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2D
Everything that’s conceived on a 2D plane/sheet/canvas (see 3D).
3D
Everything that’s built inside a 3D software as a virtual 3-dimensional
object (even though it gets rendered as a 2D image that we see on a 2D
screen, in the end, the difference is in the method of creation - 2D is
a line, 3D is an object)(see 2D).
animatic
In its simplest form, a storyboard filmed and timed so you get a
flowing version of it and be able to judge the storyboard as film. In a
more complex form, a rough version of the film that involves camera
movement and characters and props moving (but with very basic
animation, just to roughly place elements in space and time). Also
referred to as a “leica reel” (in the old days). As the production of
the film begins the animatic is usually continuously upgraded (with
layout for example, and then animation, as soon as there is any) (see props;
production; layout).
anticipation
An action has three stages: anticipation, action, and reaction. We
anticipate actions before we do them, unless we get hit by the action….
out of the blue. Also, anticipation in animation is used to attract
attention. An anticipation can be followed by nothing, or a different
action from what we expect, in which case it has a comic effect. Using
huge anticipation for a run for example, and then only showing some
reaction like the dust off of the character that just zipped out of
screen, makes the action clear, even though we actually didn’t see the
action at all (see reaction).
appeal
Quality of a character to attract the eye and please the audience -
because of design, acting and personality, overall quality of animation…
arcs
An articulation’s path of action is normally an arc, unless we animate
some sort of robot. Arcs can be more or less round, and can turn more
or
less abrupt, but the idea is that keeping articulations on clean arcs,
without jerky movement (unless needed), creates animation flow, logic,
and beauty (see articulation).
articulation
A character’s joints or articulations can have 1, 2 or 3 degrees of
rotation freedom (such as rotate left /right, up/down, and twist), and
be more or less flexible.
breakdown
When working pose to pose, the highest level of poses are the key
poses, the keys are further detailed with extremes, and then further
detailed with breakdown poses (and at the lowest level is the
inbetween). Breakdowns basically describe small bits of movement, and
because they’re found in between two extreme positions, they’re also
called passing or middle positions). An arc for instance can have two
extremes and then, to further define it, you add one or more breakdowns
(so, for example, if the extremes were left and right, the breakdown
could be a middle-up “extreme”).There can be one or many layers of
breakdowns (see pose to pose animation; key; extreme;
inbetween; arcs).
breaking joints
Bending a joint in the opposite direction to its normal bending, in
such a position that would normally, in reality, break it. This is used
for flexibility, for creating the illusion of a curvy limb, waving like
a flexible piece of rubber (see progressively breaking joints).
camera cut
An interruption of the film/image by moving to another image/piece of
film. A cut separates two shots (see shot).
claymation
(see stopmotion).
contact
A contact position is used when a character “takes off” or “lands”,
basically when it just comes in contact with something, or just about
to leave (so it’s not necessarily foot contact, but can be hand, head,
anything). Used many times as a stretched pose, the contact helps the
flow of images by connecting the object about to reach (or just
departing from) a target… with the target. This contact kills strobing
by filling empty space. Even though the contact position is many times
a weird overstretched exaggerated pose, it flows so quick it can’t be
seen, just felt, and it gives an organic continuity to the motion - it
also helps describing a path of action. In a walk, the contact is the
position where the foot touches the ground but has no weight on it yet
(see strobing; path of action; weight).
counteraction
Basically, as the body moves, the loose parts of the body such as hair
or breasts or belly fat or clothes, they all stay behind and tend to
move in the opposite direction (not to mistake for follow through which
is the action of those body parts AFTER the movement has come to a
stop; also, not to mistake for secondary action or overlapping)(see follow
through; secondary action; overlap).
down position
I also call it a low position or key. In a walk or a run (etc) it is
the lowest pose, with weight on it.
