← Animation Glossary

Compositing

Compositing in animation is when different parts of a scene or character are put together to make a final picture. It's like putting together a puzzle, where each piece has its own color and shape, but when they are all put together they create a beautiful picture.

Please note that Compositing is not directly applicable to Brush Ninja.

In the world of animation, compositing can make or break a project. It is the final step in the animation pipeline and requires meticulous attention to detail. Compositing involves taking all of the individual elements that have been created throughout the production process and combining them into a cohesive scene.

When it comes to compositing, there are several key elements that need to be taken into consideration. Firstly, there is the background or environment. This is often created separately from the characters and other objects. The background might be a simple image or a complex 3D environment, but regardless of its complexity, it needs to be integrated seamlessly into the final scene.

Next, there are the characters themselves. These will have been created separately from the background and may have their own unique lighting and shading properties. The challenge in compositing is to ensure that all of these elements come together naturally and realistically.

Special effects are another important part of compositing in animation. These can include explosions, fire, smoke, and other visual effects that add drama and excitement. When adding special effects, attention must be paid to how they interact with the other elements in the composition.

One of the most important aspects of compositing is lighting. This can make or break a scene, as it has a huge impact on how objects are perceived by the viewer. Lighting can create mood and atmosphere in a scene, as well as highlighting certain elements and creating depth.

When compositing elements you need to make sure the lighting matches across the characters, environment and objects. If it doesn’t match, the scene will look unnatural and disjointed.

While compositing may seem like a complicated process, modern software tools have made it easier than ever before for animators to create stunning scenes. Programs like Adobe After Effects and Nuke allow for precise control over every element in a composition, from the timing of individual frames to the opacity and blending mode of each layer.

Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Ambient sound

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Casting

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Character Design Sheets

Cinematic lighting

Claymation

Clean-up

Close-up

Color Correction

Color Grading

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Continuity editing

Cross-cutting

Cut

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Dissolve

Distributed Rendering

Dolby Atmos

Dope Sheet

Dutch Angle

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Framing

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

High key lighting

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

Jump cut

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

Low key lighting

M

Match cut

Matte painting

Montage

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

N

Network rendering

Non-linear editing

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Pan

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Props

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Score

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Sound effects

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Split screen

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tracking shot

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

Voice-over Narration

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Wide shot

Z

Z-depth

Zoom

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