Stop Motion Software

10/31/2019 admin

IKITMovie is a unique piece of stop motion animation maker software. It’s a favorite LEGO Animation Creator and CLAYMATION maker amongst schools and hobbyist around the world. No other animation software has 2, 200 sound effects built in for you to use in your stop motion movies. Nov 29, 1947 Get Stop Motion Studio, the world’s easiest app to get you into stop motion moviemaking today! Want to create movies like Wallace and Gromit or those groovy Lego shorts on YouTube? Then this is the app you’ve got to add to your collection. Create beautiful stop motion animated movies anywhere instantly on your device. Best Professional Stop Motion Software: Dragonframe One of the leading frame-grabbing software is Dragonframe, which is ideal for stop motion animation as well as time-lapse photography. With a supported digital camera’s live view, animators get video assist tools with Dragonframe and this turns into the main hub for capturing and organizing your camera’s high-resolution frames. Dragonframe is the industry standard stop motion animation software. Discover why it is the choice of major movie studios and independent filmmakers. Skip to content. Stop Motion Pro is an application specially for windows platform. This software is used for professional and higher level or advanced level of clay animation, stop motion animation, cut out animation and pixilation. Dragonframe is the industry standard stop motion animation software. Discover why it is the choice of major movie studios and independent filmmakers. Skip to content.

Lego Stop Motion Software
Stop Motion Software For Pc Free
Free Stop Motion Software
Stop Motion Software Dragon
Stop Motion Studio

Stop motion is the way of creating animation movies by way of physically manipulating the objects to appear it as it is moving. In this technique, the object is moved small increments between individually photographed frames, generating the illusion of movement when these separate series of frames are played in a continuous format. Most of the stop motion movies involve the figures or model, but it is not necessary as now the stop motion films can include using humans and other products as well. Stop motion us much similar to the object animation. If you are interested in creating stop motion movies or clips, then arrange a PC, digital computer, and a stop motion software, and you are on your way. The software listed below will make you able to do anything in your stop motion animation subject to your animation. Some of these have limited features and functions while some are capable in delivering an advanced level of functionalities. These will deliver you many ways to quickly go about shooting, editing and finalizing a stop motion short. Some of the programs listed below will make you able to go for even 3D animation and used them as a previsualization tool in the film production as well. Scroll down for the list of stop motion animation platform for the professional and advanced level of clay animation, stop motion animation, pixelation and cut out animation.

Free

How to Add Stop Motion Animation to Your Videos What Is Stop Motion Animation? With the gift of stop motion animation, you are able to see a fluid presentation of an animated film, video or commercial. You often have no idea of the countless hours and staff involved behind the scenes to move each character step-by-step and frame-by-frame.

1. StopMojo

StopMojo is a cross-platform stop animation tool designed to assist the filmmakers in creating the stop motion animations. This software is capable of capturing program supporting capture of image files from various cameras and video capturing devices. The onion skinning system will make you able to get the overlay of previous frames. After the completion of the project, you can export the final movie into QuickTime and AVI video formats. The ultimate function of StopMojo is to make you able to create the stop motion movies in the best way. It is based on the system of capturing individual frames and create/edit exposure sheets for audio synchronization. For the information of the readers, StopMojo doesn’t support for the general video editing packing like Adobe Premiere and other related programs. It only provides the platform to capture stop motion scenes that you can then import into a video editing program to compile it into a movie. The features available in the recent version of the StopMojo are cross platform and available for all leading platforms, supports the standard video capture devices/webcams/video capture cards/DV Firewire cameras, live view previous frame overlay with adjustable alpha, grid overlay, a quick preview of captured frames, and much more. Some features of advanced editing, the creation of x-sheets, analysis of recorded audio/lip, and rotoscoping are missing in the StopMojo.

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2. iKITMovie

iKITMovie is a high-tech stop motion software by using which you can easily create the Claymation and LEGO stop motion movies for the Windows system. By using this, you can create the stop motion and Claymation movies. The best about iKITMovie is that it is for both professionals and beginners. If you want to create animation movies but are not familiar with the way of doing this, then iKITMovie is a platform to start with. For the beginners, there is a proper guideline to stop motion for the beginners. iKITMovie is suitable for all ages and is very easy to use. It is ideas for making brickfilms, Claymation or any other type of cartoon animation or stops motion for that matter. iKITMovie is the name of the unique custom built sound engine that you will not find in other animation programs with thousands of sounds effects and background music tracks to go for creating high-quality animations. The latest version of iKITMovie now includes the green screen system as w4ell with a new level of creativity making you able to replace your backgrounds with still or moving images. The great selection of overlay features will allow you to add muzzle flashes, explosions, fire, smoke, snow and much more. That means there is no dependency on the external work as everything is integrated into the iKITMovie.

