The theory of Persistence of vision

Persistence of vision is the theory in which when we show a number of images together within a short time period, it gives the illusion that the images are moving. This is because our brain can only process a certain amount of information at a time, when images are shown in a quick succession we see it as if it’s moving. A zoetrope is animation tool which has a series of images that are placed in a circle spindle and when it is spun, persistence of vision takes place, as the moving images become an animation. There have mean many techniques that have used persistence vision. One was created by William Horner who was the original designer of the zoetrope. Another one was Thomas Edison who has created many devices that use persistence vision, that are used today. Persistence of vision can also tie in with computer gifs too!

This image above is a good example of persistence of vision. At first glance, you may see this image and think it’s just two people looking at each other. In fact there are two people sat where their eyes are, and a woman on the side of the man’s head in a doorway. There are loads of these images around and people can spend ages trying to find out what’s imbedded in the image! Another example of this theory is flip-books, they work the same way. You flip the pages at a certain speed and the picture on each page appears as if they’re moving. Animation is all based around persistence of vision. We don't notice the fractional skips between images because that persistence fills in the momentary gap to make the motion seem seamless.

Uncanny valley

Uncanny valley is a hypothesis in the field of human aesthetics which holds that when human features look and move almost, but not exactly, like natural human beings. Good examples of this can be robotics or 3D computer animation. Things like those are getting more and more human like! The "valley" refers to the dip in a graph of the comfort level of humans as subjects move toward a healthy, natural human likeness described in a function of a subjects aesthetic acceptability. 

The video below holds a demonstration of a animation flipbook. A flipbook is made of images that have a slight alteration and is made into a book. This works manually by using my fingers to flick through the pages which then creates the illusion of a moving picture. This is how the theory 'Persistence of Vision' takes place where the retained image and the next image emerges together giving the impression that the image is moving.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E_7Ppqswx_g

Beta movement 

Beta movement is a theory that thinks it’s not just the eyes that give the illusion of movement, but the brain too. When two identical images are shown in rapid succession, the brain imagines the movement between them. One example of the beta movement effect would be a set of LEDs, as shown at the picture below. The LEDs, electronically, are individually controlled, but our eyes and brains perceive them as a snake running clockwise around the four edges of the square picture.