What will work for stop-motion animation?

I'm a student and Maryland Institute college of art studying animation. I'm a senior and considering necessary investments. Camera, software, etc. Does anyone have suggestions of what software/camera will best work for my computer. I need to be able to have a live view while shooting and am limited by the new mac books only have firewire 800. Any suggestions help.
Thank you,
jdudem

Canon's EOS Utility software has an option for time lapse photography with a SLR camera. My old 1Ds II doesn't have live view but will write to the computer via a FW 400 cable and this software. You'd need a FW400 female to FW800 male adapter to use a FW400 cable with the MBP or buy a new cable that fits your camera (mine has a four-pin DV connector) and a FW800 to the MBP.
I have not used the time lapse option. I believe this software limits the minimum interval to the amount of time it takes to write to the disk. I would expect there are other programs that would give you more options and capability. EOS Utility works but it's pretty basic.

Similar Messages

What project settings to I need for stop motion animation in elements 10 for youtube

I wanted to export a short (no more than 60sec) stop motion animation using approx 40 hi res photos (3888x2592px) we took and then upload this to youtube.
Does anyone have any suggestions of project settings I wanted it to be 1920x1080 but not sure of the frame rate and other settings.
Whether I choose NTSC or PAL doesn't make any difference to youtube does it, I'm currently in Peru so I'm wondering if it's probably better to use NTSC.
Gracias
Sally

I completely agree with Steve, and especially on Scaling the Still Images in Photoshop, or Photoshop Elements, prior to Import. This article goes into more detail, and has steps for batch-processing an entire folder of Stills: http://forums.adobe.com/message/2200755#2200755
When I do Stop-Motion, I like to do a small test with a few of my Images first. I usually decide on between 3 - 10 frames, but that choice is based on the "look" that I want, with those particular Images. It just depends.
Steve make a great point, and I want to reinforce it - when you do decide on the Duration, that suits your purposes, be sure to set the Stills Default Duration, BEFORE you Import all of your Stills into the Project.
Good luck, and when you have uploaded to YouTube, please add a link to it, in this thread, so we can all see it.
Hunt

Low quality export for stop motion animation stills from Canon 5D Mark ii

Thank you very much beforehand to anyone who is willing to look through this issue, it's been a long and frustrating process so far...
I am attempting to put together a stop motion animation in Final Cut Express but my exports are always either low quality, or medium quality and stretched. I am shooting on a Canon 5D Mark ii set to take pictures at 21M 5616x3744 [999] (though I'm not entirely sure what the 21M or 999 mean).
When I first assembled my stills (unedited or altered in any way) and exported, it looked like this:
A relatively drastic loss in colour and quality. This was achieved exporting through quicktime conversion using the following settings:
Compression Type: H.264
Compressor Quality: Best
Size: 1920x1080 HD
Preserve aspect ratio using: Crop
Deinterlace source video: unchecked
Unhappy with the result, I went through hours of testing and researching which only yielded a result after I discovered the control-Q Easy Setup menu. I tried setting up as an apple intermediate codec using HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60 at 29.97 fps. I kept the export settings the same as above, but knowing that I was now working with a canvas that keeps to the 16:9 proportions, I tried cropping one of my stills in photoshop to fit that 16:9 ratio.
I then imported my 16:9 cropped still and an unedited JPEG version from my camera and exported the resulting 10 second video. The result was better quality, but still noticeably degraded from the original stills. More importantly, both the cropped 16:9 and the unedited JPEG were stretched out of proportion as seen below (16:9 version):
Of course I forgot to note the original settings on Easy Setup so I can't figure out how to get back to the original lower quality, yet undistorted image (not that I want to do that). I tried numerous different sizes for the export including changing the Crop (when necessary) setting to letterbox. Nothing worked.
The canvas, however, immediately looked 100% better after switching the Easy Setup to HDV-Apple Intermediate Codec 1080i60 at 29.97 fps. It held the improved quality without distorting the image:
I'm not sure if there's any hope of having a great image quality, but at very least I would like to be able to export at the decent quality of the second screenshot without the stretching and cropping.
I need to have this resolved ASAP for work, I've already wasted too much time here. Any help is so appreciated, I'll be active in providing whatever additional information that I can to responders, though please keep in mind that I'm relatively new to all this, I don't know where to find everything

I've decided just to try to get back to the export that I showed in the first screenshot. That result came before I started tampering with the Easy Setup. Like I said, when I changed the setup the canvas quality improved drastically and the dimensions seemed to fit much better, but the export was vertically stretched and cropped. I just reset my FCE settings and it turns out the default setup is DV-NTSC, but it's giving me a terrible quality still...
I just want to get back to that second screenshot's quality.. Could someone suggest what I should switch the easy setup to for importing stills from my Canon 5D Mark ii to yield the right results?