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3. AnimatorHD

AnimatorHD is an ultra-modern and high-tech 3D stop animation platform for Windows operating systems only. In addition to 3D stop-motion animation, this program can also be used as a previsualization tool in the film production as well. Means you can say it a multifunctional stop animation platform. From a straightforward interface to easy navigation and best support for all projects, AnimatorHD is the name of a high-quality stop-motion platform by using which you can take the advantages of frame grabbing and time lapse animation on a single platform as well. It makes its developers and filmmakers able to create stereoscopic 3D movies by way of motion control system of this program. As we mentioned it already, filmmakers can use it for previsualization tool as well. For the better prosecution of the work the system supported by the AnimatorHD are digital still cameras (Canon, Nikon Live View), 35 mm and 16 mm cameras, all HD cams, Betacam SP/SDI, HDMI, DV, USB capture devices, webcams, VIVO graphics cards and all other type of analog sources. If talk about the features of the AnimatorHD then these are also outclassed and include 3D stereo live preview/playback, full support for Canon/Nikon Live View, advanced frames, AVI movie export, variants, multi-exposure and automatic bracketing for digital still cameras, multi-exposure for video feed, open project window, enhanced audio scope, etc.

Free

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4. CellSoft Take5

CellSoft Take5 is a simple to use and a highly affordable stop motion animation program for both individual and professional purposes. It is designed to assist both educational institutes and professional filmmakers in creating the professional stop animation movies. The process of creating animation start from capturing the images from any webcam or video cameras then instantly playing them as an animation. Now you can change the order and sequence of the frames. CellSoft Take5 is used for multiple purposes like producing the plasticine, stop motion films with clay, Lego figures and puppets. It can be used for making the cut-out, paper, sand and oil paint animations. The usage of CellSoft Take5 is not restricted to the education sector only; rather it can be used for workshops and animation studios and professional animators as a production tool. It is used by the filmmakers to create their favorite objects and figures come alive. Capture images from video cameras/webcam, edit the order and timing of scene, play and inspect the scene and in the end save the scene to disk. For the assistance of the users, CellSoft Take5 provide the options for manage media, capture media, edit scene and play scene. There is no cost of using the CellSoft Take5 at all. All you required to have a minimum computing knowledge to use this software. Using CellSoft Take5 is mostly about moving figures in front of a camera rather than working with computer.

Free

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5. Linux Stopmotion

Linux Stopmotion is a dedicated stop motion platform for the Linux operating system for creating the both stop motion animation and Claymation animation movies. Being an open source stop motion animation platform, Linux Stopmotion makes its users able to change the code of origin to create the stop motion animations in their own way. It will assist you to capture and edit the frames from your animation and export them as a single file. Capture, editing, and export are the three technical features of the Linux Stopmotion that further cascades into dozens of other features and functions. The exceptional about Linux Stopmotion is that it is said as the most flexible frame grabbers for Linux system, so it easily supports for the different export and capture tools. For the same reason, Linux Stopmotion is being used to experiment advanced grabbing. There are some limitations on using Linux Stopmotion. You are advised not to use Unity as a desktop environment in order to start with Linux Stopmotion. Some of the functions and features of the Linux Stopmotion are capture animation from any web cam, capture from both MiniDV & DSLR cameras, onion skinning system, import images from disk, time-lapse photography system, best editing systems, support for multiple scenes, frame editing, basic soundtrack, integration for GIMP for image processing, and export file to Cinelerra frame list.

Free

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6. FrameByFrame

FrameByFrame is a stop motion movie production software for the Mac OS X operating systems that will make you able to create the QuickTime movies from pictures that you have already taken from the webcam and cameras connected to your Mac device. There is an integrated iSight cameras system in the FrameByFrame. The easy to use and user friendly interface of FrameByFrame has made the stop motion movie production made easy. FrameByFrame will make you able to first stop animation in few seconds using any camera or webcam already connected to your PC. After creating the movie you can export it into QuickTime formats only. The native software system of FrameByFrame will keep the original pictures making you able to apply any post production you can imagine. The recent version of FrameByFrame contains more improved features that will make you able to produce proper movies for images of any resolution. That means you are no longer restricted to using 72 dpi images. In short, FrameByFrame has made the stop-motion animation making simply easy and simple.

