| cel | A clear sheet of plastic made from celluloid [hence the name "cel"] where the drawings of the characters and any moving objects from the animation are placed. Today's cels are almost always made from cellulose acetate. |
| animation | the process of converting single, two dimensional images of a movement into one image that actually seems to move. |
| background | The painting behind the cels that acts as a backdrop or setting for the movement of the characters. |
| cel levels | One cel out of the many in a frame. It's much easier to keep each seperate movement on a different cel, so when two characters are moving on screen at once there can be more then one cel in place. |
| CGI | CGI stands for computer generated image. Generally this term is used when talking about computer graphics and computer graphic artists. |
| classical [or traditional] animation | We refer to them as both on this page, but what it means is the process of cel animation. |
| frame | A single image. General refers to the final animated image of both a background and a cel on top. |
| fusion frequency | The moment in time where an animation stops looking like a series of images and looks like a fluis motiong [24 frames per second]. |
| in-betweeners | In traditional animation these people fill in the animation between each of the key frames. In computer animation the computer fills in the animation. |
| key frames | An important moment in the series of drawings that makes up an animation. Often time it is a pose before entering a motion, and the stopping point of that motion. |
| model sheet | A sheet of poses, notes, and different angle views of a single character. These are used in order to keep drawings of that character consistant between different artists. |
| pan | A cell or background that is made bigger then standard in order to do pan shots with. |
| persistance of vision | A flaw in our vision that has humans seeing objects for a fraction of a second longer then it is truely there. |
| praxinoscope | A way to project small animations so a larger audience could view them. Usually combined with a zoetrope, or spinning drum, the praxinoscope and it's mirror would act as a primitive projector. |
| render | The final stage of a computer animation production. Where all the previously inputed data such as the wire frame model and the texture map are put together to form one animation. |
| special effects | Portions of a motion picture that are not actually filmed. They are usually added later, either as minatures with stop action or computer graphics added in blue screening. |
| thaumatrope | The simplest animation device. It consists of a disc that has two parts of one image on them. The first attempt was of a bird on one side, and a cage on the other. When the device is spun between two hands by the string and then pulled taut the images blur together making one image, a bird in a cage. |
| zoetrope | A strip of paper with a series of drawings inside a rotating wheel or drum. The upper edge of the circular device has slots in it so when the device is spun a person can view the rapidly changing series of drawings as an animation. |
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