Animation

Updated: 06/06/2021 by Computer Hope
Animated Gif

Animation is the illusion of movement created by showing several still pictures in rapid succession. In the world of computers, graphics software used to create this effect. A simple animation may be as basic as an animated GIF (graphics interchange format) file like the image shown on this page. A more complex animation could be of a human or alien face in a computer software game or animation of a space battle in a movie.

Tip

A user who does animation for a living may be called an animator or 3D animator.

Animation software

Below is a listing of some popular and widely used animation and 3D animation programs.

3ds Max, Animated GIF, Cel, Graphic, Inverse kinematics, Machinima, Maya, Mixamo, Multimedia, OBJ, Real-time animation, Rigging, Rotoscoping, Transition, Video terms