Free

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7. Stop Motion Animator

Stop Motion Animator is an easy to use animation program that can be used to bring any animated characters to life with the minimal amount of work. This program is particularly designed for creating the stop motion animation. It is intended to work with any video for Windows PC compatible capture devices. Like web cameras, analog video cameras and digital video cameras. The camera can be connected to a computer that has a dedicated capture card or a USB port. For the information of the readers, Stop Motion Animator is not designed to work with scanners, digital still cameras, and other Twain devices. This program makes the users able to build stop-motion animations easily by recordings or grabbing, a single video frame from a video capture device. In order to give the user better control over animations, Stop Motion Animator also allows the users to do something impossible with film; like the user can play through all of the previously recorded frames before grabbing the next, the user can also jump sound between different frames to compare them before grabbing the next and on some computer systems, the live video from the camera can be superimposed over a previously captured frame. To make it easier to see the video input when lining up shots, the program allows the user to resize the video viewing windows to any size wanted, without altering the underlying capture resolution.

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8. Frames

Frames is a multi-platform software that works as both stop-motion animation and digital storytelling software. Frames is designed for both professionals and beginners to create the stop motion animation, Claymation and digital storytelling in a very easy to use style. The best usage of Frames is in the education sector to reshape the designing and creative skills of the students. It will make you able to create the original cartoons. It will make you able to create yours memorable as it combines illustration and stop motion tools into an easy to use animation package. As it supports for almost all leading cameras, so it will be easy for you to capture images from webcams or any HD camera. You can even import the entire image folders from digital cameras or your PC as well. Frames is combined with the functions of the onion skin, time lapse and Chrome key making it simple for you to create stop motion animation. Multiple soundtracks, background music, sound effects and narration will make you able to create animated cartoons in a snap. The features enlisted at the Frames are group frames into scenes, match frame & audio duration’s system, Chroma key images, capture images with time lapse, illustrate your own characters, pan & zoom images, etc.

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9. Zu3D

Zu3D is a best in the class stop animation software specially designed for educating the children. The best place for using the Zu3D is the educational sector. It can also be used for commercial purposes but is not capable of handling the mega production projects. This easy to use stop motion software make its users able to create complete movies and learn the animation techniques in the step by step guideline system. Based on the fine mixture of powerful features and an intuitive interface, Zu3D is the name of an entertaining software. As it is for education purposes, Zu3D is complete with a library sound, music, artwork, and effects. The support for high-quality webcam will make you able to get a sturdy adjustable stand. The green screen system will provide fabric to create your own green studio. Check out some stunning features and functions of the Zu3D are works with any webcam that can be support by your PC< watch file at any time with instant playback system, dynamically adjustable frame rate, delete frames, full editing options, import music and sounds automatic Chroma-keying, time lapse and much more. In short it will deliver you all those features and functions that will make you able to create a stunning and professional level of the project.

Free

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10. MonkeyJam

MonkeyJam is a multiplatform and multifunctional stop motion software for creating all kind of stop animation program. It will make you able to capture images from any camcorder, webcam or a scanner and then assemble them as separate frames to create the animation. Simply use the images of your PC or take the new one with the supported cameras and start creating the animations instantly. Means it is just like 1, 2 and 3. MonkeyJam aims to deliver the work based on pencil and paper and can also be used for stop motion animation. It is capable of doing all because of having several features to do so. Well, the stop motion animation created by you can be export as AVI format as well. Four main features of MonkeyJam are about X-sheet, capture, preview and stop motion mode. It will deliver you the exposure sheet driven interface, save and reload x-sheets, up to then levels of drawings and multi-language support. In term of supporting the cameras, MonkeyJam has a much featured rich compatibility. It will make you able to use any webcam, camera, firewire and VFW capture to capture the stop motion animation. It will also allow you to capture images as lossless PNG, BMP, and JPEG in black and white and color options.

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11. Stop Motion Pro Eclipse

Stop Motion Pro Eclipse is designed for the education sectors, animators and animation producers to create the stop motion animation in a more comprehensive and easy to use way. Stop Motion Pro Eclipse is not about capturing the frames of animation only but it has a proper audio scrubbing and Chroma key system as well. The current version of Stop Motion Pro Eclipse available for Windows PC only. Stop Motion Pro Eclipse is packed with the great features that are smooth playback at up to thirty frames/second, track & pan movement with markers, capture multiple frames with one click, customizable shortcuts, support for multiple cameras, audio recording while playing back animation, advanced project management tools, and thumbnail editor. Check out what you can do by using the Stop Motion Pro Eclipse; move puppets with precision, onion skinning system for better moving, assign voice to each character with lip sync tools, layer sound effects with dialogue or music while animated by way of multi-tack audio editor, fly the characters through the air with the rig removal tool and freedom to import images and videos into their animation. Stop Motion Pro Eclipse is an easy to use and very intuitive stop motion animation platform for both beginners and seasoned professional looking a platform to create stop motion movies.

