Anticipation: A pose or movement that prepares the audience for the action that follows. Before a character jumps, they crouch. Before they throw a punch, they draw their arm back. One of the twelve principles of animation.

Blocking: The process of establishing key poses and major movements before adding refinement and in-between frames. In blocking, the animator lays out the structure and timing of the shot.

Ease In / Ease Out: The subtle acceleration and deceleration of movement. Objects do not move at constant speed; they accelerate from rest and decelerate to a stop. See slow in and slow out.

FK (Forward Kinematics): A rigging system where joints are controlled hierarchically from root to end. Moving the shoulder affects the elbow and wrist. Intuitive for some movements but can be cumbersome for precise hand placement.

IK (Inverse Kinematics): A rigging system where you control the end effector (the hand or foot), and the system automatically calculates how intermediate joints should bend to reach it. Useful for placing feet on ground or hands on objects.

Keyframe: A frame where you set specific values for a property (position, rotation, scale). The software interpolates between keyframes to create smooth motion.

Overlapping Action: The principle that different parts of a character do not finish moving simultaneously. The torso stops, but the hair continues. One of the twelve principles.

Pose-to-Pose Animation: An animation approach where the animator establishes key poses first, then fills in the in-between frames. Efficient and controllable, dominating studio production.

Straight Ahead Animation: An animation approach where the animator draws or poses every frame sequentially from start to finish. Organic but labour-intensive.

Staging: The process of positioning and framing a character or action so it is immediately readable and clear. Also one of the twelve principles.

Rig / Rigging: The digital skeleton and control systems applied to a 3D model, allowing animators to pose and move it. A good rig balances ease of use with control and realism.

Topology: The arrangement of polygons and vertices in a 3D model. Good topology allows a model to deform naturally when animated. Poor topology creates creasing and unnatural bending.

UV Mapping: The process of flattening a 3D model's surface into 2D space to apply textures. UVs define where colour, normal maps, and other textures sit on the geometry.

Blend Shape / Morph Target: A method of deformation where pre-sculpted shapes are blended between. Commonly used for facial expressions and muscle deformation.

Skinning / Weight Painting: The process of assigning how much each bone influences nearby geometry. Proper skinning ensures realistic deformation as joints bend.

LOD (Level of Detail): Multiple versions of a model at different polygon counts. High-poly models are used in close-ups; low-poly versions appear in distant shots, improving render performance.

Rotoscoping: The frame-by-frame manual masking of people, objects, or areas in footage. Essential for keying actors on green screen or isolating subjects for colour grading. See rotoscoping training for detailed methods.

Compositing: The process of layering, blending, and colour-correcting multiple image elements (live-action plates, 3D renders, mattes, etc.) into a final seamless image. Learn more in compositing courses.

Keying / Green Screen: The process of removing a solid background colour (usually green or blue) from footage so a subject can be composited onto a new background.

Matchmove / Tracking: The process of analysing camera movement in live-action footage and recreating it in 3D software. Essential so digital elements move with the camera correctly.

Motion Tracking: Recording the position and movement of objects or people in footage over time. Used for matching 3D elements to live-action or for motion capture.

Colour Grade / Colour Correction: Adjusting the colour, contrast, and brightness of an image for mood and consistency. Applied at the end of the VFX pipeline.

Matte / Alpha Channel: A grayscale image or channel that defines transparency. White areas are opaque; black areas are transparent; grey areas are semi-transparent.

Node-Based Compositing: A compositing workflow (used in Nuke) where effects are built by connecting nodes rather than applying effects to layers. Powerful and non-destructive.

Rendering: The process of computing a final image from 3D geometry, materials, lights, and camera settings. Can take hours for high-quality results.

Ray Tracing: A rendering method that simulates light bouncing through a scene. Produces highly realistic reflections and shadows but is computationally expensive.

Global Illumination: A rendering technique that simulates light bouncing indirectly between surfaces. Creates realistic diffuse lighting and colour bleeding.

Render Farm: A cluster of computers that render frames in parallel. A single frame might be split across thousands of processors to complete in hours instead of days.

EXR / OpenEXR: A file format that stores multiple passes (diffuse, specular, shadows, etc.) in a single file, allowing compositors to adjust them independently without re-rendering.

AOV (Arbitrary Output Variable): Additional render passes like diffuse, specular, shadow, normal, depth, and object ID, output alongside the main beauty pass.

Pipeline: The structured workflow through which a production moves—from pre-visualisation to final delivery. See VFX pipeline breakdown.

Plate: The original live-action footage shot by a camera, used as the foundation for visual effects compositing.

Pre-Viz / Previz: Simple 3D animation or storyboards created before principal photography to plan camera movement, effects, and timing.

Asset: A finished model, texture, animation, or effect that is reused across a production. Asset management is critical for pipeline efficiency.

Shot: A single continuous sequence of film or video from one edit point to the next. A feature film might contain 1000+ shots.

Feedback Pass: A stage where work is reviewed by supervisors or clients, and revisions are requested before proceeding.

Maya: Autodesk's flagship 3D software for modelling, rigging, animation, and simulation. Industry standard in film and game studios.

Blender: Free, open-source 3D software with modelling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, and compositing tools. Growing rapidly in professional use.

Nuke: Foundry's industry-standard node-based compositing software. Used in virtually every VFX studio for final compositing and colour grading.

Houdini: Side Effects Software's procedural animation and simulation tool. Powerful for particle effects, cloth simulation, fluid dynamics, and procedural modelling.

ZBrush: A digital sculpting tool used for high-poly character and creature modelling. Often used in conjunction with traditional modellers like Maya.

Tween / Inbetween: Frames between key poses that create smooth motion. Tweening can be done manually (labour-intensive) or automatically via software interpolation.

Frame Rate / FPS: The number of frames per second. Cinema standard is 24fps; video is 30fps or 60fps. Understanding frame rate impact on animation is essential.