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

Hi,

There's a heap of stop motion programs on the AppStore. Some of the best are iStop Motion (home, Express and Pro). However you could just use PhotoShop Extended which has built in animation function and then the facility to do all the masking you were talking about. Some do it frame by frame. Others use processes. You tend to find out what works best for the shot you are working on.

Pi

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

To address your specific example of the moving the black crescent shapes, I was thinking, why bother doing that with stop motion? If you were going to make a Barbie doll do a dance, then you'd do that with stop motion. But if all you want is two basic shapes to move across the screen, why not just keyframe those shapes? Set your start point and your end point and you're done.

Don't forget, with keyframing, you can set as many "points" as you want—it doesn't have to be straight from A to B. If you set a whole bunch of points for the shapes to stop or pause at, that may give the stop motion effect. Have fun experimenting!

Experimentation is where you wil find all of your answers.

Using stop motion caputring to do this work is an interesting first step in developing a style and a specific look and feel to your projects. However, you've still got to figure out how to use the still images you've created, map them into a movie, and then use that movie to drive effects such as mattes or gradient wipes. Fun stuff. Not for the timid.

Just remember stop motion animation has been an art form for more than 100 years. Everything, absolutely EVERYTHING has been done. All you need to do is figure out how to discover and then benfit from this century of experience.

YTou local library is a gret place to start. Real books.

Try to have fun, find some animation support groups, and post back with your specific FCP/Motion questions.