Editing Stop motion (section)

===1849 to 1895: Before film===
{{main|Early history of animation}}
Before the advent of [[chronophotography]] in 1878, a small number of picture sequences were photographed with subjects in separate poses. These can now be regarded as a form of stop-motion or pixilation, but very few results were meant to be animated. Until celluloid [[film base]] was established in 1888 and set the standard for the moving image, animation could only be presented via mechanisms such as the [[zoetrope]].

In 1849, [[Joseph Plateau]] published a note about improvements for his Fantascope (a.k.a. [[Phenakistiscope|phénakisticope]]). A new translucent variation had improved picture quality and could be viewed with both eyes, by several people at the same time. Plateau stated that the illusion could be advanced even further with an idea communicated to him by [[Charles Wheatstone]]: a combination of the fantascope and Wheatstone's [[stereoscope]]. Plateau thought the construction of a sequential set of stereoscopic image pairs would be the more difficult part of the plan than adapting two copies of his improved fantascope to be fitted with a stereoscope. Wheatstone had suggested using photographs on paper of a solid object, for instance a statuette. Plateau concluded that for this purpose 16 plaster models could be made with 16 regular modifications. He believed such a project would take much time and careful effort, but would be quite worth it because of the expected marvelous results.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=9fZUAAAAcAAJ&q=%22persistance%20des%20impressions%20de%20la%20retine%E2%80%9D%20bulletin%20academie%20royale%22&pg=PA30|title=Bulletins de l'Académie Royale des Sciences, des Lettres et des Beaux-Arts de Belgique|date=1849|publisher=Hayez|language=fr}}</ref> The plan was never executed, possibly because Plateau was almost completely blind by this time.

In 1852, [[Jules Duboscq]] patented a "Stéréoscope-fantascope ou Bïoscope" (or abbreviated as stéréofantascope) [[phenakistiscope|stroboscopic disc]]. The only known extant disc contains stereoscopic photograph pairs of different phases of the motion of a machine. Due to the long exposure times necessary to capture an image with the photographic emulsions of the period, the sequence could not be recorded live and must have been assembled from separate photographs of the various positions of the machinery.

In 1855, [[Johann Nepomuk Czermak]] published an article about his Stereophoroskop and other experiments aimed at stereoscopic moving images. He mentioned a method of sticking needles in a [[phenakistiscope|stroboscopic disc]] so that it looked like one needle was being pushed in and out of the cardboard when animated. He realized that this method provided basically endless possibilities to make different 3D animations. He then introduced two methods to animate stereoscopic pairs of images, one was basically a stereo viewer using two stroboscopic discs and the other was more or less similar to the later [[zoetrope]]. Czermak explained how suitable stereoscopic photographs could be made by recording a series of models, for instance to animate a growing pyramid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://echo.mpiwg-berlin.mpg.de/ECHOdocuView?url=/permanent/vlp/lit15017/index.meta&viewMode=auto&pn=1|last=Czermak|title=Das Stereophoroskop|year=1855|language=de}}</ref>

On 27 February 1860, [[Peter Hubert Desvignes]] received British patent no. 537 for 28 monocular and stereoscopic variations of cylindrical stroboscopic devices (much like the later zoetrope).<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=UXTAAgAAQBAJ&q=peter+hubert+desvignes+patent&pg=PA31|title=Stereoscopic Cinema and the Origins of 3-D Film, 1838-1952|first=Ray|last=Zone|date=3 February 2014|publisher=University Press of Kentucky|isbn=9780813145891|via=Google Books}}</ref> Desvignes' ''Mimoscope'', received an Honourable Mention "for ingenuity of construction" at the [[1862 International Exhibition]] in London.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://archive.org/details/medalsandhonour00goog|title=Medals and Honourable Mentions Awarded by the International Juries: With a ...|date=10 April 1862|publisher=Her Majesty's Commissioners|via=Internet Archive}}</ref> Desvignes "employed models, insects and other objects, instead of pictures, with perfect success".<ref>{{cite web|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5GFAAAAAYAAJ&q=mimoscope&pg=PA777|title=Chambers's Encyclopaedia: A Dictionary of Universal Knowledge for the People|date=10 April 1868|publisher=W. and R. Chambers|via=Google Books}}</ref>

In 1874, [[Jules Janssen]] made several practice discs for the recording of the passage of Venus with his series ''[[Passage de Vénus]]'' with his [[Janssen revolver|photographic revolver]]. He used a model of the planet and a light source standing in for the sun.<ref>{{cite AV media |date=2012-05-05 |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LowU9vKZzJs |title=1874 Pierre Jules César Janssen - Passage artificiel de Venus sur le Soleil |publisher=magical media museum |via=[[YouTube]] |access-date=2021-08-10 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210717194344/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LowU9vKZzJs |archive-date=2021-07-17 |url-status=live}}</ref> While actual recordings of the passage of Venus have not been located, some practice discs survived and the images of one were turned into a short animated film decades after the development of [[cinematography]].

In 1887, [[Étienne-Jules Marey]] created a large zoetrope with a series of plaster models based on his [[chronophotography|chronophotographs]] of birds in flight.<ref name="Herbert2">Herbert, Stephen. (n.d.) {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20140527175613/http://www.stephenherbert.co.uk/wheelZOETROPEpart2.htm ''From Daedaleum to Zoetrope'', Part 2.]}} Retrieved 2014-05-31.</ref>