Free

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12. qStopMotion

qStopMotion is a free platform for creating the free stop-motion animated movies. If you have the best idea and storyline, then qStopMotion will assist you in creating a perfect one stop-motion animation movie. The free version of qStopMotion is available for Windows operating systems. Various improvements have been made in the latest version of qStopMotion that are about a new style website, better camera control system, and native grabber. All these are going to make you able to develop the stop motions easily from your picture imported from hard drive or directly from camera and export in the animation style to different video formats. Currently, the formats supported by qStopMotion to create stop motion movies are MPEG and .AVI. The exceptional about qStopMotion is that it is integrated with all those items and tools that will reduce your dependency on the external tools as it has replaced all these with Qt functionality. qStopMotion is the best way to represent yourself in the form of a picture that is probably better than a thousand more words and a high-class movie. The interface of the qStopMotion is very straightforward containing very limited but basic options. These tools and options are about recording, camera, and camera. Anytime you can switch between recording and project.

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13. Stop Motion Pro

Designed for the Windows PC only, Stop Motion Pro is the name of a stop motion animation platform for the professional and advanced level of clay animation, stop motion animation, pixelation and cut out animation. For its stunning features and functions, Stop Motion Pro is said to be a stop motion animation is a platform designed for handling the mega animation production projects. Well, it will surely do it for you. Just connect your webcam or any digital camera with the PC and start-stop motion animation. Don’t worry about the compatibility; all most all video and web cameras are compatible with the Stop Motion Pro. Dedicated ninjas, ceramic puppets, Wallace & Gromit, charcoal and paper and whatever you want to create, right here is the Stop Motion Pro making you able to get command and control to create even beyond these. Control focus, zoom system, exposure and a great selection for webcams, all will make you able to come with your cameras only and leave the rest on the Stop Motion Pro. As we know both webcams and cameras are ideal for starting with stop motion animation they are robust and easy to use and perfect for schools. If you are using a camera with face tracking function, then Stop Motion Pro will be a great help for you.

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14. iStopMotion

iStopMotion is a dedicated stop motion platform for the Mac OS X operating systems for creating the both time lapse and stop motion animations. The latest version of iStopMotion support for the Nikon and Canon DSLRs that are said to be one of the most popular cameras for stop motion animation. Among a lot of features and functions, the best about iStopMotion is that it has a live preview with the semitransparent onion skinning effects that would make you able to check what your next step would look like before actually capturing the frame. By having a professional and ultra-modern DSLR, you can get the best stop motion. There is a live preview system in the iStopMotion for the selected Canon and Nikon DSLR cameras only. Some of the key features and functions of the iStopMotion are onion skinning, instant playback. Time-lapse system, flipbook printing, tilt-shift filter, Chrome keying, foregrounds, rotoscope, sound waveform, animated GIF, screen capture, sharing, iStopMotion Remote camera, editing and support for multiple cameras and much more. If you have not any professional camera then you can use the camera of your iDevices as well. That system of iStopMotion support for the remote camera system as well and transmit a live video feed via Wi-Fi and support for the high resolution capturing as well.

A clay model of a chicken, designed to be used in a clay stop motion animation.

Stop motion is an animatedfilmmaking technique in which objects are physically manipulated in small increments between individually photographed frames so that they will appear to exhibit independent motion when the series of frames is played back as a slow sequence. Objects with movable joints or clay figures are often used in stop motion for their ease of repositioning. Stop-motion animation using plasticine figures is called clay animation or 'clay-mation'. Not all stop motion, however, requires figures or models: stop-motion films can also be made using humans, household appliances, and other objects, usually for comedic effect. Stop motion using humans is sometimes referred to as pixilation.

2History
3Variations of stop motion

Terminology[edit]

The term 'stop motion,' relating to the animation technique, is often spelled with a hyphen as 'stop-motion.' Both orthographical variants, with and without the hyphen, are correct, but the hyphenated one has a second meaning that is unrelated to animation or cinema: 'a device for automatically stopping a machine or engine when something has gone wrong' (The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, 1993 edition).^[1]

Stop motion should not be confused with the time-lapse technique in which still photographs of a live scene are taken at regular intervals and then combined to make a continuous film. Time lapse is a technique whereby the frequency at which film frames are captured is much lower than that used to view the sequence. When played at normal speed, time appears to be moving faster.

History[edit]

The Sculptor's Nightmare

Segment from the 1925 film The Lost World animated by Willis O'Brien in 1925

Stop-motion animation has a long history in film. Originally, it was often used to show objects moving as if by magic.

The first instance of the stop-motion technique can be credited to Albert E. Smith and J. Stuart Blackton for Vitagraph's The Humpty Dumpty Circus (1897), in which a toy circus of acrobats and animals comes to life.^[2]

In 1902, the film Fun in a Bakery Shop used the stop trick technique in the 'lightning sculpting' sequence.