extreme
The start and ending point of an action, of an arc for instance. In a
walk, the extremes are the down/low and the up/high positions, in an
arm swing the extremes are the most forward and the most backwards
positions (see arcs; down position; up position).
figure 8
A particular type of arc that can be very successfully used for turns
(but not only!) - basically, an articulation goes for example up and
left and makes a right turn and then it comes back down and left, so it
intersects the path it followed when it went up - a figure 8 can be
very thin and barely look like an eight, and it can be incomplete, the
turn is the idea. It’s always better to use a figure 8 and not a
straight line with a sharp turn if animating a living thing (see arcs).
follow through
Auxiliary elements of the body, like tails, floppy ears, clothing, etc,
that are soft and flexible, do not come to a stop at the same time with
the rest of the body, but follow through… and settle after a while (not
to be mistaken for secondary action, which is conscious movement, nor
for counteraction, which is about the dragging, while follow through is
about the settling)(see overlap; secondary action; counteraction).
fps
Frames per second (see frame rate).
frame
An image in a succession of images (that when played back give the
illusion of motion).
frame handles
Extra frames added at the beginning and/or end of a shot, also called
cutting frames in the UK (original info here)(see
shot).
frame rate
The number of frames per second. Animation, like film, works at 24 fps
(see frame).
hard accent
Simply put: a bounce. You “hit” and change direction (see soft
accent).
hold
A character striking a pose that’s a simple drawing with no animation
on it. If there is very subtle animation, it’s not a hold anymore, it’s
a moving hold (see moving hold).
inbetween
The smallest unit of an animation. Keys are further detailed with
extremes, extremes are being broken down with…. breakdowns, and
breakdowns are being broken down with inbetweens. The inbetweens in
handdrawn animation are indicated by the animator, and drawn by the
inbetweener. On a computer, the animator can use computer inbetweening
- and use all kinds of interpolations in between keyframes (see key;
extreme; interpolation; keyframe).
interpolation
The way a computer calculates the path and timing in between 2 points.
The path is arched if the skeleton you are using is hierarchical, so an
articulation gets to pivot around a pivot point located somewhere else,
like a wrist pivots around an elbow, or linear, if the system is not
hierarchical. The timing on linear interpolation is 1//2//3, on spline
is 1//1.5//2.5//3, on stepped (or held) is 1//1//3, etc.
key
One of the few and most important poses in a shot, which is where its
name comes from: you have a drawing on a frame that’s ‘key’ to the
entire length of the shot or part of that shot. An entire shot can
easily revolve around one or two keys. A key pose usually captures an
expression, so I like to call it an expression pose (also called main
or “golden” pose).
keyframe
In computer animation, to keyframe an object or articulation means to
lock it in time and space. A keyframe is a visual cue for that specific
moment where that specific articulation is placed.
layout
Pre-animation stage where you arrange the characters, cameras, props,
all the objects needed in your scene to be ready for animation.
line of action
An imaginary line that you can draw along the character’s pose. A
character’s body posture flows along this imaginary line of action.
Flexible and dynamic line shapes tend to be arched or S-like, with the
legs and hands either flowing along the line or opposing it. Natural
shapes are more diverse though, but also tend to have less visual
impact.
lipsynch
Animating the mouth (so it actually includes the tongue as well, not
only the lips) to synchronize with the speech on the soundtrack.
moving hold
In computer animation especially, holds are moving holds, meaning that
you can’t simply freeze the character into a pose or it will look very
dead… A moving hold is basically very subtle animation on a character
that doesn’t move, or moves very little (see hold).
ones
Animation “on ones” means a drawing (or image render) per each frame.