Using iMovie for stop motion animation, Motion speed me up?

Basically my process
Use image background
take pictures of me posing
delete out all the space around me using pixlr.com
move those over to miniturize me and animate me ontop of the background
add effects
put into imovie
Now this works fine and dandy, but I've been disheartened by many times working for 4+ hours and then seein the final product and it *****.
So questions. I used to use After Effects but a friend just recommended me Motion.
Does Motion 5 allow me to delete all the stuff around me posing against my wall?
Does M5 really have all the problems the people on the boards are complaining about?
Can I add some decent photo effects like I do with http://pixlr.com/o-matic/
Thanks guys

your workflow is - sorry to say that - a bit ... inconvenient
the usual workflow is: record using some plain green or blue background, create matte/key new background in, color-process video.
'matting by hand' skips 50 years of video-processing ...
you can accomplish that with iMovie, Motion or FCPX. iM and FCPX come with a bundle of 'presets' which allow similar coloring/contrasting/de-saturation as pixlr. FCPX for sure allows much more, in detail manual manipulations of color, although the 'video' tab in iMovie11 offers enough 'knobs' to create the few looks pixlr offers. Motion wouldn't be my first choice, as the app's name implies, it is basicly not meant for such simple color-corrections.

I need a floppy disk drive for old 3 1/2" disks. I have a PowerBook G4 Mac with MacOS X 10.4 operating system. What will work for me?

I need a floppy disk drive for old 3 1/2" disks. I have a PowerBook G4 with Mac OS X 10.4 operating system. What external drive will for for me?

Hi,
Providing that the old 3.5" floppies are 1.44 MB HD disks, you should be able to use a USB floppy drive.
However, if the disks are 2DD/DSDD in the 800K Mac format a USB drive is not going to work. In this case you would need a suitable semi-old Macintosh computer with a built-in floppy drive as an intermediary.
Jan

Stop motion animation using iMovie by a child

Hi. My six year old granddaughter has just become interested in stop motion animation. How good is iMovie for this and what are the best learning tools / tutorials?

First, for Stop Motion Animation, there are better tools. These include iStopMotion and QuickTIme Pro Version 7.
If you want to do it in iMovie, it is possible, but slow.
First, go into iMovie Preferences, and make sure you check "Display Time as hh:mm:ss:frames". This will let you edit to the frame lever rather than to the nearest 10th of a second.
Second, see this Tutorial by Jon Walker on how to edit down to a single frame in a still image sequence.
You can modify his technique to get 2 or three frames.

My PowerBook G4 says that it's connected to wifi, but it still no internet connection. The connection will work for a while, and then I'll have to run diagnostics and it will work again for a few minutes and then stop working again. What's going on??

My PowerBook G4 says that it's connected to wifi, but it still no internet connection. The connection will work for a while, and then I'll have to run diagnostics and it will work again for a few minutes and then stop working again. What's going on??

Basic troubleshooting techniques for any problem
Restart the computer = joy?
Reset the router = joy?
Restart the computer in Safe Mode = joy?
ask yourself "What changed immediately preceding the onset of the problem?" = Anything... hardware, software, cabling, environment (interference source)
ÇÇÇ

What programs/functions do I need to master in order to create stop motion animation?

Hi,
Im just starting a new job, and will be creating a handful of films for my new employer.
I want to create something interesting, and have been leaning towards stop motion animation.
What initially inspired me was this music video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zfcHq0hhFWg
To me, it looks like a bunch of stop motion ( ex; the paper balls and hand colored individual frames of the guy playing guitar), paired with some digital animation (walruses). Please correct me if I am wrong about this.
So - to focus my question:
1) What program does one use to play all the individual pictures taken to create the stop motion animation? In other words, once I have shot all the individual pictures of the objects I want to animate, and am ready to organize them and set a playback speed, what program would I use? Do most people just throw all the pictures into final cut and do it that way?? Or is there a better program?
and
2) How do you cut portions of pictures / drawings / frames out to allow for a deep layering effect? I figure most people take each frame and manipulate it individually using photoshop (cutting portions of an image out so something else can be seen through the void). But is there a better way??
For example, lets say I have two crecent shaped pieces of black paper, and I want them to move towards each other from the left and right sides of the screen, and eventually completely obscure whatever is going on in the background behind the paper images. First I would take a series of pictures, moving the pieces of paper in small increments, until they closed the gap and overlapped each other. From that point, I would lay down whatever video I wanted playing in the background into the timeline. Next, I would import the series of photos with the pieces of paper moving towards each other - then comes the problem. The portion of the pictures used for the animation that is NOT PAPER would be obscuring my background video. So at this point, is it easier to shoot the animation against a white background and just chroma key the white out? Or do most people cut the non paper part out using photoshop? or is there a better way?

