← Animation Glossary

Lighting

Lighting in animation refers to how light is used to create shadows, highlights and depth in a scene. It helps to set the mood and tone of the animation, and can make it look more realistic or more stylized.

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

In the world of animation, lighting can make all the difference in creating a captivating and memorable scene. Lighting is used to create a certain mood or atmosphere that can evoke emotions from the audience. Whether it be a suspenseful moment or a romantic scene, lighting can set the tone for what’s happening on screen.

Ambient Lighting

One of the most common types of lighting in animation is ambient lighting. This type of lighting provides an overall illumination throughout a scene. It’s often used to create a base level of light that can be built upon with other types of lighting. Ambient lighting can also be used to create an even distribution of light so that no area is too dark.

Directional Lighting

Directional lighting is another type of lighting that is commonly used in animation. As the name suggests, this type of lighting comes from a specific direction and can be used to highlight certain objects or characters within the scene. A common example of directional lighting is sunlight. When animating a sunny day, it’s important to use directional lighting to emphasize the shadows created by the sun.

Spot Lighting

Spot lighting is another type of lighting that’s used in animation. This technique involves creating a focused beam of light that draws attention to specific areas within the scene. Spotlights are often used to highlight key moments or characters within a scene.

When animating a scene, it’s important to consider how shadows will play into the final product. Shadows can add depth and dimensionality to a scene and make it feel more realistic. They can also be used to create contrast and help certain elements stand out more. Shadows are particularly important in 2d animation since they can be hard to animate, but they add a lot of atmosphere to a scene.

Finally, color plays an integral role in setting the mood for any given scene. As mentioned before, warm colors like red and yellow can create a sense of warmth and intimacy, while cooler colors like blue and green can create a sense of distance or detachment. When selecting colors for your scenes, think about what you’re trying to convey emotionally, or atmospherically, and choose colors accordingly. Colors can also be used to tell the story, letting you know where you are in the story, or what’s happening.

Lighting is an essential aspect of animation that can make or break a scene. By using different types of lighting, creating shadows, and selecting the right colors, animators can create captivating scenes that evoke emotions from their audience.

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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