/jp/ - Otaku Culture

Keyframe: This is where all the movement gets decided, and it determines the composition of the final shots. They are not polished, but all the tweens are based or traced off of these. You can usually match these frames up to actual frames in a movie. This job is usually given to an animator, which is different than a tweener. His job it to employ movement in a creative and convincing manner for the scene he is assigned, which is equivalent to one or two frames in a storyboard. This is a credited position because creative decisions must be made. An animator may draw anywhere from 2-15 frames per scene, usually rough sketch only with coloring instructions.

Good keyframes will result in spectacular animation sequences. Bad keyframes will make things boring or unnatural.