FACT! #66

Courtesy of Wikipedia. The original prototype burned the retinas of artists using it.

Perhaps best known for his creation Betty Boop and his work on the Popeye and Superman cartoons; Max Fleischer (b. 1883 - d. 1972) also pioneered a number of techniques used in animation and was quite the innovator. Today, we'll be focusing on one of the more elaborate techniques he created, along with the machine named after it; Rotoscoping and the Rotoscope.

Rotoscoping is the process of tracing the outline of live action footage and was first used in his "Out of the Inkwell" series in 1915 when he filmed his brother, David, in a clown suit as he performed... Which led to the creation of his first major character, Koko the Clown. Max designed and patented the Rotoscope and went on to use it quite extensively at his animation studio. The Superman cartoons from the 1940s used rotoscoping heavily. Though a personal favorite use of it would have to be in 1932's Betty Boop cartoon "Minnie the Moocher" where he used the technique to animate Cab Calloway's dance moves.

Courtesy of moviefest2012. Why Cab Calloway was rotoscoped into a walrus ghost is beyond me. Then again, pot wasn't exactly illegal until 1937. Mystery solved?

Though Fleischer Studios used it extensively, they weren't the only animation studio to use it. Disney used it in "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs." Ralph Bakshi used it quite a bit in the 1970s, most famously in 1978's "Lord of the Rings." Later uses could be found in a-Ha's "Take on Me" music video, "He-Man and The Masters of The Universe" cartoon, both in the 1980s, and Don Bluth's "Titan A.E." released in 2000. Even Star Wars got into the game using the technique to add the glow to the lightsabers.

The prominence of rotoscoping has waned quite a bit, but it has lasted the test of time. It's still being used and is fondly remembered as a unique technique. There were other innovations made by Max Fleischer (which I'll get around to eventually), but this was perhaps the most inventive.