French trick film maestro Georges Méliès used stop-motion animation once to produce moving title-card letters in one of his short films, and a number of his special effects are based on stop-motion photography.

In 1907, The Haunted Hotel was released by J. Stuart Blackton, and was a resounding success. Segundo de Chomón (1871–1929), from Spain, released El Hotel Eléctrico later that same year, and used similar techniques as the Blackton film. In 1908, A Sculptor's Welsh Rarebit Nightmare was released, as was The Sculptor's Nightmare, a film by Billy Bitzer. Italian animator Roméo Bossetti impressed audiences with his object animation tour-de-force, The Automatic Moving Company in 1912.

Influenced by Émile Cohl, the author of the first puppet-animated film (i.e., The Beautiful Lukanida (1912)), Russian-born (ethnically Polish) director Wladyslaw Starewicz (1892–1965), started to create stop motion films using dead insects with wire limbs and later, in France, with complex and really expressive puppets. Early works included The Beautiful Lukanida (1910), The Battle of the Stag Beetles (1910), and The Ant and the Grasshopper (1911).The Cameraman's Revenge (1912) is a complex tale of treason and violence between several different insects. It is a pioneer work of puppet animation, and the oldest animated film of such dramatic complexity, with characters filled with motivation, desire and feelings.

One of the earliest clay animation films was Modelling Extraordinary, which impressed audiences in 1912. December 1916 brought the first of Willie Hopkins' 54 episodes of 'Miracles in Mud' to the big screen. Also in December 1916, the first woman animator, Helena Smith Dayton, began experimenting with clay stop motion. She would release her first film in 1917, an adaptation of William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet.

Stop motion animation was also commonly used for special effects work in many live-action films, such as the 1914 Italian cult epic film Cabiria.

Willis O' Brien (known by friends as O'bie) did much pioneering work animating sequences for The Lost World (1925). His animation of the big ape in King Kong (1933) is widely regarded as a milestone in stop-motion animation.

O'Brien's protege and eventual successor in Hollywood was Ray Harryhausen. After learning under O'Brien on the film Mighty Joe Young (1949), Harryhausen would go on to create the effects for a string of successful and memorable films over the next three decades. These included The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953), It Came from Beneath the Sea (1955), Jason and the Argonauts (1963), The Golden Voyage of Sinbad (1973) and Clash of the Titans (1981).

In a 1940 promotional film, Autolite, an automotive parts supplier, featured stop-motion animation of its products marching past Autolite factories to the tune of Franz Schubert's Military March. An abbreviated version of this sequence was later used in television ads for Autolite, especially those on the 1950s CBS program Suspense, which Autolite sponsored.

1960s and 1970s[edit]

In the 1960s and 1970s, independent clay animator Eliot Noyes Jr. refined the technique of 'free-form' clay animation with his Oscar-nominated 1965 film Clay (or the Origin of Species). Noyes also used stop motion to animate sand lying on glass for his musical animated film Sandman (1975).

Stop motion was used by Rankin/Bass Productions on some of their television programs and feature films including The New Adventures of Pinocchio (1960–1961), Willy McBean and his Magic Machine (1963, 1965) and most notably seasonal/holiday favorites like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964), Mad Monster Party? (1966, 1967), The Little Drummer Boy (1968), Santa Claus is Comin' to Town (1970) and Here Comes Peter Cottontail (1971). Under the name of 'Animagic', the stop-motion works of Rankin/Bass were supervised by Tadahito Mochinaga at his MOM Production in Tokyo, Japan.

In 1975, filmmaker and clay animation experimenter Will Vinton joined with sculptor Bob Gardiner to create an experimental film called Closed Mondays which became the world's first stop-motion film to win an Oscar. Will Vinton followed with several other successful short film experiments including The Great Cognito, Creation, and Rip Van Winkle which were each nominated for Academy Awards. In 1977, Vinton made a documentary about this process and his style of animation which he dubbed 'claymation'; he titled the documentary Claymation. Soon after this documentary, the term was trademarked by Vinton to differentiate his team's work from others who had been, or were beginning to do, 'clay animation'. While the word has stuck and is often used to describe clay animation and stop motion, it remains a trademark owned currently by Laika Entertainment, Inc. Twenty clay-animation episodes featuring the clown Mr. Bill were a feature of Saturday Night Live, starting from a first appearance in February 1976.

