← Animation Glossary

Character Animation

Character animation is the process of bringing a cartoon character to life by making them move and act like they are real. This involves creating a series of drawings or digital images that show the character in different poses, expressions, and actions. These images are then put together to create a sequence of movements that make the character look like it's moving and interacting with the environment. Character animation is what makes your favorite cartoon characters come to life on screen!

Character animation is a critical aspect of animated content. Animators, with their technical and artistic abilities, bring life to characters and make them appear believable.

In 3d cartoons this process involves creating models of characters, rigging them with skeletons, and then animating them by manipulating these digital assets frame by frame. In 2d cartoons the process is a lot more laborious, involving drawing each frame by hand, over and over again.

Whatever the technology the end goal is to create a seamless performance that appears as if the character is alive. It is used in various media forms, such as movies, television shows, video games, and commercials.

The process of character animation begins with the concept art stage. Here, artists create designs for characters based on the requirements of the project or story. The designs should be appealing to the audience, and they should reflect the personality and characteristics of the character.

When designing characters it’s important to think about the silhouette. The silhouette is the outline of the character, and it’s what makes them recognizable. It’s important to make sure that the silhouette is clear and easy to read, so that the character can be identified from a distance. This is the reason characters in animated films often have exaggerated features, such as large eyes or ears.

Character animation is a complex process that requires technical skills and artistic abilities. Animators bring characters to life by creating models, rigging them with skeletons, and animating them frame by frame. The end result is a seamless performance that appears lifelike and believable. It is an essential aspect of animated content and is used in various media forms such as movies, television shows, video games, and commercials.

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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