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Rotoscoping is ananimation technique thatanimators use to trace over motion picture footage,frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, live-action film images were projected onto aglass panel and traced onto paper. This projection equipment is referred to as arotoscope, developed by Polish-American animatorMax Fleischer.[1] This device was eventually replaced by computers, but the process is still called rotoscoping.
In thevisual effects industry,rotoscoping refers to the technique of manually creating amatte for an element on a live-action plate so it may becomposited over another background.[2][3]
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Rotoscoping has often been used as a tool forvisual effects inlive-action films. By tracing an object, the filmmaker creates a silhouette (called amatte) that can be used to extract that object from a scene for use on a different background. Rotoscoping in the digital domain is often aided bymotion-tracking andonion-skinning software. Rotoscoping is often used in the preparation ofgarbage mattes for other matte-pulling processes.
Rotoscoping has also been used to create a special visual effect (such as a glow, for example) that is guided by the matte or rotoscoped line. A classic use of traditional rotoscoping was in the original threeStar Wars films, where the production used it to create the glowinglightsaber effect with a matte based on sticks held by the actors. To achieve this, effects technicians traced a line over each frame with the prop, then enlarged each line and added the glow.
While blue-screen and green-screen techniques (Chroma key) have made the process of layering subjects in scenes easier, rotoscoping still plays a large role in the production of visual effects imagery.
Eadweard Muybridge had some of his famouschronophotographic sequences painted on glass discs for thezoopraxiscope projector that he used in his popular lectures between 1880 and 1895. The first discs were painted on the glass in dark contours. Discs made between 1892 and 1894 had outlines drawn by Erwin Faber photographically printed on the disc and then colored by hand, but these discs were probably never used in the lectures.[4]
By 1902,Nuremberg toy companiesGebrüder Bing and Ernst Plank were offeringchromolithographed film loops for their toykinematographs. The films were traced from live-action film footage.[5]
The rotoscope technique was invented by animatorMax Fleischer[6] in 1915, and used in his groundbreakingOut of the Inkwell animated series (1918–1927). It was known simply as the "Fleischer Process" on the early screen credits, and was essentially exclusive to Fleischer for several years. The live-film reference for the character, later known asKoko the Clown, was performed by his brother (Dave Fleischer) dressed in aclown costume.[7]
Conceived as a shortcut to animating, the rotoscope process proved time-consuming due to the precise and laborious nature of tracing. Rotoscoping is achieved by two methods, rear projection and front surface projection. In either case, the results can have slight deviations from the true line due to the separation of the projected image and the surface used for tracing. Misinterpretations of the forms cause the line to wiggle, and the roto tracings must be reworked over an animation disc, using the tracings as a guide where consistency and solidity are important.
Fleischer ceased to depend on the rotoscope for fluid action by 1924, when Dick Huemer became the animation director and brought his animation experience from his years on theMutt and Jeff series. Fleischer returned to rotoscoping in the 1930s for referencing intricate dance movements in hisPopeye andBetty Boop cartoons. The most notable of these are the dance routines originating from jazz performerCab Calloway inMinnie the Moocher (1932),Snow-White (1933), andThe Old Man of the Mountain (1933). In these examples, the roto tracing was used as a guide for timing and positioning, while the cartoon characters of different proportions were drawn to conform to those positions.[8]
Fleischer's last applications of the rotoscope were for the realistic human animation required for the lead character—among others—inGulliver's Travels (1939), and the human characters in his last feature,Mr. Bug Goes to Town (1941). His most effective use of rotoscoping was in the action-orientedfilm noirSuperman series of the early 1940s, where realistic movement was achieved on a level unmatched by conventional cartoon animation.
Contemporary uses of the rotoscope and its inherent challenges have included surreal effects in music videos such as Elvis Costello's "Accidents Will Happen" (1978), Klaatu's "Routine Day" (1979),Lawrence Gowan's "A Criminal Mind" (1985), A-ha's "Take On Me" (1985), the live performance scenes inDire Straits' "Money for Nothing" (1985), Kansas' "All I Wanted" (1986), and the animated TV seriesDelta State (2004). In the experimental 1973 shortHunger byPeter Foldes, every 12th frame of the footage of a gogo dancer was rotoscoped, with all theinbetweening done by software.[9]
Fleischer's patent expired by 1934, and other producers could then use rotoscoping freely.Walt Disney and his animators used the technique extensively inSnow White and the Seven Dwarfs in order to make the human characters' motions more realistic. The film went significantly over budget due to the complexity of the animation.[10]
Rotoscoping was a popular technique in early animated films made in theSoviet Union. Most films produced with it were adaptations of folk tales or poems—for example,The Night Before Christmas orThe Tale of the Fisherman and the Fish. Only during the early 1960s, after the "Khrushchev Thaw", did animatorsstart to explore very different aesthetics.
