Basic Stop-Motion/Claymation Tutorial

For Windows

What You’ll Need:
First off you'll need either a digital video camera with a firewire cable or just a digital camera with a USB cable. You'll need the specific cord to hook it up to the PC. You'll also need clay, don't use playdoh as it's really soft and crumbles. I recommend using an oil-based clay called Belgrave if you can find it (only sold in Australia) otherwise a variety of other clays such as Claytoon, Van Aken and Sculpey III I've heard are fairly good, but it's really up to you as to what works best for what you need.
Next you will need frame capturing software to create your animations. I currently use Stop Motion Pro V6 HD (http://www.stopmotionpro.com), but it does cost quite a bit of money, so I recommend either using Monkeyjam (available from www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyjam) or Animator DV Simple (available from www.animatordv.com). Both these programs are free, however Animator DV has some more advanced controls which may come in handy while you are making your animations but can be difficult when trying to arrange the frames in your sequence.

Getting Started:
Now, hook up your camera to your pc using your firewire or USB cable and you should see a little notification of your camera being connected to your computer.
Next, if you are using Monkeyjam, open the program, press Ctrl+L to add a layer (where your frames will be stored) and click on the picture of a camera on the top menu bar and it will bring up the video capture screen. From here, you can play around with things such as image hold (how many frames per capture you want to be taken. For example, if you image hold 3 and then click capture it will create 3 pictures of the same frame, but I recommend you use 1 for optimal results).
If you are using Animator DV, open up the program and you will be presented with a menu asking which camera, project name etc you would like to use. Configure this according to your own setup and once you are done, click the Grab button to begin animating and begin a sequence within the folder you set up earlier. One useful tool on the capture toolbar is Onion Skinning (not available in Monkeyjam). This feature allows you to see an outline of the previous image(s) so you are able to better judge the movement required for the next frame in order to make the overall animation flow smoothly.
When you're done doing this, you can begin capturing by simply clicking the capture button, moving your characters, capturing again, moving some more, etc. until you're happy with your scene. If you haven't already done so, Choose what frame rate you want to work at by going to Settings --> FPS. I recommend starting at 15FPS and if you want to further the illusion, or the animation goes too slow you can increase it. I use 24 fps and you really don't need to go any higher than this but if you do you shouldn’t go any higher than 30.
When you've finished this, if using Monkeyjam click the movie reel picture up the top next to the camera and tv screen icon to export your movie as an .avi, which can be put straight onto Youtube or music/sound added through movie maker and there you have it! You're completed stop-motion animation using Monkeyjam!
If you’re using Animator DV right click on the sequence name in the toolbar on the right and select “make AVI”. Click “save file” and then click “save AVI” to begin processing the file. Once this is finished, you’re animation is finished! Again, you can upload music/sound through Movie Maker and put it up on Youtube, or wherever!

Useful Tips:
- Make sure you're in a well lit room. Otherwise, you're animation can become flickery which will detract from the overall quality of your animation.
- Turn on multiple image sampling (by clicking the orange rectangle in the video capture window if using Monkeyjam) and this will further reduce image fluctuation. If you are using Animator DV go to the toolbar at the top and click on Window è Frame Average.
- If you have a special effects program (I use Particle Illusion and Combustion) you can add cool effects like explosions to your movies or do chroma keying (green screening).

For Macs by Darth_Cow

This tutorial, is for Mac users who are beginning Claymation, or are unsure what programs are good for what type of animating. Personally, I use “Framed” Which is and effective way of putting a large amount of photos together and playing them at a certain frame speed.
Here is probably the Best 4 free Programs to use if you are a Macintosh user:

FRAMED: Can be downloaded from http://www.macupdate.com/info.php/id/10838/framed-x
Requires: A series of photos.
Description: It is a good program if you want to film in another location other than next to your computer with a web cam.

BOINX ISTOPMOTION: Can be downloaded from www.istopmotion.com
Requires: Either an Isight web cam, or a DV camera to be connected by firewire cable.
Description: Only a demo of this program can be downloaded for free. It is a good program for beginners as it has onion-skinning. It has a simple interface, which makes it easy to navigate through, aswell as many other handy features such as composting backgrounds (simple green-screening)

FRAME THIEF: Can be downloaded form www.framethief.com
Requires: Either an Isight web cam, or a DV camera to be connected by firewire cable.
Description: It is probably the most popular Mac animating program, as the demo doesn’t cut out many important features. Once again, frame thief has onion skinning, which is good for beginners who are learning. Another good feature included, is being enable to add music files into the series of photos.

IMOVIE: Requires: A series of photos.
Description: Finally, Imovie is probably what Mac users will first use as their animating program. It has the ability to play a series of photos at a certain speed measured by milliseconds, not by FPS. Its limit is around 15FPS roughly, which is good for beginners. I recommend this as your starting program, as titles, transitions and effects can be added to you movie when you are finished. Of course, its features are triumphant over Windows Movie maker, as it doesn’t lag as much.
Also, I made a breakthrough discovery a couple of days ago. This link http://www.stupendous-software.com/ is where you can download a free blue screening Plugin for Mac. It works well for me. (scroll down to “ the composting section and click on “demo”

Thanks for reading! Here are my overall ratings…
Framed: 8/10
Istopmotion: 7/10
Frame-Thief: 8/10
Imovie:9/10

If you have trouble with any of this, or need more detail on a particular section, check the forums and if it’s not there feel free to ask by sending me an email to forum@mamshmam.com or contact Darth_Cow for any problems regarding Macs

Special Thanks to Darth_Cow for contributing the Mac tutorial.

NOTE: THIS IS MAMSHMAMS TUTORIAL, I DID NOT CREATE IT.

Sources:

http://mamshmam.com/forums/
http://mamshmam.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=4

ooh, nice tutorial and thank you for crediting the creator, that gave me an idea.

another Idea!? LOL!

You have to give credit to the creator because it isnt nice if you dont and is practicly stealing.

i know, i thought i would make a rules post so that everybody is sure to do just that!

great idea!!!