← Animation Glossary

Emitter

An emitter in animation is a special object that creates things like fire, smoke, or even stars. It lets amimators add cool effects to their animations, by drawing a shape once, and then emitting them many times.

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

In the world of animation, an emitter plays a vital role in creating different effects. An emitter is essentially a tool or object that generates particles, which can be used to create various effects like smoke, fire, sparks, dust, and more. The particles generated by the emitter are released into the scene from a point or area that animators define within the animation software.

Emitters are commonly used in video games to create several dynamic effects, such as explosions, gunfire, and more. These effects can provide feedback to the player and make the game feel more engaging and immersive. In movies, emitters are typically used for creating weather effects like rain, snow, and fog. By using emitters with different properties such as speed, direction, size, color, and other attributes, animators can create realistic-looking weather effects that can enhance the overall look and feel of a scene.

The properties of an emitter can be adjusted (animated) over time to create dynamic animations that capture the viewer’s attention. For example, if you want to create an explosion effect you can adjust the number of particles generated by the emitter based on the intensity of the explosion.

One of the significant benefits of using emitters is their flexibility. They can be customized according to individual requirements and can be used to create various effects that suit different scenes. Animators can also use multiple emitters in a single scene to create complex visual effects like firework displays or magical spells.

Emitters play a crucial role in creating visually stunning animations that grab viewers’ attention.

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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