movies with high video and sound quality. ... A major selling point of DVD video is that its storage capacity allows for a wide variety of extra features in addition to the feature film itself. ...

External links

• Description of Smoking Car Productions' Digital Rotoscoping Patent
• Article On Richard Linklater's Use of Rotoscoping