Requirements to view this page:
Internet Explorer 4.0 or better, Windows Media Player V6.
As well, expect Codec downloads from Microsoft.
| Stop-Frame or Stop-Motion animation is the creation of a movie which is made up of
individual frames or images of an object that normally would not move of
it's own accord. These can be clay or plasticine models, children's
toys, people positioned in a "non-moving" position and
anything else that the mind can imagine.
A normal video operates at 15 frames a second, so to get one second of video, 15 individual shots need to be carefully planned and taken. This can be a laborious task if a feature film is going to be made. Fortunately, the computer makes the processing very easy. (Windows Media Player required to view animations) |
Cow animation. |
Computer (anything that will run the capture device!)
Capture device - a Logitec Quickcam camera is ample (Cost about $100) but a TV Tuner card (again about $100) and any video camera will also do.
Microsoft "On Demand Producer", free and available by download from
www.microsoft.com has a capture facility
built in that works fine. Unfortunately, it has no editing facility.
(http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windowsmedia/en/download/default.asp)
Specialist Stop-Motion software can also be purchased. One such company is Stop Motion Pro. The Lite version is about US$50 and can be downloaded from www.stopmotionpro.com (If you get good at this, you can enter their competition and win a copy of the software). This software is very good and allows manipulation of individual frames.
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Make sure your capture device is working. Start On-Demand Producer and use the menu File-Video Capture to start the video capture software. Select the Capture Frames button and then just press Capture to take the series of images you want. When finished, save your work as an AVI file. That's it! Don't forget to move your objects only a little bit at a time. |
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Some more examples are here. I do not admit to being very creative but at least I tried.
| Battle of the Ogre | Staple Love |
Mike Leishman
July 2000