While you're learning how to animate, you should probably check out some of my animation to see what you can do with Windows Movie Maker and iMove. :]
"Lego Alien Defense" This video was made in iMove, following the same process that I've outlined in earlier posts. Take a look!
Animated by Noah Master, 2011.
"Spam Police 3" This one was made in Windows Movie Maker.
Animated by Noah Master, 2009.
Yes, I'm aware this video is a piece of crap, I was very new to animation at the time. Ah, well, I've improved considerably.
If you enjoyed one of these videos, you can check out all kinds of awesome stuff I've made by clicking here--http://www.youtube.com/user/thecluegeek
Stay tuned for Stop Motion Howto Post #3, coming soon.
---Noah Master
Learn to make inanimate objects come to life!
Monday, November 28, 2011
Animation Howto Post #2-Putting Frames Together
Post #2
Alright, so you've got your first stop-motion pictures, and you'd like to see how they look playing at high speed on a computer.
So.....five easy steps, once again.
First, import your pictures onto your computer. It's probably a good idea to create a folder for your images to go into. Call the folder 'Animation 1' or something else deep and meaningful.
Second, open your video editing program. If you've got a Windows computer, open up a program called Windows Movie Maker (WMM for short) If you've got a Mac, open up a program called iMovie.
Third, click and drag all your photos into your editing software. On WMM, click 'Import', and find your files. On iMovie, open up a 'Finder' window and go to 'Animation 1's' folder. Open it, and select all the photos and drag them into iMovie's video bay.
Fourth, set all your pictures to 0.1 seconds long. In WMM, you'll need to go to and change the still duration to as low a photo length as it can, and on iMovie, you'll need to go to 'Clip Adjustments' on any photo in your group and check the box labeled 'Applies to all stills'. Then, click the still duration and change it to 0.1 seconds. With 'Applies to all stills' checked, iMovie will change every photo in your bay to one tenth of a second.
On WMM, you'll need to drag a box around all your images in the import bay, and drag them into the timeline.
Fifth, preview your video. Go to the first picture in either of the programs, and click play. Look what you've done! You just made a basic stop-motion animation.
We'll cover more details in the next post.
--Noah Master
Alright, so you've got your first stop-motion pictures, and you'd like to see how they look playing at high speed on a computer.
So.....five easy steps, once again.
First, import your pictures onto your computer. It's probably a good idea to create a folder for your images to go into. Call the folder 'Animation 1' or something else deep and meaningful.
Second, open your video editing program. If you've got a Windows computer, open up a program called Windows Movie Maker (WMM for short) If you've got a Mac, open up a program called iMovie.
Third, click and drag all your photos into your editing software. On WMM, click 'Import', and find your files. On iMovie, open up a 'Finder' window and go to 'Animation 1's' folder. Open it, and select all the photos and drag them into iMovie's video bay.
Fourth, set all your pictures to 0.1 seconds long. In WMM, you'll need to go to and change the still duration to as low a photo length as it can, and on iMovie, you'll need to go to 'Clip Adjustments' on any photo in your group and check the box labeled 'Applies to all stills'. Then, click the still duration and change it to 0.1 seconds. With 'Applies to all stills' checked, iMovie will change every photo in your bay to one tenth of a second.
On WMM, you'll need to drag a box around all your images in the import bay, and drag them into the timeline.
Fifth, preview your video. Go to the first picture in either of the programs, and click play. Look what you've done! You just made a basic stop-motion animation.
We'll cover more details in the next post.
--Noah Master
Saturday, November 26, 2011
Animation Post #1-Beginning
Post #1
Overview.
I'm sure many of you have seen the interesting new type of video which has exploded on Youtube and other video sharing websites---Brickfilm animation. The videos feature the small little plastic toys we all know and love--moving, talking, and messing around. Many people, specifically young boys and teenagers wonder--how does this work? How are the little toys moving as though alive?
The answer is this--stop motion animation.
This process is very simple and easy to do, all you need is a computer, a digital camera, and some video editing software. If you're using a Windows computer, you'll have Windows Movie Maker. If you're using a Mac computer (RIP Steve Jobs), you'll have a program called iMove.
With these three things, you too can bring inanimate objects to life in a very short time.
Here's how to get started in five easy steps: One, find something to set your camera in, to hold it still. This is crucial to the animation appearing to be moving. Two, get your object, and place it in view of the camera. I recommend starting off trying to animate something small and simple, such as a pencil, or a book. Figure out what you want the object to be doing, and then continue. Three, turn the camera on, and make sure everything is in the correct place where you want it, and then take the first picture. Four, move the object a tiny bit toward its destination. For example, if you wanted a book to appear that it was slowly crawling its way across a desktop, you would move it about an inch closer to its ending point. Five, take a picture, and then Repeat step 4.
Remember to not move the camera while doing these steps.
If you followed the directions correctly, you will have created a basic stop-motion animation. You may think the process is tedious, but the end product is very rewarding.
In the next post, I'll cover what to do with the pictures when you bring them onto your computer for editing.
---Noah Master
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