Animation Terms

Animation – A filmmaking technique where the illusion of motion is created frame-by-frame. The word comes from the
Latin word, "anima," meaning "life" or "soul".

2-D Animation - The creation of moving pictures in a two-dimensional environment, such as through "traditional" cel
animation or in computerized animation software. This is done by sequencing consecutive images, or "frames", that
simulate motion by each image showing the next in a gradual progression of steps. The eye can be "fooled" into
perceiving motion when these consecutive images are shown at a rate of 24 frames per second or faster.

3-D Animation - The creation of moving pictures in a three-dimensional digital environment. This is done by sequencing
consecutive images, or "frames", that simulate motion by each image showing the next in a gradual progression of steps,
filmed by a virtual "camera" and then output to video by a rendering engine. The eye can be "fooled" into perceiving
motion when these consecutive images are shown at a rate of 24 frames per second or faster.

Cel - short for celluloid, is a transparent sheet on which objects are drawn or painted for traditional, hand-
drawn animation.

Computer Animation - Covers a broad range of subjects, but overall can be defined as the creation of moving images
through the use of computers. These images can be created in either a two-dimensional or three-dimensional space,
and can be applied to web design, user interface design, application development, video games, movies, special effects,
cartooning, and many others.

CGI (Short for Computer-Generated Imagery) - Refers to any artwork or animation created with computers. The term
"CGI" can apply to both 2D and 3D renderings, but is most commonly used in reference to 3D.

Animator - The person who draws the moving character in an animated film.

Background - A flat piece of artwork that is the setting for a moving character in an animated film. A background could
be a picture of a forest, a sky, a room, or a castle.

Script - The written story of a film that supplies dialogue, camera moves, background, staging and action.

Storyboard - A visual representation of a story. Pictures can be sketched on pieces of paper and pinned to a large board,
or they can be drawn on a large piece of paper, comic-book style, to represent scenes in a film. A storyboard should
show character, attitude, feelings, entertainment, expressions, type of action, as well as telling the story’s plot.

Model Sheet - A reference sheet for animators that shows a number of different poses of an animated character. The
model sheet also shows how characters relate in size to other characters.

Stop-Motion Animation - Animation produced by arranging real objects, taking a picture of them, repositioning the
objects minutely, then taking another picture of them to create a sequence of consecutive images that create the
illusion of motion. One of the most common forms of stop-motion animation is Claymation (Wallace and Gromit).

Pixilation - A stop-motion technique in which life-size props or live actors are photographed frame-by-frame. When
viewed, they appear to be moving at a fast speed.

Vector Animation - Animation whose art or motion is controlled by vectors rather than pixels. Vector animation often
allows cleaner, smoother animation, because images are displayed and/or resized using mathematical values instead of
stored pixel values. One of the most commonly used vector animation programs is Adobe Flash.
Timeline - In animation, a timeline refers to the frame-by-frame layout of all animation occurring over a delineated
course of time. All animation is arranged in linear order from beginning to end. Timelines can be numbered by frame, by
second (or other interval of time), or both.

Frame - An individual still picture on a strip of film. 24 frames equal one second of a motion picture.

Frame Rate - The measure of the number of frames displayed sequentially per second of animation in order to create
the illusion of motion. The higher the frame rate, the smoother the motion, because there are more frames per second
(fps) to display the transition from point A to point B. 24 fps is standard, but you could go as low as 12 fps and as high as
30 fps.

Frame-by-frame - The filmmaking technique in animation where each frame is exposed one at a time and the object
being photographed is slightly altered for each picture. Key Frame - An animation key frame is a single still image in an
animated sequence that occurs at an important point in that sequence; key frames are defined throughout an animated
sequence, in order to define pivotal points of motion before the frames in between are drawn or otherwise created to
"tween" the motion between the two key frames. One example of key frames could be an animation of a swinging
baseball bat; the bat at rest would be one key frame, and the bat at the end of its swing would be another. All other
frames would be "tweened" frames.

Tween (short for in-between) - The creation of successive frames of animation between key frames. In computer
animation, the term is most commonly used for Flash's "shape tweening" and Motion Tweening - Processes, where the
user can define two key frames and Flash will automatically create the in-between frames, either morphing one shape
into another over a set period of time or else moving a shape or shapes from point A to point B over a set period of time.
3D animation programs also have their own method of "tweening".

Squash and Stretch - Animation technique used to depict exaggerated animated motion. The point of squash and
stretch is to make the motions larger than life, rather than more swift, realistic, and sometimes unnoticed in passing
observation. The reason it's called "squash and stretch" is because characters and objects are shown to "squash"
(become distorted or flattened) when affected by weight or gravity, and "stretch" (become elongated) when affected by
momentum or other forces, in ways that are (usually) impossible in reality. A key principle of squash and stretch,
however, is the fact that the object/character animated retains the same volume/apparent mass; it's simply distorted
into a different shape and/or configuration to give the impression of the forces acting on it.

Anticipation - The brief moment of anticipatory motion that precedes an action. It's a crucial animation technique to
make motion more believable; for instance, if an animated character is going to punch something, you wouldn't animate
their fist flying forward straight from the mark. Instead they'd draw back in the opposite direction, that moment of
anticipation, gathered kinetic energy - and then throw the punch forward.