Animation Glossary

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Bezier Curve

A Bezier curve is a special kind of line that is used in animation to create really smooth and curvy shapes. It's named after a mathematician named Pierre Bezier who came up with the idea. Basically, you start with two points and then add two more points that describe how the line curves between them. By adjusting these control points, animators can make all kinds of cool shapes like circles, waves or even a heart!

Please note that Bezier Curve is not directly applicable to Brush Ninja.

Bezier curves are a fundamental mathematical concept in the animation industry that has revolutionized the way we create smooth, curved lines and shapes.

When animating the use of Bezier curves has made it possible to achieve precise control over motion paths for objects in an animation. The movement path is defined by a set of control points that determine the objects direction making it easy to create complex animations with multiple layers.

Bezier curves are also widely used in font design and vector illustrations, where they are used to create scalable letterforms and intricate shapes. In font design, Bezier curves are used to maintain the quality and shape of letters even when enlarged or reduced. Similarly, in vector illustrations, they are used to create complex shapes that can be easily scaled without losing detail.

Another advantage of Bezier curves is their ability to provide precise control over animation timing and easing. Timing refers to how fast an object moves along its path, while easing refers to its acceleration or deceleration as it moves along its path. With Bezier curves, animators can adjust both timing and easing with great precision, making it possible to create more realistic and dynamic animations.

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Animation Terms

2

2D Animation

3

3D Animation

A

Alpha Channel

Animation

Anti-Aliasing

Anticipation

Aspect Ratio

B

Bezier Curve

Bitmap

Blue Screen

Bone Animation

Bounce

Broadcast Standards

C

Camera Angle

Camera Shake

Cel Animation

Character Animation

Claymation

Clean-up

Color Correction

Compositing

Composition

Concept Art

Cutout nimation

D

Depth of Field

Dialogue

Distributed Rendering

Dope Sheet

E

Easing

Emitter

Exaggeration

Eyedropper

F

Foley

Follow through

Forward Kinematics

Frame Rate

Frame

Freeze Frame

G

Ghosting

GIF File Format

Golden Ratio

Graph Editor

H

Hue and Saturation

I

Inertia

Infographic Animation

Inverse Kinematics

J

Joint

JPEG File Format

K

Keyframe Interpolation

Keyframe

Kinetic typography

L

Layers

Lens distortion

Level of Detail

Lighting

Line of action

Lip syncing

M

Matte painting

Morphing

Motion blur

Motion capture

Motion graphics

Motion path

Motion trail

Mouth shapes

N

Network rendering

O

Occlusion culling

Onion skinning

Overlapping action

P

Parallel rendering

Particle system

Persistance of Vision

Phonemes

Playback speed

Plot

PNG File Format

Pose-to-pose animation

Puppet animation

R

Render farm

Rendering

Resolution

Rigging

Rotoscoping

Rule of thirds

Run cycle

S

Safe zone

Scene

Screenplay

Script

Shot

Silhouette

Skeletal animation

Slow Motion

Smears

Sound Design

Soundtrack

Special Effects

Squash and Stretch

Staging

Stop Motion Animation

Storyboard

Straight-ahead Animation

T

Time Remapping

Timeline

Timing

Title Card

Title Sequence

Tweening

V

Vector graphics

Visemes

Voice acting

W

Walk cycle

WebM File Format

Weighting

Z

Z-depth

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