How To Create a Stop Motion Animation

If you were wondering how they create movies such as Wallace and Gromit or those groovy Lego shorts on YouTube, your search is over! Although creating stop motion animation is not difficult, it is time-consuming, repetitive and requires patience. As long as you're forewarned and keen, this makes a fantastic hobby and sometimes even grows into a career.

Step 1  

Make sure you have a digital camera with lots of memory and a computer that is capable of running some form of multimedia construction software. For example, Windows 2000 or later with Windows Movie Maker, a Mac with iMovie, or a Linux or BSD operating system with Gimp. (Logitech webcams also come with stop motion animation software.) Virtual Dub is also a good free, easy to use program suitable for stop motion. If you have other similar movie making software, these will also be suitable, provided that you know how to use them.

Step 2  

Get objects and figures to use in your movie. Some good choices include clay, wire, Lego or similar building block figures, Playmobil™ figures, small dolls with a lot of flexibility, or string and wooden bead characters.Some people even use Peeps! Be imaginative in the types of objects and figures that might work for your movie.

Step 3  

Think of an idea for your movie. What will the characters be doing? Write out a script with action in a story line.

Step 4  

Plan well. As part of working out the storyline, it is important to the motion effect to have worked out in advance what your figures will be doing -- walking, raising an arm, nodding yes, moving something, or whatever.

Step 5  

Set up the figures (characters) in a particular position and within their set. This photo shows a Lego set.

Step 6  

Place your camera in front of the "set" that you are going to take photos of. Check that it can view the entire frame. It is very important to support the camera or place it so that it is sitting steadily and cannot shake as you take the photos. Otherwise, the end result will appear chaotic and lack continuity. Keep in mind that the more photos, the smoother the video results. If you do not have a tripod, good alternatives include balancing on solid books, poster tack on the surface of the set or a piece of solid furniture at the same height.

Step 7  

Set up a good source of lighting. It might be a lamp or a flashlight. If your light is flickering, you need to shut off other sources of light. Close the blind, door or curtains etc.

Step 8  

Take a single photo of the figure in the selected position. This photo shows the Lego set being readied for photographing.

Step 9  

Begin the movement sequence. Move the figure bit by bit - very small movements each time. It may be the entire body if the figure is walking, or it may just be an arm, head or leg. If you are moving only one body part and you find that the figure is tilting or threatening to fall over, make use of poster tack under the feet or other area touching part of the set.

Step 10  

Observe the following sequence of a Lego figure shoot to see how very small the changes must be (and remember that this is only a few of the frames to be taken!):

Step 11  

Repeat the movement sequence until your action step is completed, or your camera's memory is full.

Step 12  

Save the pictures onto your computer in an easy to remember place.

Step 13  

Use your movie-making software as instructed (or see two popular software methods below). The basics involve:  

• Import the pictures into the desired program.
• Make sure the pictures are at a very small duration so they flow very fast. If you are disappointed by the speed at which your program can animate, try exporting the project as a video file (before adding audio), then importing it again, and using a speed effect on it, such as double speed (these effects only work on video clips). Then, if the resulting speed is sufficient, you may add your audio.
• Add titles and credits if you would like.
• Make sure you like the end result of your stop motion animation. Keep going if you need to complete more actions to create a story.
• Save the video. If you plan on having multiple stop motion segments, save each segment as a separate movie. Once the entire group of segments is completed, you can import all the segments into the final movie, and it will look much better and be a lot easier to finalize.

Step 14  

Add effects or transitions, or whatever else you feel makes it look good.

Step 15  

Share your movie by burning it into a CD or place it into an iPod. Continue making other ones!

Virtual Dub Method

1. Virtual Dub will be used for saving the multiple image files as a movie, ready for editing with another program
2. Have all your pictures in 1 place, all named in the correct order
3. In Virtual Dub go file > open, from the File type drop down select 'Image Sequence'. Select the first image, Virtual Dub will then automatically import all other pictures that follow in numerical order (E.g, DCM1000, DCM1001, DCM1002)
4. Go video > frame rate and choose a frame rate for your movie. The higher the frame rate, the more images are shown per second (25FPS will show 25 pictures per second). Change the frame rate and keep testing until you are happy with it.
5. Change video and audio compression if needed.
6. Finally go file > save as avi. Now your images are a movie sequence, ready for editing in another program such as Windows Movie maker, Sony Vegas or Adobe Premiere.

