The Phenakistoscope was an early animation device that used the persistence of vision principle to create an illusion of motion. It uses a spinning disc attached vertically on a handle. Around the center of the disc a series of pictures was drawn corresponding to frames of the animation; around its circumference was a series of radial slits. The user would spin the disc and look through the moving slits at the disc’s reflection in a mirror. The scanning of the slits across the reflected images kept them from simply blurring together, so that the user would see a rapid succession of images with the appearance of a motion picture.
In other words, this device was clever and completely awesome. And this phenakistoscope gif has pretty much made our day, so we thought you might enjoy it too. Just look at it! Are those fishmen dancing around a many-tentacled demon? Are the fishmen wearing snappy outfits? Cthulhu fhtagn!
[gif via Robot:Mafia]

The Phenakistoscope was an early animation device that used the persistence of vision principle to create an illusion of motion. It uses a spinning disc attached vertically on a handle. Around the center of the disc a series of pictures was drawn corresponding to frames of the animation; around its circumference was a series of radial slits. The user would spin the disc and look through the moving slits at the disc’s reflection in a mirror. The scanning of the slits across the reflected images kept them from simply blurring together, so that the user would see a rapid succession of images with the appearance of a motion picture.

In other words, this device was clever and completely awesome. And this phenakistoscope gif has pretty much made our day, so we thought you might enjoy it too. Just look at it! Are those fishmen dancing around a many-tentacled demon? Are the fishmen wearing snappy outfits? Cthulhu fhtagn!

[gif via Robot:Mafia]