Xerography and stuff

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Just something I am curious about when it comes to some of the technology used in Disney animation. In case anybody knows the answear to one or more of the following questions:

Xerography was as we know used in 101 Dalmatians, but it was first tested in a few scenes in Sleeping Beauty. Anyone who knows which scenes?

This technique only used black lines in the start, but with The Rescuers it was also introduced grey (and brown?) toner. How much did Xerography improved? Even if it is not a Disney movie, Nimh is said to have used lines with a lot of different colors. When The Fox and the Hound, had it improved even more form Tthe Rescuers?

With The Black Cauldron, Disney used the APT process for the first time (I know, the main principle is the same, but it is another technolgy and results in better quality). Did it replace Xerography completely, and was never used again? If that's the case, it means The Fox and the Hound is the last xerographed feature from Disney (and also the last not to inlcude computers in its production). And was it then any improvements of the process from The Black Cauldron to The Little Mermaid?

Was any series from Disney, like The Gummi Bears, made by using APT? When did other studios pick up the technology?

To make the background match with the animation in 101 Dalmatians, line overlay was used. In what other movies was it used? Some sources claims it was used only in 101 Dalmatians and Oliver & Company (making it the first APT-movie to use line overlay), while others says that it was used in every movie between Sleeping Beauty (not counting the few test scenes) and The Fox and the Hound, with the exception of The Jungle Book, and plus Oliver & Company of course. Making The Fox and the Hound the first xeroxed movie to use line overlay. But who is right?

The Jungle Book is also rumored to have been the last time the multiplane camera was used in a long time. Does it mean every feature before this movie had used it? And what movies after it used the camera, was The Black Cauldron the first? What movies after The Black Cauldron used it (Since CAPS was able to do the same thing and more, it was as we know completely left with The Little Mermaid)? The Little Mermaid also had multiplane scenes, but these were not created at Disney. Who did them?

And did any features use backlight animation?

Even if it would be interesting with a list or something of the technolgy used in Disney animated features (and non-Disney features as well), I also think the short cartoons are ignored a little too much. Like; what shorts used the multiplane camera? After all, much of the new techniques were used for the first time not in features, but in shorts. Some information can be found in the net, but it would be best if it could come directly from the source (Disney).

[Wonderlicious]

Welcome to the forum! From what you've written here, you seem like a rather promising forum member, so I hope you stick around. Sadly, I can't answer all your questions, but I think that I can answer some of them...

Just something I am curious about when it comes to some of the technology used in Disney animation. In case anybody knows the answear to one or more of the following questions:

Xerography was as we know used in 101 Dalmatians, but it was first tested in a few scenes in Sleeping Beauty. Anyone who knows which scenes?

I personally found out that Sleeping Beauty used a small amount of the Xerox process by reading the entry to the short Goliath II (which was the first animated film of any sorts to use the photocopying process) in the book Disney A to Z (my local library has it). I personally am not entirely sure which scenes use the process, yet I think that the scenes with the thicker character outlines may use the process, as thick outlines is a common feature of Xerography.

This technique only used black lines in the start, but with The Rescuers it was also introduced grey (and brown?) toner. How much did Xerography improved? Even if it is not a Disney movie, Nimh is said to have used lines with a lot of different colors. When The Fox and the Hound, had it improved even more form Tthe Rescuers?

I'm not sure about the whole line colour thing, but I've always considered the lines in The Fox and the Hound to be better than those in The Rescuers as in the 1981 film, they're far less loose than in the 1977 mouse movie.

To make the background match with the animation in 101 Dalmatians, line overlay was used. In what other movies was it used? Some sources claims it was used only in 101 Dalmatians and Oliver & Company (making it the first APT-movie to use line overlay), while others says that it was used in every movie between Sleeping Beauty (not counting the few test scenes) and The Fox and the Hound, with the exception of The Jungle Book, and plus Oliver & Company of course. Making The Fox and the Hound the first xeroxed movie to use line overlay. But who is right?

To my knowledge, the following animated or part-animated films of any length which feature backgrounds (although Pete's Dragon is part-animated, there are no backgrounds as Eliot is in a live action world) made prior to the introduction of the CAPS system do not use the Xerox overlays; Golliath II, The Jungle Book, Mary Poppins, Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Fox and the Hound, The Black Cauldron, The Great Mouse Detective, The Little Mermaid, Who Framed Roger Rabbit and The Prince and the Pauper. As far as I am aware, every other Disney animated film of sorts (and also some pre-Gummi Bears TV things such as the Ludwig Von Drake pieces on The Wonderful World of Disney) uses overlays at least somewhere in the film.

Hope all this information helps!

[Rumpelstiltskin]

Thanks. I will probably visit the forum now and then.

And thanks for the info. Of course the story and how it is told means a lot too, but still, it looks like after Winnie the Pooh, the visual quality of Disney features seemed to improve for almost each new movie until CAPS appeared and caused to return of a more hand inked look.

As for backlight animation, I just remembered how imprissive the glowing letters in Nimh were when Nicodemus was writing in his book, an effect that is said to have been made by using backlight animation. Since if was used also in Tron, Disney has used it in a least one movie that I am aware of.