Animation Terminology



Animation Terminology

By: Whitney Chisolm

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.

Traditional animation: (or classical animation, cel animation, or hand-drawn animation) is an animation technique where each frame is drawn by hand. The technique was the dominant form of animation in cinema until the advent of computer animation.

Lead (Key) Animator - This animator is responsible for creating and animating one particular character in the film.

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Character model : A sheet of drawings defining the proportions, shape, clothing etc. of a character for the guidance of animators. [pic]

In Between: The paper drawing of a figure that lies in sequence between two key positions drawn by an animator.

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Stop-Motion Animation: Moving a special effects puppet or model/creature a small amount and recording a single frame (or small number of frames) so that when the film is played back at a normal speed it appears to move. The disadvantage with this form of animation is that it can sometimes appear to 'strobe', partly due to the lack of blur between the frames.

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Rotoscoping : Drawing around something in the frame so that an effect can be applied to that part of the film. If an animated creature has to go behind something in the live action piece of film, that object can be drawn around so a matte can be created, so that the createure will not show over the top of that object. If the camera is moving, then each frame of film would have to be rotoscoped. If the camera is still, then the same matte can probably be used for all frames in that shot. Rotoscoping was first used by the Fleischers for making cartoons. The Fleischers invented the Rotoscope, which is a device for projecting live-action film on to paper frame by frame, so that the outline could be traced and used as a guide for the animation. The Rotoscope consists of an animation camera and a light source (usually using a prism behind the movement and the lamp house attached to the camera's open door) that projects a print through the camera's lense and the projected image is then traced to create a matte. The lamp house is then removed and the raw stock placed in the camera and the drawings are filmed through the same lense that projected the image. The resulting image will then fit the original image if the two strips of film are run bi-packed in the same projector movment (using an optical printer). In digital film effects work, rotoscoping refers to any drawn matte, as both images can be seen compisited while the matte is being drawn, so good results can be achieved.

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Definition: "Clean-Up" refers to the process of refining the rough artwork of 2D animation.

The purpose of clean-up is to recreate the animation with smooth, consistent line art and line weights before it is transferred to cels for painting.

Sometimes animators mark notes on the clean-up art in pencil or ink, in colors that won't transfer to the cells, on the cleaned line work - usually for the inkers and painters who'll be dealing with the various line and fill colors on the cels.

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Rough Animation Drawings:

The original, first generation sketch by the animators in creating the movement in a scene. Roughs can be divided into three basic types.

Definition: Rotoscoping is an animation technique in which live action video is traced to create animation that mimics the live action. The action is traced just to get the lines needed to capture the image, attempting to keep consistent linework from frame to frame while following the live action video's motion. The lines are then transferred to cels and painted as in normal traditional animation.

Background Drawing:, in painting, photography, computer vision, medical imaging, etc, is the part of an image that lies outside the object(s) of interest captured by the image (which forms the foreground).

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Definition: A cel is the transparent sheet of plastic upon which final animation artwork is transferred in order to be painted in and then laid over a background and filmed.

The line art of each frame of animation is either inked or copied onto the front of the cel, and then paint applied to the back. When the transparent cels are laid over the static backgrounds, they form a complete picture without having to redraw the same background for each frame of animation.

Early cel animation was done on nitrate cels, which are not only prone to decay, but quite flammable. Currently acetate cels, which are much less volatile and more durable, are an industry standard.

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Definition: A Marquette is a physical sculpture of an animation design. The sculpture can be of a character or an object. Marquettes are made using the character or object's model sheet, to make sure that their proportions most closely match those of the 2d drawings. These sculptures are valuable in helping animators determine how to draw aspects of the animation design from various angles.

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Definition: Depth of field refers to the focus of objects in a scene at various depths - such as the foreground, middle ground, and background. Blurring the focus of objects in the foreground seems to highlight objects in the background, while in reverse blurring the focus of objects in the background seems to highlight objects in the foreground. It's commonly used in live action filming, and can be easily accomplished by adjusting a camera's lens.

In animation it can be a bit more difficult; in 2d cel animation it can be accomplished by layering cells upon which one layer has blurred artwork, or by retouching 2d animation with computer software. In 3d animation it's a bit easier, generally accomplished by adjusting virtual cameras.

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Definition: Stop-motion animation is 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 (think Gumby).

Anime: An animation style known for its sinister and dark feel, popular in Japan.

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Breakdown: In cut-out animation, the breakdown is the action of breaking a character in pieces to create a puppet with articulations. To breakdown a character, the artist will cut parts such as hands and arms, from the character’s model and paste them in separate layers before fixing the joints and setting the pivots. In traditional animation, a breakdown is an animation pose generally found between two key poses. The key poses are the main poses in an animation and the breakdowns are secondary poses helping to describe the motion and the rotation curve.

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Rendering: The final step when animating by computer. During rendering, the computer takes each pixel that appears on screen and processes all of the components as well as adding some motion blur before it produces a final image. In animation, the rendering process is the action of calculating the final images after the compositing process.

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Sequence: In animation, a sequence is a series of scenes or shot forming a distinct part of the story or movie, usually connected by unity of location or unity of time.

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Key Drawings - These are done by the Lead Animator alone. A general rule is that one key drawing is done for every five frames of film.

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Timing Out - This is an animation key. It involves setting all of the on screen action to the proper beats (including music, sound effects, dialogue etc.)

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Motion Blur - Done through the computer, it helps bring the frames together, eliminating the jumpiness that can come from computer imaging.

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Claymation - A form of stop motion where the objects to be animated are made of clay. Wallace and Gromit and the California Raisins are examples of this art.

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Puppetoons - Developed by George Pal, these cartoons were made by manipulating wooden models. Instead of moving the model for every movement, the piece in movement (or the actual model) would be removed and replaced. Although Pal would use an average of 9,000 models for each 8-minute film, this technique gave him a commanding sense of realism.

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Flash - The most common animation program for the Internet. Many "˜animations' found on WebPages are done with Flash.

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Shockwave - A computer animation program. This has become popular with many of the Internet sites that provide cartoons.

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Anime - Popular in Japan, this animation style is known for its "˜dark' feel and real world look.[pic][pic]

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