ABSTRACT
This chapter describes a brief look at the traditional forms of animation from a historical perspective. It shows how the humble flip-book forms a link between the earlier animation tools and techniques with the present-day methods, a tool that is quite popular even today just as it was among the early pioneers. The chapter looks at how the ancient crafts such as pottery and puppetry influenced various aspects of animation ranging from modeling to performance animation. The inspiration of various aspects of animation can be traced back to arts and crafts that flourished in various eras, regimes, civilizations, and nations such as Mesopotamia, Babylon, Egypt, India, and China. The various components of performing arts such as staging, motion choreography, and lighting played a major role in shaping the principles of their corresponding equivalents in graphics and animation. The basic idea behind covering these earlier discoveries and inventions is to better understand and appreciate the current techniques of animation.
