Persistence of vision

Persistence of vision is the theory that an afterimage is thought to persist for one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina. This technique is used in animation to show a fluent movement. In most animation, one picture is shown every two frames - so every 24 frames 12 pictures will be shown - giving us the illusion of movement.

The first device that used a sequence of rapidly changing images to create an animation was the Zoetrope, a collection of images inside a spinning cylinder, which when viewed from the side created a small looped animation.

One of the most modern and simple examples of persistence of vision is the flip book. As you thumb through the pages quickly an animation appears. Each page in the book is acting as a frame which the mind registers

A  Simple Flip Book Animation