Animation Glossary

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Motion trail

A motion trail is a cool effect that shows the path of an object as it moves on the screen.

A motion trail is created by displaying a series of ghost images or “frames” of an object as it moves through space. Each frame is slightly transparent and offset from the previous one, creating a trail that shows the path of the object’s movement. The motion trail also helps in visualizing the speed and momentum of an object.

The creation of motion trails requires an understanding of timing and spacing in animation. Timing refers to the number of frames that are used to depict a specific action, while spacing refers to the amount of distance and speed covered by an object between each frame. By adjusting both timing and spacing, animators can create realistic and visually appealing animations.

In addition to traditional animation, motion trails have become increasingly popular in video game development. In video games, motion trails are often used to display the path that a player has taken or to show where an enemy is moving on the screen.

Overall, motion trails are an essential tool for animators who want to create high-quality animations that look realistic and visually engaging. They provide a clear understanding of how objects move through space and time, helping animators create animations that feel natural and believable. With their many applications in animation, motion trails will continue to be an important part of the animator’s toolkit for years to come.

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

Character Design Sheets

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

MP3 File Format

MP4 File Format

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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