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Phonemes

Phonemes are the sounds that we make when we speak. They are the smallest units of sound in our language, and they can be combined to make words. In animation, phonemes are important because they help the characters' mouths match up with the words they are saying. So, animators use different shapes and movements of the mouth to show each phoneme.

When it comes to animation, the smallest units of sound that make up a spoken language are known as phonemes. These sounds are incredibly important for animators when creating lip-syncing that matches the dialogue being spoken by their characters. Without accurate phoneme representation, the lip movements of a character can be jarring and unnatural, causing the viewer to become distracted from the story being told.

One of the biggest challenges facing animators is accurately syncing mouth movements to dialogue. By breaking down dialogue into individual phonemes, animators can create more realistic and believable characters. For instance, if an animator is working on a cartoon character that says “hello,” they would need to understand that this word contains three distinct phonemes - /h/ /e/ /l/ /o/. In order to make the character’s mouth movements match these sounds, the animator must adjust their model’s facial features accordingly.

Phonemes are also essential in helping animators create characters with unique speaking styles or accents. Different languages have different phonemes, which can make animating lip-syncing for foreign language dialogue challenging. However, understanding phonemes can help animators better understand how different languages are spoken and how to represent them in their animations.

Phonemes allow animators to accurately sync lip movements to dialogue while also providing opportunities for creative expression through facial features and emotional nuances. By taking the time to understand these small units of sound, animators can create truly immersive and believable animated worlds that captivate viewers from start to finish.

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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