At very much the same time in the UK, Peter Lord and David Sproxton formed Aardman Animations. In 1976 they created the character Morph who appeared as an animated side-kick to the TV presenter Tony Hart on his BBC TV programme Take Hart. The five-inch-high presenter was made from a traditional British modelling clay called Plasticine. In 1977 they started on a series of animated films, again using modelling clay, but this time made for a more adult audience. The soundtrack for Down and Out was recorded in a Salvation Army Hostel and Plasticine puppets were animated to dramatise the dialogue. A second film, also for the BBC followed in 1978. A TV series The Amazing Adventures of Morph was aired in 1980.

Sand-coated puppet animation was used in the Oscar-winning 1977 film The Sand Castle, produced by Dutch-Canadian animator Co Hoedeman. Hoedeman was one of dozens of animators sheltered by the National Film Board of Canada, a Canadian government film arts agency that had supported animators for decades. A pioneer of refined multiple stop-motion films under the NFB banner was Norman McLaren, who brought in many other animators to create their own creatively controlled films. Notable among these are the pinscreen animation films of Jacques Drouin, made with the original pinscreen donated by Alexandre Alexeieff and Claire Parker.

Italian stop-motion films include Quaq Quao (1978), by Francesco Misseri, which was stop motion with origami, The Red and the Blue and the clay animation kittens Mio and Mao. Other European productions included a stop-motion-animated series of Tove Jansson's The Moomins (from 1979, often referred to as 'The Fuzzy Felt Moomins'), produced by Film Polski and Jupiter Films.

One of the main British Animation teams, John Hardwick and Bob Bura, were the main animators in many early British TV shows, and are famous for their work on the Trumptonshire trilogy.

Disney experimented with several stop-motion techniques by hiring independent animator-director Mike Jittlov to make the first stop-motion animation of Mickey Mouse toys ever produced, in a short sequence called Mouse Mania, part of a TV special, Mickey's 50, which commemorated Mickey's 50th anniversary in 1978. Jittlov again produced some impressive multi-technique stop-motion animation a year later for a 1979 Disney special promoting their release of the feature film The Black Hole. Titled Major Effects, Jittlov's work stood out as the best part of the special. Jittlov released his footage the following year to 16mm film collectors as a short film titled The Wizard of Speed and Time, along with four of his other short multi-technique animated films, most of which eventually evolved into his own feature-length film of the same title. Effectively demonstrating almost all animation techniques, as well as how he produced them, the film was released to theaters in 1987 and to video in 1989.

1980s to present[edit]

Stefano Bessoni, Italian filmmaker, illustrator and stop-motion animator working on Gallows Songs (2014)

In the 1970s and 1980s, Industrial Light & Magic often used stop-motion model animation in such films as the original Star Wars trilogy: the chess sequence in Star Wars, the Tauntauns and AT-AT walkers in The Empire Strikes Back, and the AT-ST walkers in Return of the Jedi were all filmed using stop-motion animation, with the latter two films utilising go motion: an invention from renowned visual effects veteran Phil Tippett. The many shots including the ghosts in Raiders of the Lost Ark and the first two feature films in the RoboCop series use Tippett's go motion.

In the UK, Aardman Animations continued to grow. Channel 4 funded a new series of clay animated films, Conversation Pieces, using recorded soundtracks of real people talking. A further series in 1986, called Lip Sync, premiered the work of Richard Goleszowski (Ident), Barry Purves (Next), and Nick Park (Creature Comforts), as well as further films by Sproxton and Lord. Creature Comforts won the Oscar for Best Animated Short in 1990.

In 1980, Marc Paul Chinoy directed the 1st feature-length clay animated film, based on the famous Pogo comic strip. Avatar the game for pc. Titled I go Pogo. It was aired a few times on American cable channels but has yet to be commercially released. Primarily clay, some characters required armatures, and walk cycles used pre-sculpted hard bases legs.^{[citation needed]}

Stop motion was also used for some shots of the final sequence of Terminator movie, also for the scenes of the small alien ships in Spielberg's Batteries Not Included in 1987, animated by David W. Allen. Allen's stop-motion work can also be seen in such feature films as The Crater Lake Monster (1977), Q - The Winged Serpent (1982), The Gate (1987) and Freaked (1993). Allen's King Kong Volkswagen commercial from the 1970s is now legendary among model animation enthusiasts.

In 1985, Will Vinton and his team released an ambitious feature film in stop motion called 'The Adventures Of Mark Twain' based on the life and works of the famous American author. While the film may have been a little sophisticated for young audiences at the time, it got rave reviews from critics and adults in general.^{[citation needed]} Vinton's team also created the Nomes and the Nome King for Disney's 'Return to Oz' feature, for which they received an Academy Award Nomination for Special Visual Effects. In the 80's and early 90's, Will Vinton became very well known for his commercial work as well with stop-motion campaigns including The California Raisins.