frisbee681 wrote:
Hi,
Im just starting a new job, and will be creating a handful of films for my new employer.
I want to create something interesting, and have been leaning towards stop motion animation.
Congratulations on the job. Not many of them out there.
frisbee681 wrote:
1) What program does one use to play all the individual pictures taken to create the stop motion animation? In other words, once I have shot all the individual pictures of the objects I want to animate, and am ready to organize them and set a playback speed, what program would I use? Do most people just throw all the pictures into final cut and do it that way?? Or is there a better program?
Easy to search the app store, as mentioned, or just google stop motion for macintosh. Mastering the application is easy. Learning how to animate is where you need to start.
frisbee681 wrote:
2) How do you cut portions of pictures / drawings / frames out to allow for a deep layering effect? I figure most people take each frame and manipulate it individually using photoshop (cutting portions of an image out so something else can be seen through the void). But is there a better way??
In the odlen days, we used multiplane stages. Each set of drawings was placed on a glass stage, one under the other. INcredibly fun, absurdly difficult to keep clean and properly lit. Now all of that stuff is done with alpha channels and compositing software like Motion or Afer Effects.
frisbee681 wrote:
For example, lets say I have two crecent shaped pieces of black paper, and I want them to move towards each other from the left and right sides of the screen, and eventually completely obscure whatever is going on in the background behind the paper images. First I would take a series of pictures, moving the pieces of paper in small increments, until they closed the gap and overlapped each other. From that point, I would lay down whatever video I wanted playing in the background into the timeline. Next, I would import the series of photos with the pieces of paper moving towards each other - then comes the problem. The portion of the pictures used for the animation that is NOT PAPER would be obscuring my background video. So at this point, is it easier to shoot the animation against a white background and just chroma key the white out? Or do most people cut the non paper part out using photoshop? or is there a better way?
Umm, yes. You're only guessing. And, honestly (Did you want honesty?), your heart may be in this but you don't have much a clue. Techniques and effects (and the experience to guide the decisions to do them in camera, on the shooting stage, or in software) are not where you start animation. You start by learning how cameras work, how shutter speed and f-stop relate to ISO speed, how to shoot on-2s (or if you should), how to do eases and stretches and squishes, how to develop characterization in inanimate objects so you can invoke emotive responses from the audience, how to shoot to hooks in the soundtrack, how to plan, how to storyboard, how to budget time, how to establish and maintain quality shooting conditions, how to do animatic or rough tests, how to learn from the tests, how to have fun, how to make money, how to get it done.
This is kind of like saying you've just inherited a hundred acres and are thinking about getting into farming. You plant some seeds and do some stuff and then pick it and sell it. How hard can it be?
bogiesan

What HDD will work for a MacBook Pro 13" 7.1 Unibody HDD Upgrade?

I am looking at upgrading my HDD and have been reading up on the HDD heights (9mm, 12.5mm etc). Which HDDs will work for my upgrade? I would like to get either a 750GB or 1TB drive. Will the WD Scorpio Blue drives work?
I currently have the Hitachi 250GB SATA 2 3.0gbps drive.

Yes, they have an iffy track record. Do some exploring and research before criticizing. Even WD has to post a page on their site listing all their products that are known to have compatibility problems with Macs.
Ironic that OWC sells WD? Sure, about as ironic as finding food in a supermarket. The word you wanted was "coincidental." You have misused "irony." What business did you think OWC was in? They sell products for Macs, and they don't need to be concerned about honoring the warranties of any product they sell except those exclusively under their name.
I know quite well what prices New Egg offers. There are other factors when purchasing products besides price.

I bought a movie on iTunes but when I try to watch it plays back slowly with no sound. Then the video will speed up and the sound will work for a moment then off again and back to slow motion. I have a dell laptop running windows 7

The description says it all. I bought a movie on iTunes but when I try to watch it plays back slowly with no sound. Then the video will speed up and the sound will work for a moment then off again and back to slow motion. I have a dell laptop running windows 7

Hi Normanwh,
If you are having video playback issues in iTunes on your Windows machine, you may find the following article helpful:
Apple Support: Troubleshooting iTunes for Windows Vista or Windows 7 video playback performance issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/ts1718
Regards,
- Brenden

What version of Windows Office will work for my OS X 10.5.8; also what is the most up-dated browser available for my system?

