← Animation Glossary

Cut

A "cut" in animation is when one scene ends and another begins. It's like changing the picture to show something new happening in the story. Just like flipping through pages of a book, a cut in animation helps move the story forward smoothly.

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

In animation, a “cut” is a bridge that connects different scenes smoothly, helping the story flow. It’s important for keeping viewers engaged and making sure they can follow along easily. Animators use different types of cuts to make their stories more interesting and visually appealing.

One common type is the straight cut, which simply moves from one shot to another. It’s great for keeping the story moving and making everything feel connected. Straight cuts can be used in lots of ways, like changing locations or focusing on different characters.

Match cuts are more advanced. They link elements from one shot to the next, making connections between scenes. This adds depth to the story and helps convey emotions or themes.

Jump cuts are a bit different. They create sudden changes that might seem jarring at first. But they can be used to build tension, make things feel urgent, or highlight important moments in the story. Even though they break the usual rules of editing, jump cuts add excitement and surprise to animations.

The type of cut animators choose depends on what they want to achieve in the story. Whether it’s keeping things smooth, adding depth, or creating tension, animators have lots of options to make their animations captivating and meaningful.

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

Icon for Brush Ninja: Online Animation Maker Brush Ninja Online Animation Maker
Icon for Paint Ninja: Draw and Paint Online Paint Ninja Draw and Paint Online
Icon for Code Ninja: Make Art with Code Code Ninja Make Art with Code
Icon for Emoji Art: Make Emoji Art Emoji Art Make Emoji Art
Icon for Photo Collage: Make Photo Collages Photo Collage Make Photo Collages
Icon for Comic Maker: Make Comics Comic Maker Make Comics