Of note are the films of Czech filmmaker Jan Švankmajer, which mix stop motion and live actors. These include Alice, an adaptation of Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, and Faust, a rendition of the legend of the German scholar. The Czech school is also illustrated by the series Pat & Mat (1979–present). Created by Lubomír Beneš and Vladimír Jiránek, and it was wildly popular in a number of countries.

Since the general animation renaissance headlined by the likes of An American Tail, The Land Before Time and Who Framed Roger Rabbit at the end of the 1980s and the beginning of the 1990s, there have been an increasing number of traditional stop-motion feature films, despite advancements with computer animation. The Nightmare Before Christmas, directed by Henry Selick and produced by Tim Burton, was one of the more widely released stop-motion features and become the highest grossing stop-motion animated movie of its time, grossing over $50 million domestic. Henry Selick also went on to direct James and the Giant Peach and Coraline, and Tim Burton went on to direct Corpse Bride and Frankenweenie.

In 1999, Will Vinton launched the first prime-time stop-motion television series called The PJs, co-created by actor-comedian Eddie Murphy. The Emmy-winning sitcom aired on Fox for two seasons, then moved to the WB for an additional season. Vinton launched another series, Gary & Mike, for UPN in 2001.

Another individual who found fame in clay animation is Nick Park, who created the characters Wallace and Gromit. In addition to a series of award-winning shorts and featurettes, he won the Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for the feature-length outing Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit. Chicken Run, to date, is the highest grossing stop motion animated movie ever grossing nearly $225 million worldwide.

The BBC commissioned thirteen episodes of stop frame animated Summerton Mill in 2004 as inserts into their flagship pre-school program, Tikkabilla. Created and produced by Pete Bryden and Ed Cookson, the series was then given its own slot on BBC1 and BBC2 and has been broadcast extensively around the world.

Other notable stop-motion feature films released since 1990 include The Secret Adventures of Tom Thumb (1993), Fantastic Mr. Fox and $9.99, both released in 2009, and Anomalisa (2015). As of 2019, stop motion is thriving even in a filmmaking world dominated by CGI despite the efforts needed by the animators.^[3]

Variations of stop motion[edit]

Cutout animation[edit]

Cutout animation is a variant of stop-motion animation that utilises flat materials such as paper, fabrics and photographs in its production, producing a 2D animation as a result. Prominent examples of cutout animation include the early episodes of South Park, and the Charley Says series of British public information films.

Clay animation[edit]

Uses animated clay figures.

Stereoscopic stop motion[edit]

Stop motion has very rarely been shot in stereoscopic3D throughout film history. The first 3D stop-motion short was In Tune With Tomorrow (also known as Motor Rhythm), made in 1939 by John Norling. The second stereoscopic stop-motion release was The Adventures of Sam Space in 1955 by Paul Sprunck. The third and latest stop motion short in stereo 3D was The Incredible Invasion of the 20,000 Giant Robots from Outer Space in 2000 by Elmer Kaan^[4] and Alexander Lentjes.^[5]^[6] This is also the first ever 3D stereoscopic stop motion and CGI short in the history of film. The first all stop-motion 3D feature is Coraline (2009), based on Neil Gaiman's best-selling novel and directed by Henry Selick.Another recent example is the Nintendo 3DS video software which comes with the option for Stop Motion videos. This has been released December 8, 2011 as a 3DS system update. Also, the movie ParaNorman is in 3D stop motion.

Go motion[edit]

Another more complicated variation on stop motion is go motion, co-developed by Phil Tippett and first used on the films The Empire Strikes Back (1980), Dragonslayer (1981), and the RoboCop films. Go motion involved programming a computer to move parts of a model slightly during each exposure of each frame of film, combined with traditional hand manipulation of the model in between frames, to produce a more realistic motion blurring effect. Tippett also used the process extensively in his 1984 short film Prehistoric Beast, a 10 minutes long sequence depicting a herbivorous dinosaur (Monoclonius), being chased by a carnivorous one (Tyrannosaurus). With new footage Prehistoric Beast became Dinosaur! in 1985, a full-length dinosaurs documentary hosted by Christopher Reeve. Those Phil Tippett's go motion tests acted as motion models for his first photo-realistic use of computers to depict dinosaurs in Jurassic Park in 1993. A low-tech, manual version of this blurring technique was originally pioneered by Wladyslaw Starewicz in the silent era, and was used in his feature film The Tale of the Fox (1931).

Comparison to computer-generated imagery[edit]

Lego Stop Motion Software

Reasons for using stop motion instead of the more advanced computer-generated imagery (CGI) include the low entry price and the appeal of its distinct look. It is now mostly used in children's programming, in commercials and some comic shows such as Robot Chicken. Another merit of stop motion is that it legitimately displays actual real-life textures, as CGI texturing is more artificial, therefore not quite as close to realism. This is appreciated by a number of animation directors, such as Tim Burton, Henry Selick, Wes Anderson, and Travis Knight.

