A flipbook animation is a simple type of animation that is created rapidly viewing successive images in a sequence. Printing images on the pages of a book, which can then be quickly flipped or thumbed through, is the most common method. A kineograph or thumb book is another name for a flipbook animation. Film animation began with the invention of flipbooks and similar devices. As a result, the flipbook format is popular among animators and animation fans.
Photographers and inventors began studying the principles that would lead to motion pictures soon after the invention of photography in 1826. Persistence of vision, a physiological phenomenon in which the human eye retains an image for a fraction of a second after seeing it, was the most important of these. When a series of images depicting a series of movements is displayed quickly enough, the observer gets the impression of continuous movement. This principle enables the creation of motion pictures made up of multiple still images, both photographic and animated. The flipbook, on the other hand, was the first application of this concept.
In 1868, the English printer John Barnes Linnett patented the flipbook, which he called a kineograph, based on earlier experiments. Flipbook animation quickly gained popularity in Europe, the United States, and other developed countries. A booklet small enough to fit in a child’s hand was the most common format. Each page of the booklet featured a hand-drawn image or photograph that was part of a larger sequence, which was usually a short story with a humorous slant or conclusion. The user would hold the booklet in one hand and quickly flip through the pages with the other hand’s thumb, causing the sequence to “play.”
As the nineteenth century progressed, attempts were made to automate the process of flipbook animation. With the invention of the Mutoscope in 1894 American photographic pioneer Herman Casler, this was finally accomplished. The Mutoscope displayed a series of images on cards that were advanced turning a hand crank. This coin-operated machine was one of many found in penny arcades around the turn of the century. The racy visuals and subject matter led to moral condemnation of the technology; however, it remained popular until it was surpassed motion pictures a few years later.
Printed flipbooks, on the other hand, remained popular as children’s novelty items due to their ease of use and low cost of production. They are commonly found in the corners of children’s books and magazines, where they can be easily flipped. In their films or television shows, animators will occasionally pay homage to flipbook animation. The title character in the 1988 film Who Framed Roger Rabbit, for example, flips through photographs so quickly that the viewer perceives them as an animated sequence. The opening scene of the family rushing to the couch in a 2002 episode of The Simpsons was animated in a flipbook style.