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It's worth pointing out that Walt was one of the inventors of this camera, as well as all his other roles in making the company's art. Concepts we have today li

It's worth pointing out that Walt was one of the inventors of this camera, as well as all his other roles in making the company's art. Concepts we have today like Photoshop layers and CSS stacking contexts are direct descendants of this invention.

zimpenfish 2y ago
If the Wikipedia page[0] is correct, he's more of a refiner than the inventor, no? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera
- nashashmi 2y ago
  This is a periodic reminder that all innovations happen in iterations. Walt could be credited as a curator of talented production and investor in the mission.
- dtagames 2y ago
  Walt is the named inventor on the patent[0]. I verified this by asking ChatGPT to do some research[1]. [0] https://patentyogi.com/celebrity-patents/celebrity-patent-walt-disney-invented-this-multi-plane-camera-to-produce-feature-length-movies/#:~:text=Patent%20Information%20Publication%20number%3A%20US2201689,Original%20Assignee%3A%20Walt%20Disney%20Prod https://patentyogi.com/celebrity-patents/celebrity-patent-wa... [1] https://chatgpt.com/share/67cf2195-10dc-8011-bc6b-2ee90bdb0ab1 https://chatgpt.com/share/67cf2195-10dc-8011-bc6b-2ee90bdb0a...
  - zimpenfish 2y ago
    > Walt is the named inventor on the patent There are countless patents that should never have been granted because prior art existed. This isn't a slam-dunk piece of evidence.
layer8 2y ago
Disney didn’t invent this technique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera#History And there were various predecessors like for example tunnel books: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/tunnel-books-art-history-immersive-3d-scenes-uflibrary https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/tunnel-books-art-histor...
egypturnash 2y ago
At the point in time the Walt Disney Company patented the multiplane camera, Walt had long since stopped getting his hands dirty with drawing or technology. Wikipedia's page on the multiplane camera is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera The first incarnation: Lottie Reininger/Carl Koch, 1926. Lottie's "Adventures of Prince Achmed" from the same year is the oldest known surviving animated feature, and can be watched in its entirety on Wikipedia. Other people fooled around with the idea but there's nothing wiki-notable. 1933: while estranged from Disney (it's a long saga), Walt's former star animator and Mickey co-creator Ub Iwerks built a more advanced one. 1934: the ever-inventive Fleischer studios (inventors of the process of 'rotoscoping', where animators trace over live action) took a very different approach to the problem of creating a sense of depth in animation and built their bugfuck insane Stereoptical Camera, which put miniature sets on a turntable, with a place to put animation cels (which, tangentially, were invented back in 1914 at Bray Studios). 1937: Disney's studio put together a seven-layer multiplane camera for Snow White. Walt's name went on the patent. (When I was a kid dreaming of being in the animation industry in the seventies, Leonard Maltin's Of Mice and Magic was the canonical history of the entire medium, if you're curious about the minutae of long-vanished studios. It's a lot easier to actually see any old piece of animation that you're curious about than it was back then.)

zimpenfish 2y ago

If the Wikipedia page[0] is correct, he's more of a refiner than the inventor, no? [0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera

nashashmi 2y ago
This is a periodic reminder that all innovations happen in iterations. Walt could be credited as a curator of talented production and investor in the mission.
dtagames 2y ago
Walt is the named inventor on the patent[0]. I verified this by asking ChatGPT to do some research[1]. [0] https://patentyogi.com/celebrity-patents/celebrity-patent-walt-disney-invented-this-multi-plane-camera-to-produce-feature-length-movies/#:~:text=Patent%20Information%20Publication%20number%3A%20US2201689,Original%20Assignee%3A%20Walt%20Disney%20Prod https://patentyogi.com/celebrity-patents/celebrity-patent-wa... [1] https://chatgpt.com/share/67cf2195-10dc-8011-bc6b-2ee90bdb0ab1 https://chatgpt.com/share/67cf2195-10dc-8011-bc6b-2ee90bdb0a...
- zimpenfish 2y ago
  > Walt is the named inventor on the patent There are countless patents that should never have been granted because prior art existed. This isn't a slam-dunk piece of evidence.

layer8 2y ago

Disney didn’t invent this technique: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera#History https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera#History And there were various predecessors like for example tunnel books: https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/tunnel-books-art-history-immersive-3d-scenes-uflibrary https://thekidshouldseethis.com/post/tunnel-books-art-histor...

egypturnash 2y ago

At the point in time the Walt Disney Company patented the multiplane camera, Walt had long since stopped getting his hands dirty with drawing or technology. Wikipedia's page on the multiplane camera is interesting: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiplane_camera The first incarnation: Lottie Reininger/Carl Koch, 1926. Lottie's "Adventures of Prince Achmed" from the same year is the oldest known surviving animated feature, and can be watched in its entirety on Wikipedia. Other people fooled around with the idea but there's nothing wiki-notable. 1933: while estranged from Disney (it's a long saga), Walt's former star animator and Mickey co-creator Ub Iwerks built a more advanced one. 1934: the ever-inventive Fleischer studios (inventors of the process of 'rotoscoping', where animators trace over live action) took a very different approach to the problem of creating a sense of depth in animation and built their bugfuck insane Stereoptical Camera, which put miniature sets on a turntable, with a place to put animation cels (which, tangentially, were invented back in 1914 at Bray Studios). 1937: Disney's studio put together a seven-layer multiplane camera for Snow White. Walt's name went on the patent. (When I was a kid dreaming of being in the animation industry in the seventies, Leonard Maltin's Of Mice and Magic was the canonical history of the entire medium, if you're curious about the minutae of long-vanished studios. It's a lot easier to actually see any old piece of animation that you're curious about than it was back then.)