The FLIP BOOK

The flip book is the manual way you can create the illusion of animation. It is the foundation of animation in motion pictures, computer generated gif animations, and flash animations

The flip book consists of a series of pages bound together which contain pictures. each picture has a subtle differnce from the previous. As the user flips through the book at a fast rate, the users eye catches the change and brain interprets it as motion. If you go through the flip book slowly, the subtle changes in the image my be nearly unperceivable.

The Motion Picture Movie is a series of slides with slight differences per frame, and are played through a projector at a fast enough rate so the user percieves motion. The giff animation is similar in that it is a series of images arranged into a sequence that is played at a set rate, to simulate motion.

The Sprite: A sprite is a simple graphic that moves over a larger non moving image. Using a simple "sprite" animation, you can set up the sequential images side by side. Here you can see the image going up and down through the animation sequence..

<= If you were to flip through them as in the old flip book you would hold the book so that you could flip the pages fast.

If you speed up the flip book you will perceive a more continuous motion. =>

Hence you can see that an animation is a series of images with very slight differences to result in a perception of motion when viewed in fast succession.