The makers ofthe Beatles'Yellow Submarine used rotoscoping in the "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds" sequence. DirectorMartin Scorsese used rotoscoping to remove a large chunk ofcocaine hanging fromNeil Young's nose in his rock documentaryThe Last Waltz.[11][12][13]
Ralph Bakshi used rotoscoping extensively for his animated featuresWizards (1977),The Lord of the Rings (1978),American Pop[2] (1981),Fire and Ice (1983), andCool World (1992). Bakshi first used rotoscoping because 20th Century Fox refused his request for a $50,000 budget increase to finishWizards; he resorted to the rotoscope technique to finish the battle sequences.[14][15]
Rotoscoping was also used inTom Waits For No One (1979), a short film made by John Lamb,Heavy Metal[2] (1981),What Have We Learned, Charlie Brown? (1983) andIt's Flashbeagle, Charlie Brown (1984); the Dire Straits "Brothers in Arms" (1985), three of A-ha's music videos, "Take On Me" (1985), "The Sun Always Shines on T.V." (1985), and "Train of Thought" (1986);Don Bluth'sThe Secret of NIMH (1982),An American Tail (1986),Harry and the Hendersons (closing credits),The BFG[16] (1989),Titan A.E. (2000); andNina Paley'sSita Sings the Blues (2008).
In 1994,Smoking Car Productions invented a digital rotoscoping process to develop its critically acclaimed adventure video gameThe Last Express. The process was awardedU.S. patent 6,061,462,Digital Cartoon and Animation Process. The game was designed byJordan Mechner, who had used rotoscoping extensively in his previous gamesKarateka andPrince of Persia.
During the mid-1990s,Bob Sabiston, an animator and computer scientist veteran of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)Media Lab, developed a computer-assisted "interpolated rotoscoping" process, which he used to make his award-winning short film "Snack and Drink". DirectorRichard Linklater subsequently employed Sabiston and his proprietary rotoscope software in the full-length feature filmsWaking Life (2001) andA Scanner Darkly (2006).[17] Linklater licensed the same proprietary rotoscoping process for the look of both films. Linklater was the first director to use digital rotoscoping to create an entire feature film. Additionally, a 2005–08 advertising campaign byCharles Schwab used Sabiston's rotoscoping work for a series of television commercials, with the tagline "Talk to Chuck".The Simpsons used rotoscope as a couch gag in the episodeBarthood, with Lisa describing it as "a noble experiment that failed".
In 2013, theanimeThe Flowers of Evil used rotoscoping to produce a look that differed greatly from itsmanga source material. Viewers criticized the show's shortcuts in facial animation, its reuse of backgrounds, and the liberties it took with realism. Despite this, critics lauded the film, and the websiteAnime News Network awarded it a perfect score for initial reactions.[18]
In early 2015, the anime filmThe Case of Hana & Alice (animated prequel to the 2004 live-action film,Hana and Alice) was entirely animated with Rotoshop. It was far better received thanThe Flowers of Evil, with critics praising its rotoscoping. In 2015,Kowabon [jp], a short-form horror anime series using rotoscoping, aired on Japanese TV.
The Spine of Night (2021), a feature-length fantasy film directed byPhilip Gelatt andMorgan Galen King was rotoscope animated.[19] King's Gorgonaut Studios had previously rotoscope animated a series of short fantasy films.[20]
In 2023,Lunark, aretro-stylecinematic platformer developed by Johan Vinet of Canari Games, was released. The title draws inspiration from classic games such asPrince of Persia,Another World, andFlashback, and makes extensive use of rotoscoping techniques for its cinematics.[21] In 2025,Lester, a rotoscoping editor designed to automatically propagate artwork from a reference frame to subsequent frames in a video, was released.[22]
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