Zoetrope for iPhone/iPad (2009)
The Zoetrope is one of the earliest devices which created the illusion of animation via cycling through a series of still images. Now you can experience this historic device on your iPhone or iPod Touch.
Supplied with the app are three classic image sequences from the master of motion himself, Eadward Muybridge – but that’s not all! You can create your own animations with your own images or browse and download other peoples animations!
Get it from the iTunes App Store here.
More information on the Zoetrope at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zoetrope
More information on Eadweard Muybridge at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eadweard_Muybridge
Note: images supplied with the app are in the public domain.
Creating your own animations on your PC or Mac
An animation consists of 15 frames. These are laid out in a 512×512 image, in a 4×4 grid starting from right to left, top to bottom as per the images below (the last cell in the bottom left is not used).
- Create: On your desktop PC or Mac, create an image like the ones below.
- Transfer: Transfer this image to your iPhone / iPod Touch Photo library (on Mac you can place the image in iPhoto and sync with iTunes, on Windows you can use iTunes sync or do it manually with Explorer).
- Select: Launch the Zoetrope app and select the rightmost icon. This will open your iPhone / iPod Touch image library, browse and select your image containing the sequence.
Creating your own animations directly on your iPhone or iPod Touch
This feature is currently in development and will be available for the next release.
Sharing animations
You can submit your animations to www.zoetropeforiphone.com (launching very soon) and allow other users to browse and download them. In the next release of Zoetrope for iPhone you will be able to browse and download, or submit your own animations directly from within the iPhone app. For now you can browse / download / submit via your PC or Mac’s browser.
Example animation templates
The Zoetrope is one of the earliest devices which created the illusion of animation via cycling through a series of [...]