Windows Movie Maker Method

1. Open up Windows Movie Maker.
2. Import the pictures.
3. Click "Tools", then "Options". Do this before placing the pictures into the timeline.
4. Click the "Advanced" tab.
5. Change the picture duration to 0.125 seconds a frame (the lowest setting). This is found under "Picture Options".
6. Ensure that the pictures are in the correct order.
7. Load the pictures into the storyboard.
8. Add titles and credits if desired.
9. Go to "Finish Movie" and click whichever option is suitable.

Capture Video Method

1. Go to "File", then "Capture Video..."
2. Go to the "Capture Screen" - you need a camera plugged into the computer, click "Start Recording". When a second goes by, click "Stop".
3. Move your object.
4. Click "Start". Do it for a second more. It doesn't have to be perfect.
5. Move the video clip(s) onto the timeline - you will need to go to timeline view if you are on the storyboard.
6. Right click the first video clip, and click "Video Effects."
7. Choose the "speed up, double" selection. You will want to do this 1 or 2 more times (you can choose it multiple times with one action; you don't have to keep right clicking). Do this for each clip. Now you will have each frame without using space in your documents.

Tips

• Make sure your battery is fully charged.
• If you use clay as your medium, try putting wire inside the clay; this will help you move the figures more easily.
• If objects are going to be moving limbs, make sure you can keep them in that one position without holding on to them. Poster tack works well for this, or even looped over adhesive tape.
• If your computer is slightly slow, and you try to preview your video in the editing stage, all the pictures may not play and the film will get stuck on one image. It's okay for this to happen, as when you save it, it will flow fine.
• If you want your object to look like it is going away or being eaten, such as in the video at the third link, just simply make it almost being eaten then take out the object altogether.
• Add music and sound effects for additional interest.
• If you do not want every frame saved on your computer, then you can delete them.
• You do not need Windows Movie Maker. There are some programs specifically for stop motion that are better. Windows Movie Maker is free though, which is often a compelling reason!
• This way of making movies can take probably half an hour to maybe 2-3 hours, depending on how long the movie is, so make sure to have a lot of patience when making a movie.
• Watch other stop motion animations for inspiration. These may give you some new ideas about how to do your own animation. Wallace and Gromit and Knox are fresh and popular animations.
• You will become faster at moving the figures and judging the distances the more you practice.
• If frames in Windows Movie Maker are too long, you can use the double speed effect on the video for shorter frames.
• When you are beginning, try shooting the sequences where characters are moving, fighting, etc. in stop motion. when they are talking, just take single shots of their faces. It speeds up the process, and it actually looks okay.
• If you want to make a toy fly (such as a pterodactyl or a bird), attach clear string to it. Hold it up in the air for every shot that you want it to fly. Make sure you have 2 people working on this part.
• Make sure that your camera is compatible with any movie maker you are using. If the movie maker will not find your files, you might have to download a different software for movie making.

Warnings

• Doing this too long will cause a case of extreme boredom and you may feel frustrated. Give it a break after a sequence is completed if you feel this way and note down on paper where you have suspended the process so that when you come back, you know where to pick up from.
• Don't get discouraged if your video turns out to be very short. An hour's worth of work may turn into a 30 second video. It all depends on the frame per second rate. You can use anywhere from 6-30. the more frames per second, the smoother, but more time must be invested.
• Make sure to frequently save your video in case the program freezes or turns unresponsive. If you have to close your video in the middle of editing, don't worry. Note that Windows Movie Maker does have an automatic saving feature.
• Set your camera resolution low enough that your individual frames are not huge files. If you've already shot and each picture file is too big, you can reduce file sizes in batches in PhotoShop. Large file sizes for images are likely to overwhelm the computer's memory. Best to keep each frame close to half a MB unless you're using professional software.

Things You'll Need

• Digital camera
• Monopod or tripod; or try books, magazines to lean camera on
• Video editing software
• Figures and set materials