Eadweard Muybridge

Eadweard Muybridge successfully captured human and animal movement using photography in the late 19th century.  He would place cameras in a line attached to a series of strings. These strings would be tripped by the animal or human in order to set the camera off. The pictures were then viewed through a zoopraxiscope.

Muybridge gave lectures and wrote books on animal locomotion. He helped solved the dispute to whether a galloping horse is suspended in midair in part of its run. Many artists would use this as reference for poses, and eventually animation. The great disney animator Milt Kahl used Muybridge's photography to study animal motion.

You can argue Muybridge was the final force in creating animation as it is today. His work inspired innovation in moving pictures as well as making drawings move.