← Animation Glossary

Straight-ahead Animation

Straight-ahead animation is a way of creating an animated movie by drawing one frame at a time, starting from the beginning and going straight through to the end. It's like drawing a picture book, but instead of flipping the pages, we play them really fast to make it look like the pictures are moving! This method can be really fun because you get to see your characters come to life one step at a time.

Animation is a complex and dynamic art form that requires a lot of skill, creativity, and dedication. Animators use a variety of techniques to create the illusion of movement and bring characters and stories to life. One such technique is straight-ahead animation, which is a traditional animation technique that involves drawing each frame in order, from start to finish.

Straight-ahead animation is a popular technique for creating dynamic and expressive movement in animated sequences. It allows animators to be spontaneous and creative in the animation process, as they can add new details or adjust the movement as they go along. This makes it well-suited for fast-paced action scenes or sequences with a lot of movement.

However, straight-ahead animation can also be challenging due to its lack of planning and potential for inconsistencies in the animation. Because each frame is drawn in order, there is no going back once the animator has moved on to the next frame. This means that any mistakes or errors can be difficult to correct without starting over again.

To overcome these challenges, animators often use a combination of techniques when creating their animations. For example, they may use keyframe animation to plan out the main poses or movements in the sequence before filling in the details with straight-ahead animation. This allows them to ensure that the timing and movement are correct before committing to drawing each frame.

Another technique that animators use is pose-to-pose animation, which involves drawing only the key poses or frames in a sequence before filling in the details with straight-ahead animation. This allows them to focus on getting the main poses and movements just right before adding in all of the details.

Overall, straight-ahead animation is a powerful tool for animators looking to create dynamic and expressive movement in their animations. However, it requires a lot of skill and dedication to get right, and can be time-consuming due to its lack of planning. By combining different techniques and approaches, animators can create animations that are both fluid and consistent, bringing their characters and stories to life in exciting new ways.

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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