← Animation Glossary

Rigging

Rigging in animation involves building a skeleton for a character. It's a process where the animator adds invisible bones to the character model, so that when the bones move, the character moves too.

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

Animation is a complex and intricate art form, and rigging plays a crucial role in the creation of animated characters and objects. Rigging involves creating a digital skeleton for a character or object, which is used to animate it in a variety of ways. This process involves the use of interconnected bones (joints) that define the movement and range of motion of the character or object.

The rigging process begins with creating the basic structure of the skeleton, which involves placing joints in key locations throughout the character’s body. These joints are then connected together using a hierarchy, which defines how each joint should move relative to its parent joint. The hierarchy is crucial as it allows animators to manipulate the character or object in a natural and intuitive way.

Once the basic skeleton has been created, controls are added to each joint. These controls can take many forms, including sliders, buttons, and other tools that allow animators to easily move and pose the character or object in a variety of ways. For example, an animator might use a slider control to adjust the angle of an arm joint or a button control to switch between different facial expressions.

Constraints are also added during the rigging process to ensure that movements look more realistic. For example, an elbow joint might be constrained so that it only bends in one direction, which helps to prevent unnatural-looking animations. Other types of constraints might include limiting the rotation of certain joints or controlling how certain parts of the body move in relation to others.

Finally, deformations are added to the character’s mesh during rigging to ensure that it moves smoothly and realistically when animated. This can involve adding extra detail to areas such as elbows or knees where there is likely to be a lot of movement, or using complex algorithms to simulate muscle movement and skin deformation.

Rigging allows animators to create complex and lifelike movements for their characters or objects. Without rigging, it would be impossible to create the fluid and natural-looking animations that are so important in modern animation. As such, rigging is a key skill for anyone looking to pursue a career in animation.

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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