Vocabulary & Key Terms

Animation Definition: Animation is the art of bringing life to an otherwise inanimate objects, or illustrated / 3D generated characters.

It is created by projecting sequenced images quickly, one after another, to create the illusion of life.

Animation Vocabulary

Now that we covered the basic idea of what animation is, it's important to understand the vocabulary and specialized terms used in the animation and filmmaking industry.

Frame Rate

The frame rate of an animation is the number of individual images (or frames) that are being displayed over the span of one second. It is a setting you can adjust in the animation software.

Animation is usually done in 24 frames per second (FPS).

Working on One's & Two's

Working on One's or Two's is a term used in hand drawn animation. Working on one's would mean doing a new drawing over every single frame of the animation. Working on twos means holding each drawing for two frames, so one second of animation at 24 frames per second would only be 12 drawings, not 24. In 2D animation working on two's looks fine in most instances, and there are even cases where drawings can be held longer. In 3D, though, working on one's is the standard.

Shots & Scenes

Normally in live action filmmaking, the term 'shot' refers to the images between camera edits, while a scene is all the shots and dialogue that take place at a particular location for a continuous block of time.

In animation, however, we often use the term 'scene' and 'shot' interchangeably. When we talk about a scene/shot, we often refer to one specific continuous piece of animation in between camera cuts.

Keyframes | Breakdowns | Inbetweens

Key frames, breakdowns and in-betweens are important terms, but they mean slightly different things depending on the type of animation.

In hand drawn animation, keyframes (or just keys) are the major important poses that define the scene. Breakdowns come between keys and define what the motion from key to key will be. In-betweens are all the frames that come in between to smooth out the motion.

In 3D, a keyframe is any position on the timeline where the animator has defined the position of the character. In-betweens are all the frames that the computer interprets or automatically generates to move the character from key to key.

Timing | Spacing | Easing

Timing, spacing and easing are closely related terms.

Timing means the total number of frames that will be used for a movement. 

Spacing is the amount of change that comes between each frame. Decreasing the spacing, makes an object slower, while increasing the spacing makes it look faster.

In digital animation, easing is how spacing is controlled, usually through a motion graph on the timeline.

Compositing

Compositing is the process of putting all the individual pieces of a scene together to create the final visual output.

You might have a background, multiple characters, and some scenery all being developed separately. Compositing is how all those pieces get put together into a single scene.