Stop motion in television and movies[edit]

Dominating children's TV stop-motion programming for three decades in America was Art Clokey's Gumby series (1955–1989) and its feature film, Gumby I (1992, 1995), using both freeform and character clay animation. Clokey started his adventures in clay with a 1953 freeform clay short film called Gumbasia (1953) which shortly thereafter propelled him into his more structured Gumby TV series. In partnership with the United Lutheran Church in America, he also produces Davey and Goliath (1960–2004).

In November 1959, the first episode of Sandmännchen was shown on East German television, a children's show that had Cold Warpropaganda as its primary function. New episodes, minus any propaganda, are still being produced in the now-reunified Germany,^[7] making it one of the longest running animated series in the world.^{[citation needed]}

In the 1960s, the French animator Serge Danot created the well-known The Magic Roundabout (1965) which played for many years on the BBC. Another French/Polish stop-motion animated series was Colargol (Barnaby the Bear in the UK, Jeremy in Canada), by Olga Pouchine and Tadeusz Wilkosz.

A British TV series, Clangers (1969), became popular on television. The British artists Brian Cosgrove and Mark Hall (Cosgrove Hall Films) produced the two stop-motion animated adaptions of Enid Blyton's Noddy book series including the original series of the same name (1975–1982) and Noddy's Toyland Adventures (1992–2001), a full-length film The Wind in the Willows (1983) and later a multi-season TV series, both based on Kenneth Grahame's classic children's book of the same title. They also produced a documentary of their production techniques, Making Frog and Toad. Since the 1970s and continuing into the 21st century, Aardman Animations, a British studio, has produced short films, television series, commercials and feature films, starring plasticine characters such as Wallace and Gromit; they also produced a notable music video for 'Sledgehammer', a song by Peter Gabriel.

During 1986 to 1991, Churchill Films produced The Mouse and the Motorcycle, Runaway Ralph, and Ralph S. Mouse for ABC television. The shows featured stop-motion characters combined with live action, based on the books of Beverly Cleary. John Clark Matthews was animation director, with Justin Kohn, Joel Fletcher, and Gail Van Der Merwe providing character animation.^[8]

From 1986 to 2000, over 150 five-minute episodes of Pingu, a Swiss children'scomedy were produced by Trickfilmstudio. In the 1990s Trey Parker and Matt Stone made two shorts and the pilot of South Park almost entirely out of construction paper.

In 1999, Tsuneo Gōda directed an official 30-second sketches of the character Domo. With the shorts animated by stop-motion studio dwarf is still currently produced in Japan and has then received universal critical acclaim from fans and critics. Gōda also directed the stop-motion movie series Komaneko in 2004.

In 2003, the pilot film for the series Curucuru and Friends, produced by Korean studio Ffango Entertoyment is greenlighted into a children's animated series in 2004 after an approval with the Gyeonggi Digital Contents Agency. It was aired in KBS1 on November 24, 2006 and won the 13th Korean Animation Awards in 2007 for Best Animation. Ffango Entertoyment also worked with Frontier Works in Japan to produce the 2010 film remake of Cheburashka.^[9]

Since 2005, Robot Chicken has mostly utilized stop-motion animation, using custom made action figures and other toys as principal characters.

Since 2009, Laika, the stop-motion successor to Will Vinton Studios, has released five feature films, which have collectively grossed over $400 million.

Stop motion in other media[edit]

Many young people begin their experiments in movie making with stop motion, thanks to the ease of modern stop-motion software and online video publishing.^[10] Many new stop-motion shorts use clay animation into a new form.^[11]

Singer-songwriter Oren Lavie's music video for the song Her Morning Elegance was posted on YouTube on January 19, 2009. The video, directed by Lavie and Yuval and Merav Nathan, uses stop motion and has achieved great success with over 25.4 million views, also earning a 2010 Grammy Award nomination for 'Best Short Form Music Video'.

Stop motion has occasionally been used to create the characters for computer games, as an alternative to CGI. The Virgin Interactive EntertainmentMythos game Magic and Mayhem (1998) featured creatures built by stop-motion specialist Alan Friswell, who made the miniature figures from modelling clay and latex rubber, over armatures of wire and ball-and-socket joints. The models were then animated one frame at a time, and incorporated into the CGI elements of the game through digital photography. 'ClayFighter' for the Super NES and The Neverhood for the PC are other examples.

Scientists at IBM used a scanning tunneling microscope to single out and move individual atoms which were used to make characters in A Boy and His Atom. This was the tiniest scale stop-motion video made at that time.

References[edit]