Toys
involving animated images began to appear at the beginning of the nineteenth
century. This was the time when several scientists realised that a series of
still images can be used to create the effect of a moving image, if the conditions
are right.
There are two conditions: the first is that the images must be presented to the eye at the rate of at least 10 per second. The second condition is that a period of blackness must be set between each image, so that the images do not blur into each other, and the lines or gaps between them are not detected. The reason that the viewer perceives a moving image, is that the brain forms a mental bridge between the two images, giving rise to the idea that the static images are actually moving. This is known as the 'phi phenomenon'.
You can find out more about the phi phenomenon at questacon.edu.au.
Click on to the next page to look at the earliest animated toys.
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