Shareware software suitable for animation production is available for Windows Operating systems.
Stop
Motion Animator Software
Download the freeware software from
TSoF (208 Kb zip file)
Download the Storyboard pdf document
See the Animate Clay site for more information
This software is easy to use but there are several tips before you begin.
1. Install your camera and software first.
2. Launch the Stop Motion Animator Software and under the Options Menu...Capture
options change the frame rate to 6 frames per second (higher frame rates
are smoother but use many more shots to make an animation.
3. Click the Video Format Button... and select the highest resolution supported
by your camera and a Pixel Depth and Compression of RGB 24 - this setting allows
for onion skinning to work - ie you can see the previous shot as a semi transparent
image and adjust your character movement more accurately) ...click OK
4. Click the Compression button...and select Full Frames (Uncompressed). This
makes higher resolution images and larger file sizes but it means you will
get better results once you put your movie together and output it to different
file types with compression.
5. Save individual scenes rather than one very long series of shots as you
will have better control of the order of the scenes and less likelihood of
losing a lot of time and effort if something goes wrong.
For Step by Step instructions in setting up the camera please download this Word document.
Putting it all together
Once you have a collection of scenes they will be saved as avi format movie files. Your audio track will be a wav format file. You now need some softwate to put your final movie together, There are several options ranging from free to very expensive.
Microsoft has a free product called Windows Movie Maker available for Windows ME (on your Win ME CD) and Windows XP - see the Microsoft site.
Instructions on using Windows Movie Maker for clay animation are in this Word Document
Other video editing software you might use includes Ulead VideoStudio and Sonic Foundry Video Factory.
