This page provides an industry glossary of terminology used across the animation and games sectors. Each entry is organised by term, description, department (where relevant), and source/reference.
We welcome contributions of additional terms, particularly those from established studio or company glossaries, internal production pipelines, and specialised workflows. Adding industry-specific terminology helps create a broader and more valuable resource for professionals, students, and anyone looking to better understand the language of animation and game development.
If you have a term, definition, or studio-specific terminology you would like to contribute, please contact us and we will be happy to review and add it to the glossary.
| Term | Definition | Department | Source |
| 10s (‘tens’) | A render job consisting of every 10th frame of a sequence (e.g. 10s in a 100 frame shot would only render f10, f20, f30 and so on) | LRC | Axis Studios |
| ALEMBIC | assets/layout | Axis Studios | |
| Animation Rig | A complete skeletal rig which has controls built in for animators to manipulate and pose a character. | rigging | Axis Studios |
| Asset | A character, vehicle, prop, or environment. Essentially anything that has a defined geometry. | assets | Axis Studios |
| Baking // Bake in | Term used for the permanent setting of composite layers and controls in an asset or shot. | assets/anim | Axis Studios |
| Blendshape | A way of deforming geometry to create a specific look for your asset. E.g. A human character’s face may require blendshapes to be made to give animators an easier route to extreme facial expressions . | assets/rigging | Axis Studios |
| Cache // Caching | Conversion and saving of the latest version of an asset or shot so that it can be used for the next stage in the pipeline. Note that when a new cache is made, it will over-write older versions so it’s a key step that needs to be monitored by production. | assets/anim | Axis Studios |
| CFX | Cloth FX or ‘Creature’ FX – a stage in which dynamic movement is applied to hair, fur, or cloth | Axis Studios | |
| Colour Scripts | An early attempt to map out the colour, lighting, emotion and moods in a film. Used as a reference to lighting. | art/LRC | Axis Studios |
| Compositing | The artist manipulated combination of two or more sources to produce a single integrated image | LRC | Axis Studios |
| Deadline 9.0 | Software that provides an overview of the activity on the farm (see ‘Render Management’ for more) | LRC | Axis Studios |
| Deformation Rig | A final rigging pass which ensures muscles and other materials interact with each other correctly | Rigging | Axis Studios |
| Displacement Map | Alters the surface of an asset by changing (displacing) the geometry | Assets | Axis Studios |
| DMP | Acronym for ‘Digital Matte Painting’. A hand-painted image that is combined with CG or Live Action footage. Often used to add high level detail or to serve as a static background. | Assets/Art | Axis Studios |
| DSE | Digital Set Extension | Assets/Art | Axis Studios |
| FAT-TWIN | A type of render node | LRC | Axis Studios |
| Flipbook | A video file generated in Houdini to preview basic simulation in FX | Axis Studios | |
| FPS | Frames Per Second | Axis Studios | |
| Fusion | A comp render. Fusion renders only have a single pass (i.e. no 10s or non-10s) | Axis Studios | |
| FX-timing | This is similar to animaiton blocking and animation. Making sure the effect is hitting a few guidelines in terms of animaiton timing. How fast or large should a simulation be | Axis Studios | |
| FX – Scale | Scale is a term we use for how large things feel. usually connected to movement. For example a Larger waterfall has the appearance of moving slower in comparison to a smaller one if they have the same screen space. This is because of it’s size and scale and purely how gravity works | FX -Anything | Axis Studios |
| Grading | The colour balance of an image or scene, or the process of colour correcting and balancing that image or scene. | Axis Studios | |
| HOD | Head of Department | Axis Studios | |
| Houdini | Software used by FX & LRC which specialises in procedural generation (sims) | Axis Studios | |
| HQR | High Quality Render (full resolution) | Axis Studios | |
| IFDs // IFD Jobs | The setup stage for the render job, connects the dots between every file that’s needed for this rendering task before it can start | Axis Studios | |
| Iteration | A new version of something that is ready for review >> Axis typically uses a 3-Iteration Workflow (1 directorial pass + 1 client pass + 1 final polish pass) | Axis Studios | |
