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What were the Techniques before Computer Animation?   Before computer animation was created, all animation was done by hand. A tremendous amount of work had to be applied in order to create an animation, because every second contained around 24 frames! Different techniques were made so that the work went by more quickly. One technique that was invented was called Key Frame. First, professionals draw the major scenes. Then, junior artists draw the scenes between the ones the professionals drew. This way drawing and animation takes less time. Another technique is cell animation. Characters are, first, drawn on separate pieces of transparent paper. The Background is then drawn on an opaque piece of paper. The papers are laid on top of each other creating one scene. The last technique is called rotascoping. Rotascoping is copying images from moving video into animation. Rotascoping makes animation easier because you have a reference instead of having to imagine it in your head. If you use this method be sure to get the exact video you want to animate.