In handdrawn animation this is usually used in fast and/or detailed,
intricate motion. Computer animation renders everything frame by frame,
so normally there is no “ones versus twos” battle (see twos).
overlap
Delaying different bodyparts or any animated elements so you don’t have
everything hitting an accent or coming to a stop on the same frame(do
not mistake for follow through or counteraction, overlapping events is,
like secondary action, a conscious action)(see follow through;
counteraction; secondary action).
overshooting
Going over the limits of an extreme, or of any pose, and then coming
back to that pose - to give it an extra punch.
path of action
Any animated object or body or articulation travels along a path of
action, which is usually an arc. Only robots can have truly linear
movements, but for a living being of any kind known to us, its paths of
action will be arched (see articulation; arcs).
pose
A pose or position or a drawing is basically what it sounds like -
positioning (or drawing) the body (and facial expression maybe) to
describe/express something; (see pose to pose animation).
pose to pose animation
A method of animating: the animator sets layers of poses and works in
an organized fashion by breaking down the movement in more and more
detail. The highest layer is that of the key poses, then come the
extremes, then breakdowns (as many layers as needed - some people
prefer to add layers and keep breaking things down in more and more
detail), and finally, the lowest, more mechanical level, of the
inbetweens (this method tends to be too rigid, it’s ideal to combine it
with straight ahead animation and work straight ahead between the main
poses, that I like to call “pillars”)(see pose; straight
ahead animation).
postproduction
Once the whole thing is done, it’s not done! There is color correction,
editing… last minute panic, all that jazz (see preproduction;
production).
preproduction
Preparations for the film - that include research, using inspirational
artwork, designing characters and sets and props, creating a color
script (organizing the overall color design for every scene),
developing the story, creating a storyboard and upgrading it to an
animatic (see set; prop; storyboard; animatic;
production; postproduction).
production
The actual work on the film once the preproduction stage is done.
Mainly animation, but also, in 3D for example, it means modeling,
texturing, rigging, simulations, lighting and rendering (see preproduction;
postproduction).
progressively breaking joints
We apply the breaking joints technique to an entire chain. Joints in a
flexible chain follow a leader who’s generating the motion, and the
motion propagates through this chain in such a way that 2 follows 1, 3
follows 2 and so on. Yes, it’s the overlap idea applied to a chain of
breaking joints (see breaking joints).
prop
Object used by a character.
reaction
An action has three stages: anticipation, action, and reaction. An
action can be followed by a reaction to that action, and this reaction
can be that of the character, of other characters, of the ambient, of
an object… (like if you fly and hit a wall, the hit is a reaction).
Reaction can be used with great effect in film when you have multiple
layers of reaction (you hit a wall, the wall fractures, you fall down,
the wall fractures some more, the wall collapses on top of you, the
entire construction that was held by that wall collapses, the entire
city is left in darkness because the construction was an electrical
power plant or something… and so on, an entire chain of events) (see anticipation).
rotoscoping
Copying movement by tracing video frame by frame (lame, but helpful
sometimes).
scene
Normally referred to as a sequence of shots where all the action
happens within a given space and time, with no jumps to a different
space and/or time.
secondary action
Small auxiliary movements meant to enrich the main action, but usually
not distract too much from it. Fingers playing, shoulders going back
and forward, tail animation, ears animation (but not when these are
being simply dragged or pushed or settling, that’s counteraction and
follow through), blinks, etc (see counteraction; follow
through).
set
The happy place where the action happens. In 2D there might be no set
if all there is is painted backgrounds, but in 3D or stopmotion you
need to build the set from the ground up (unless, again, you use
background images).
shot
The smallest fragment of a film, the amount of film rolling in between
two camera cuts (see camera cut).
slow in
Also referred to as “ease in”. A movement that starts slower and then
accelerates is a movement with a slow in (see slow out).
slow out
Also referred to as “ease out”. A movement that slows down towards its
end is a movement with a slow out (see slow in).
soft accent
An accent created by a moving object or body or articulation without
changing the direction of action but simply alternating timing -
introducing fast movement in slow action and vice versa. The contrast
doesn’t need to be significant to be noticeable. Basically, you “hit”
and continue in the same direction (see hard accent).
