I was watching a short film on atomsfilms and the toys were moving. Itried it myself by moving the arms little by little and then editing my the frams that had my hands. If you wtach the starwasrs action figure short you will see the toys being animated at the same time. Help me out please.

BLue Saphire On this site was done with stopmotion, you might want to check that out or contact the guy who made it. Generally stop motion is done by filming 1 frame of your characters, then going in and moving each item a little bit, taking another frame of film, and so on (24 frames per second). Then when its played back they appear to move on their own, I assume you are just filming non stop then going back and trying to cut it all together in an editing program? You could do it that way i guess.In that case, you would turn the camera on and leave it running with your characters in front. Move the parts you want, then stand back for a few seconds, go back and move them again, etc. Then when editing you would just take 1-2 frames of the set w/o your hands, then jump to after youved moved them again, and keep 1-2 frames w/o your hands. When all those individual frames are put together the characters should move on their own.

animateclay.com and rondexter.com have some info on this kinda thing

I know a good deal about stop motion, because my brother is doing a huge stop motion project.

First, you might want to rent some of the Wallace and Gromit DVDs, and watch the special features, to see how the pros do it.

There are two "cheap" ways to do it.

1) Use your camcorder and a stop motion capture program (I think premiere has one built in.) Basically, you hook up your camera to the computer, and then the stopmotion app shows you your last frame, overlaid on the current live feed. You adjust the characters until the right amount of movement has been achieved, and then capture another frame.

2) The advanced cheap way. Hook up a digital still camera with a big memory card, lots of battery power and a live video out plug (not all have this.) Attach the live video out to a analog capture box such as a PYRO D/V, attach that to your computer and run the stopmotion app as before. Use the video feed to get a rough preview, but capture the frames on the camera too. Compile the frames from the digicam later, for a highres, higher quality movie.

adding to titanium's cheap was:

use a webcam, most come with a capture program that you can use. i used to do some that way.

i have a similar question.

does anyone know what kind of clay or modeling things they use? i tried using clay, but it kind of melts under the lights.

So does the clay my brother uses. The secrets of claymation are closely guarded, no one seems to be able to say about things like that. If they figure it out, I'll post here. They're considering writing a book, cause there don't seem to be any!

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Originally posted by alex c:
i have a similar question.

does anyone know what kind of clay or modeling things they use? i tried using clay, but it kind of melts under the lights.

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I have the answer in a book I have around my house somewhere... Ill go search for it and tell you the answer

I just want to say that Wallace and Gromit rule.

When I was in the video store the other day the TVs were playing a documentary/promo for a theatrical Wallace and Gromit projct! Big screen Wallace and Gromit!

Big Screen Wallace and Gromit! I'll pay to see that! That's awesome!


Also, check your video cameras for a frame capture feature. Mine has one and all I do is hit record and it stops itself automatically, its really handy. And mines a cheap Sony Digital 8 cam, so I'm sure many other cameras have it to.

No luck finding the book... but I do remember that movies like "Chicken Run" and "Wallace and Gromit" use a type of clay called plasticine. It sells for about $3.50 a pound. Im not sure if they mix something in with the plasticine or not.

awh, ok brain. i have been too bored of doing straight live action narratives. i thought doing stop motion animation would be a fun change. thanks for the help

brain is correct, Plasticine is generally the most used for puppets that youre going to be physically changing (ie wallace and gromit). My local Aaron brothers art mart sells teh "van aken" plasticine. stuff like Nightmare before christmas is done with premade individual heads, probobly made from sculpy).
At the bottom of this page is a comparison of different kinds of clay. Also, I have this book and its pretty informative, lots of picutures and examples. Check your library they might have a few books that touch on it (animation section)

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Originally posted by titaniumdoughnut:
When I was in the video store the other day the TVs were playing a documentary/promo for a theatrical Wallace and Gromit projct! Big screen Wallace and Gromit!

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weren't they all theatrically released?

From the way the narrator was talking I got the idea they were not, and this was going to be a big thing.

I don't think they were. They aren't that long. Maube in Britain they were.

im fairly certain that it was on british television for a while. my best guess is that they were tv specials. if anything, maybe one theatrical movie came out.

anyone here from the UK able to fill us in?

Yeah, they're not real long. They must have had limited theatrical release in Britain, and been shown on TV a few times. That guy who makes them is the luckiest guy, every single movie he makes, he bags the Oscar!

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Originally posted by gonzoish79:
I was watching a short film on atomsfilms and the toys were moving. Itried it myself by moving the arms little by little and then editing my the frams that had my hands. If you wtach the starwasrs action figure short you will see the toys being animated at the same time. Help me out please.

We made a fue stop motion shorts on www.tedeadventures.com we used toys, and a girl made one for the contest we have there and she did hers the same way we did, we just used a sonyhandy cam and put it on a trypod and used the remote, hit rec and count to 4 and stop, and move the toy just a little this worked great, and took the pain out of editing.