| JIRA | A hub for submitting and tracking technical support queries – maintained by IT, RnD & Studio. For urgent technical issues, please visit or call IT directly. | General | Axis Studios |
| Key Frame // Keyframing | Animation method where specific frames are defined for key character poses. Non-key frames (aka in-betweens) will require animation clean up to smooth the actions between key frames/poses. Typically used for non-human characters or stylised animation where motion capture is impractical. | Axis Studios | |
| Kitbash | putting geo together to get something quick and dirty | Axis Studios | |
| Lookdev | A key experimental stage where assets are tested through a viewer to ensure they are correctly setup for various lighting conditions. Effectively a 3D concepting stage to define a ‘look’ of a piece. It also allows for the debugging and optimisation of Assets. | Axis Studios | |
| LQR | Low Quality Render (usually 25-40% of full resolution) | Axis Studios | |
| Masters/Master Set-ups | Axis Studios | ||
| Mantra | A common type of render submission which is split into 3 passes (IFD, 10s, and non-10s) | Axis Studios | |
| Matte Painting / DMP | A hand-painted image that is combined with CG or Live Action footage. Often used to add high level detail or to serve as a static background. Also known as a DMP – Digital Matte Painting. | Axis Studios | |
| Maya | Software used by Assets, Rigging & Animation | Axis Studios | |
| MGFX | see Motion Graphics | Axis Studios | |
| Mocap | Abbreviation for Motion Capture. A technique where an individual’s performance is captured and translated for use in driving a CG character’s performance. | Axis Studios | |
| Mocap ‘Volume’ | The 3D space of a mocap stage used during a mocap shoot | Axis Studios | |
| Mocap Animation | Animation method using physical data values recorded at a Mocap Shoot. Data is received from the Mocap Studio as a ‘Mocap Solve’ which will require animation clean up to smooth the actions. | Axis Studios | |
| Mocap Shoot | A location based shoot at a Mocap Studio to capture animation data which is processed and delivered as ‘solves’ | Axis Studios | |
| Mocap Solve/ Live Solve | Raw motion capture data (Live solve) that has been processed and cleaned up to an acceptable level by the Mocap Studio. Files will be delivered to Axis as FBX Mocap Solves to the specs defined before the first mocap order has been made. | Axis Studios | |
| Modelling | Stage where an asset is sculpted in 3D using a concept and production art as reference | Axis Studios | |
| Motion Graphics | Animated graphics that is undertaken to achieve a specific aesthetic design. For example, often used for HUDs or floating 3D interfaces as seen in high-tech, futuristic settings. | Axis Studios | |
| Naming conventions | Standardised name formatting that is required to work in our pipeline. Often explicitly requested from external suppliers. | Axis Studios | |
| Nodal Camera | A camera locked to a specific coordinate which will not give any parallax effect. Though a nodal camera cannot move from its locked locked coordinate, it can still rotate and zoom. | Axis Studios | |
| Node // Nodes | Name given to a machine that is dedicated to rendering | Axis Studios | |
| Non-10s | A render job consisting of every frame in between the 10s | Axis Studios | |
| Nuke | Software we use for combining (compositing) all of our layers together | Axis Studios | |
| Overscan | Rendering an image larger than the size of the frame | Axis Studios | |
| Parallax | The way an object’s position or direction seems to change depending on viewing angle. | Axis Studios | |
| Photobash | A type of digital illustration in which photos or parts of photos are manipulated together, sometimes with a digital painting, to create a final piece. Occasionally used in CG for rough concepting or reference. | Axis Studios | |
| Playblast | A preview video file for shot exports during Layout and Animation | Axis Studios | |
| Previz | Stage where preliminary versions of shots or sequences are produced to define blocking, timing, and scale. | Axis Studios | |
| Proxy Model | A placeholder asset used when the final asset is either not ready or not necessary. Typically used to block out scenes. | Axis Studios | |
| Proxy Rig | A very simple skeletal rig, like a stick man, which can be used for previz and motion capture | Axis Studios | |
| Pre-roll | Usually most our simulations needs to start BEFORE the camera starts rolling. we simulate as many frames we need in order to hit the initial frame required for the simulation as the start of the shot. This can require Animation before the shot starts | FX | Axis Studios |
| PSD | Pose Space Deformation – when you blend the rig and the asset | Axis Studios | |