spacing
The path of action of an object (see path of action). Because of the
visual feedback timing has in animation, spacing is often mistaken for
timing and vice versa. The amount of space from A to B is timing!! The
exact position of A and B is spacing!!(see timing).
squash and stretch
It means two things: 1. squashing and stretching a body - to enhance a
movement and make the character more flexible (rigid parts of the body,
like the cranium, should normally be kept rigid); 2. squashing and
stretching a pose - this doesn’t involve any deformations, but being
aware of them while posing enhances movement. Life is a continuous
squash and stretch.
stopmotion animation
Animation with real-world puppets, where the camera takes a picture and
then the animators rearrange the puppet, the camera takes another
picture, and so on. Basically, we have a camera that is “stopped at
every frame” (also called stopframe animation, stopmo, claymation -
when the puppets are clay sculptures).
storyboard
Visual description of a film/fragment of a film, by drawing an image
for every important action. Telling the story visually, with drawings.
There normally has to be at least one drawing per shot. The storyboard
is often used during the development of the story, in the preproduction
of a film. It’s easy to change story structure by rearranging the
drawings pinned on the board, making new drawings, etc (see shot).
straight ahead animation
A method of animating: the animator works frame by frame in a
continuous creative flow (this method tends to be too loose, unfocused,
hard to control, it’s ideal to combine it with pose to pose animation
and work straight ahead between the main poses, that I like to call
“pillars”)(see pose; pose to pose animation).
strobing
Flickering animation. There are many reasons for this to happen: the
spokes of a wheel rotating can strobe if the distance covered by one
spoke is greater than the distance from one spoke to another (the eye
gets confused, it can’t relate the images anymore). Also, panned
backgrounds can produce this jitter at certain speeds, but not all
images seem to produce jitter - it depends on softness, color,
contrast. There may be other reasons too. For images to flow well one
into another they have to be connected in such a way that the eye
doesn’t read any obstruction or break or unexpected change.
timing
The amount of time required for an action or series of actions (you can
use for example an expression such as “fast timing” to describe the
overall timing for an entire animation). Because of its visual feedback
(timing in animation is seen as distance from point A to point B: if
the distance is small the object travels slowly, and therefore the
timing is slow, if the distance is large the object travels a lot of
space from one frame to another, and therefore the timing is fast) it
is often mistaken for spacing, and vice versa. The amount of space from
A to B is timing!! The exact position of A and B is spacing!! (see spacing).
twos
Animation “on twos” means a drawing (or image render) for every two
frames. The drawings get duplicated, which means half the number of
drawings. In handdrawn animation this is usually used in normal and
slow motion. Stopmotion also uses twos (see ones).
up position
I also call it a high position or key. In a walk or a run (etc) it is
the highest pose, with the weight traveling upwards, maybe being thrown
up in the air by the body movement.
weight
Any body or object has a certain weight, that we can read from its
movement and its interaction with other bodies or objects. A heavy
object for example is hard to move, a heavy body in movement will put
more effort into fighting gravity. A heavy object or body is hard to
start and hard to stop. Each step set by a heavy character is going to
leave the ground for a very little amount of time and come back to the
ground really fast, so the illusion of weight is mainly created with
timing. A heavy box is hard to lift, so the character has to position
itself in such a way as to accommodate that difficult task, and also
think about the action before doing it. In this case we help achieving
the illusion of weight through attitude and posing.
weight shift
The weight of a body in motion shifts from one part of the body to
another as the body changes the center of balance. For instance in a
walk we keep shifting the weight from one foot to another. Being aware
of where the weight is and how it shifts is essential to creating
believable movement. If the character for example is out of balance
because its weight is on the left foot and that foot is in the air, and
the animator holds that pose without the character collapsing, it’s
wrong. When cartoons defy the laws of physics they can do anything, but
in most cases, even with cartoons, for creating believable movement you
need to abide to the laws of physics. So even though they can walk on
air because they didn’t read about gravity yet, that walk still has
weight.