#4866 Barrier-Grid Animation (or Scanimation / Kinegram)
#4866 Barrier-Grid Animation (or Scanimation / Kinegram) #4866 Describe the process of making animation with two sheets, one with pattern and one with cutout slits This process is known as barrier-grid animation (or scanimation / kinegram ). It relies on optical occlusion and the persistence of vision: a moving grid of narrow clear slits exposes one sequential phase of motion at a time while masking the remaining phases behind opaque bars. Core Geometric Principle The geometry depends on the total frame count ( N ): Slit width ( w ): The width of each transparent aperture. Opaque bar width ( B ): Must equal (N - 1) x w to fully cover all non-active frames. Grid period / Pitch ( P ): The distance from the start of one slit to the next: P = w + B = N x w Interleaving: If an animation has 6 frames ( N = 6 ), the composite sheet is constructed from repeating 6-slice clusters. Slice 1 belongs to Frame 1, Slice 2 to Frame 2, and so on up to Slice 6. As the top sh...