Animation Glossary

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Bitmap

A bitmap is a type of picture that is made up of tiny little squares called pixels. Each pixel can be a different color, and when all the pixels are put together they create a picture. It's like putting together a puzzle, but with colors instead of shapes! When you zoom in on a bitmap, you can see all the individual pixels that make up the picture.

Check out the Bitmap help pages to find out more about using "Bitmap" with Brush Ninja.

Animation relies heavily on the use of various types of digital images. One such type is a bitmap. Bitmaps are digital images that represent an image as a grid of pixels, where each pixel is assigned a specific color value. They are also known as raster graphics and are commonly used in animation because they can be easily edited and manipulated using software tools.

To create a bitmap, an image is captured or scanned and converted into a matrix of pixels. The resolution of a bitmap image is determined by the number of pixels per inch (PPI) or dots per inch (DPI). Higher resolutions result in more detailed images with smoother lines and curves, but also require more memory and processing power to display.

Bitmaps are often used in animation for creating backgrounds, textures, and other detailed visual elements. They can also be used to create animated sequences by combining multiple bitmap frames into a sequence of images that are played back rapidly to create the illusion of motion.

Bitmamp file formats include:

How to use Bitmaps in Brush Ninja

Limitations of Bitmaps in Animation

However, there are some limitations to using bitmaps in animation. Because bitmap images are made up of individual pixels, they can become pixelated or blurry when scaled too large or too small. This can result in a loss of detail and quality in the image.

To avoid this issue, animators may choose to use vector graphics instead of bitmaps for certain elements in their animations. Vector graphics are created using mathematical equations to define lines and shapes instead of individual pixels. This means that they can be scaled up or down without losing quality or becoming pixelated.

Brush Ninja uses vector graphics for the brush strokes and stickers. It also has the option to add bitmap images as backgrounds, and members can use their own bitmap images to animate with.

Bitmap images offer a high level of flexibility and control over the appearance of an image and can be easily edited and manipulated. By understanding the strengths and weaknesses of different types of digital images, animators can make informed decisions about which type to use for different elements in their 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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