My first attempt at making a zoetrope out of piece of mountboard, a paper plate, and some string. It’s a bit wonky, but then, as a wise old man once told me, “That is why you’re an animator, and not an engineer”.
The earliest known zoetrope was invented in China by Ting Huan, circa 180 AD. They became popular in Victorian times, and were known as the “Daedulum”, or “wheel of the devil”. Later it became known as a “Zoetrope”, which means “wheel of life”.
Zoetropes normally consist of a wheel, with slots, and a strip of drawings on the inside of the wheel. When spun, the slots create a strobe effect. When viewed through the strobe effect, the strip of drawings appear to move! Compare this to viewing the drawings without the strobe effect; they’ll just look blurry!
Amazing Zoetropes
There are lots of amazing zoetropes, which you can see on the internet;
Hello,
I thought you might be interested to know that I have started work on a new website, The Wheel of Life. The subject is 19th-century sequence-picture optical toys.
The Home page is here:
http://www.stephenherbert.co.uk/wheelHOME.htm
this links through to the main essays.
The Contents list is here:
http://www.stephenherbert.co.uk/wheelComing.htm
this links to other pages.
There’s lots still to do to get the basic website finished (links to image sources, more main essays, etc) and then I’ll try to add something every month.
I hope you enjoy The Wheel of Life as it develops, and I’m always pleased to hear comments, and learn new things about the subject.
Best wishes,
Stephen Herbert
This looks like a great resource. Thanks for sharing!
Great, but what did u use to make sure there was no friction between the wall and the paper plate?
Im doing this for a school project.
I don’t think I understand your question? Are you asking how did the zoetrope wall slide over the paper plate? If you are, then the answer is that it didn’t! The paper plate spins with the wall. Friction is required! (p.s. sorry for the slow reply!)