The thaumatrope can be considered the first instrument to exploit the 'persistence of vision' on the eye. 'Persistence of vision' is when the eye applies its ability to keep an image for 1/20th of a second after the image has disappeared. This is important in terms of the thaumatrope because this is an optical toy in which is made up of a simple piece of card or a disk, that features a different image on either side. The card/disk is attached to two pieces of string and when they are spun, the card will start rotating very quickly and the two images will combine to form on still image. This is why it exploits the persistence of vision, because the brain tricks the eye into thinking that there is an illusion of movement, when in actuality it is just two separate images.
Why is the thaumatrope important? Because it can be considered one of the first ever steps to animation. Though it doesn't apply any sort of the 12 principles of animation, it relies on the persistence of vision principle, therefore is like a stepping stone and a look into the future of how people could expand on this and make more images 'move'. It was created by the astronomer John Hersechel in the early 19th century but was made popular by John Ayrton Paris, an English Physician, therefore this goes to show how animation has been ever-changing and developing for almost 2 centuries now.
However, with the thaumatrope, the eye only sees the two images come together to make one still image, so there is no real movement or action, but it was a start. Therefore this is why the Phenakistoscope is considered by many academics as an improvement to the thaumatrope, as it starts to build on this persistence of vision, into actual movement.
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