| Publish // Publishing | Similar to caching, the process of making a shot version the ‘latest’ so that it can be picked up automatically in the edit | Axis Studios | |
| QUAD | A type of render node – slower than FAT-TWINs | Axis Studios | |
| Real Time | (1) Displaying a sequence of images at the same speed as they will be viewed in their final form. (2) Computational processing that appears to be nearly instantaneous. | Axis Studios | |
| Reference Spheres | Chrome and neutral gray spheres, usually seen in Asset renders, which are used in a 3D environment to visually record the placement of lights within a scene. | Axis Studios | |
| Render Farm | A collection of nodes dedicated to rendering jobs | Axis Studios | |
| Rendering | Processing composite layers into a complete image (e.g. bringing all the individual ingredients together to bake a cake) | Axis Studios | |
| Render Management | A key stage of production where render farm resources are calculated and shot rendering windows are scheduled. A tutorial on the subject can be found here – \\mrfreeze.axis.rocks\production\AXIS_production\AXIS_wiki\training\prod_tutorials\Rendering-HowTo\Presentation | Axis Studios | |
| Rigging | A department dedicated to creating the skeleton for 3D models so they can be moved and positioned by animation | Axis Studios | |
| ROMs | Stands for ‘Range Of Movement’. A rig test before animation starts. | Axis Studios | |
| Shading | Stage in in which the final colour & look of an asset in a 3D scene is applied. The final beauty pass of an asset which defines its final appearance when seen with the scene’s lighting setup, the orientation of the surfaces with regard to the scene’s light sources, the assets’ colours, etc. | Axis Studios | |
| Shotgun | An online-based feedback and review website used to centralise feedback for each project. Axis has a strict policy on access and usage which is defined in this hyperlink. | Axis Studios | |
| Slap Comp | A very rough initial composite that is usually used to test or visualise basic relationships between layers/elements. | Axis Studios | |
| Storyboard | Storyboards are a hand-drawn version of the sequence that serves as the blueprint for the action and dialogue. | Axis Studios | |
| TARGA // TGA | A lossless image file format | Axis Studios | |
| Texturing | Stage where the high frequency detail, texture (e.g. metal, rust, rubber), and colour information of surfaces is applied | Axis Studios | |
| Treatment | A short document or 2D animatic that summarises the main idea of the story. | Axis Studios | |
| Turnaround | A 360 degree video preview of an asset on a revolving turntable | Axis Studios | |
| UVs // UV Maps | 3D modelling process of projecting a 2D image to a 3D model’s surface for texture mapping. | Axis Studios | |
| Vertical slice | Axis Studios | ||
| Screen space | How much room an item takes in frame. For example a FX which covers half the screen has a larger screen space than an object in the background just a few pixels small | FX -Anything | Axis Studios |
| MSM | This is a joke. although has become a thing in Axis FX. This means “Make Stuff Move”, usually referred to vegetation FX, secondary FX on anything which could/should be moving and has not been anticipated | FX | Axis Studios |
| Voxels | A voxel is usually referred to the size of the volume file. Imagine pixels in 3D Space. More voxels is usually higher resolution. | FX | Axis Studios |
| Secondaries | Usually referred to secondary effects related to a larger effect. Almost all FX contains secondaries | FX | Axis Studios |
| Source | Usually refers to how the effect itself is being sourced. For example we might use the exhaust pipe form a car as a source to simulate exhaust smoke from | FX | Axis Studios |
| Agent | Refed to Crowds. Usually referring to a single “human/Monster” in a crowd simulation | Crowds | Axis Studios |
| Sub-step | Inbetween frames. When we simulate we sometimes have to simulate inbetween the frames providing higher quality for fast moving objects | FX | Axis Studios |
| Emission map | Emission maps are used to describe how much bloom/glow should be emitted from parts of a sprite/texture. Emission maps are grayscale: black means no emission for that pixel, white means full intensity emission | Axis Studios | |
| Albedo | A measure of how much light that hits a surface is reflected without being absorbed. Something that appears white reflects most of the light that hits it and has a high albedo, while something that looks dark absorbs most of the light that hits it, indicating a low albedo. | Axis Studios | |
| COG | Center of gravity | Axis Studios |