What version of Windows Office will work for my OS X 10.5.8, and also what is the most updated browser available for my system?

Sorry for my typo. Ofice 2008 will continue to run on Leopard and Leopard includes Safari 5.0.6. A G4 s an old machine and you will not get much speed when surfing the internet.
Leopard is no longer avilable from Apple, and costs around $200 on eBay or Amazon.

HT1588 when i play a movie in itunes the audio will work for a little bit then stop

when i play a movie in itunes the audio will work for a little bit then stop

Hi there,
I would recommend taking a look at the troubleshooting steps found in the article below.
Troubleshooting iTunes for Windows Vista or Windows 7 video playback performance issues
http://support.apple.com/kb/TS1718
-Griff W.

How can I make a stop motion animation using Premiere Elements 13?

I am trying to make a stop motion animation with a series of still shots. So far I have managed to speed up the shots so that I have one frame per second but this is still not fast enough and I can't work out how to make them go any faster!
I am working on a class project with my 8/9 year olds and the project has stalled at this point because I can't get past this hurdle. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

yogawithlexi,
Welcome to the forum.
Im also needing to just edit the photos but adding text. Nothing fancy. I just want to make some flyers.
For editing photos, to be output to the printed page (whether by a commercial printing service, or a desktop printer), I strongly recommend Photoshop Elements (PsE).
If you need to output to a video file, then Premiere Elements (PrE) can possibly do what you want, but not for the printed page - at least not easily, and with the ultimate results. First, Video is not dependent on DPI/LPI (Dots Per Inch, or Lines Per Inch), where printed material will be. Also, while PrE can output a Still Image, the quality, when printed, will be far less, than what one can obtain with PsE.
Do you currently have Photoshop Elements on your computer, or only Premiere Elements?
Good luck,
Hunt

Can I use canon eos40d for stop motion capture in premiere elements 9?

I Want too do stop motion capture but when I click get media, the pop up dialog box proceeda as if to import still photos. How do I get the "capture panel" that is talked about where I can select stop motion? Is premiere elements 9 supposed to work with a still camera like mine for stop motion at all? Thanks!!' Kimberley

Kimberley
Thanks for the reply. This is my take on the situation that you describe.
You wrote
The camera was linked to PC with USB cable and then the software showed on the PC what would normally be in the camera viewfinder. The enter key on the PC worked as a shutter release and onion skinning worked. Can premiere elements do this?
That more or less describes the Premiere Elements Webcam experience if Premiere Elements recognized the Webcam.
If you have made a USB connection between the Canon 40D and the computer and you are not getting a Capture Window when you use Premiere Elements' Add Media Webcam or WDM compatible device, then Premiere Elements does not support that simple route. It is my understanding that WDM compatible device represents Windows Driver Model (a framework for device drivers).
I have done some Google searching, and I have found instance where claims have been made for the Canon 40D as a webcam. I post one of these links for informational and non promotional purposes.
http://extrawebcam.com/
Have you explore any utilities that came with the Canon that might supply drivers for the Canon as a webcam?
Have you tried to use the Canon 40D as a webcam with Windows Movie Maker?
Please review and consider. (Also, 9.0.1 Update can be downloaded and installed from the project's Help Menu/Update or obtained online from
http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/detail.jsp?ftpID=4929
We will be watching for further developments.
Thank you.
ATR

Stop motion animation

Hi,
Can quicktime pro be used to create stop motion animation? If so how do you do it?
Thanx
Dave

Mmmm... not really... but you could...
If you create all your frames in photoshop (i assume you're wanting to
make 2-d animation rather than traditional 3d models) and export them in a numerical order (frame1, frame2 frame3 etc etc), then take them in to quicktime as an image sequence, then export from QT as a movie etc...
I guess it is possible, but quite an inefficient way of doing it... After Effects is good for this kind of thing as you can create all your frames in photoshop, in one file, as layers, then import the one PS file and all the layers will be present... you can also manipulate frame rates much easier in AE... most animation (traditional 2d/3d models) doubles up on frames, so you have (in PAL land) 12 frames per second... easy to do in AE.

What will work for stop-motion animation?

Similar Messages

Maybe you are looking for