Definition
Easing shapes the rate of change between keyframes. Because nothing in the real world moves at a perfectly constant speed — cars accelerate and brake, doors swing and settle — our brains expect motion to accelerate and decelerate, and linear (constant-speed) animation reads as mechanical. The four foundational types are linear (constant), ease-in (starts slow, speeds up, good for exits), ease-out (starts fast, slows to rest, the most-used for entrances), and ease-in-out (slow-fast-slow, for moves that start and end on screen). Named curves like cubic, bounce, elastic, and back add character, and custom Bézier curves let you draw any acceleration. Disney codified this as 'slow in and slow out,' one of the 12 basic principles of animation.
How Loopdesk Uses This
The easing that takes experience to get right is baked into Loopdesk's motion presets: captions, titles, and lower thirds animate with proper ease-out and ease-in-out by default, so entrances and exits look intentional without manual curve editing. You can adjust the feel in plain English.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does linear easing look cheap?
Because real-world motion accelerates and decelerates, while linear moves at one constant speed. That constant speed reads as robotic and is the tell-tale sign of un-eased, beginner animation. Ease-out or ease-in-out usually fixes it.
Related Keywords
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Related Terms
Keyframe
A marker that stores a property's value at a specific point in time; two or more create animation as the software interpolates between them.
Lower Thirds
A text-and-graphic overlay in the lower portion of the frame that identifies a speaker, topic, or location without interrupting the footage.
Timeline Editor
The primary interface in video editing software where clips, audio, transitions, and effects are arranged along a temporal axis.