Stop motion has been around since the dawn
of animation itself. Over the years, as technology has advanced, it has become
easier than ever for anyone to create their own animated short films. The
latest version of iStopMotion for the iPad makes building each element of your
movie simpler and more satisfying without dumbing down the process or skimping
on features.
iStopMotion for the iPad really feels like
it’s designed for fun. Its intuitiveness encourages you to experiment and play
with it when you first pick it up, but you soon discover that it’s also quite a
serious tool. For example, you can lock the focus, exposure and white balance
of the camera after getting it just right so there won’t be flickering as you
work. Pick each of these options in turn, tapping on the relevant part of the
image to fix it. Onion-skinning can be turned on to show a ghost of previous
frames to help get movements right, and you can set it to take frames on a
timer of anywhere between two to 99 seconds.
Head
up: The updated frame navigation system means its easy scroll to key points in
your animation. You can also step through it frame by frame
The animation frame rate defaults to 12 frames
per second, the standard compromise between producing work quickly and having a
relatively smooth playback. You can push up the frame rate to 30fps or as low
as 1fps – but, of course, one frame per second is more of a slideshow than
animation. Stick to the default 12fps unless you have a lot of patience and
want your work to look as smooth as possible. There’s also an option to play
back your work in the app back at half speed, which is great when you’re trying
to get a feel for the work you’ve done already.
If you don’t have much free space on your
iPad, you should be prepared to do a bit of a clear-out to make some room. A
10-frame animation (2.5 seconds at 12fps) could take up anywhere from 10MB to
40MB of space, depending on the image content, so a one-minute creation might
need almost a gigabyte. Make sure you plan ahead so you don’t have to do this
in the middle of a project. One of the key elements in good stop-motion
software is the ability to flip through previous frames quickly and easily to see
the sort of movement you’re creating. iStopMotion 2 does this brilliantly: its
updated frame navigation system enables you to scroll to key points in your
film, as well as step through frame by frame. This is very helpful in terms of
editing, which was a relative weak point in the original version.
Time
files: the Time Lapse feature will capture sequences automatically, with frame
intervals from two 99 seconds
Another feature that’s new to this update
is the option of adding audio to your project, and you can see a waveform of
the soundtrack or sound effect and accurately sync your animation to the audio.
You can import audio from the iPad’s music library (but watch out of copyright
if you intend to publish your work), from Dropbox if you don’t have the recording
in your iTunes collection, and even from SoundCloud. This last is a nice touch
if you want to work with recording artists, as this has become the thinking
muso’s social network and work-sharing platform of choice. You can even record
sound within the app itself, which really helps make this a complete animation
package.
One problem with using mobile devices for
stop-motion work is that they have a tendency to move around when you tap them
when taking a shot, making it hard to take a steady set of shots. However,
Boinx has a solution if you have an iPhone as well as an iPad. With the free
iStopCamera app on your iPhone, you can link the devices via Wi-Fi, taking
advantage of the slightly better iPhone camera and leaving the iPad as your
work space. This means that you don’t have to physically interact with the
camera and have it move around as you work. The difference that freeing you up
to move around with your iPad, using it as a mobile display of what your iPhone
camera sees is tremendous.
Peer
pressure: a ‘Theater’ section in iStopMotion shows examples of what others have
made with the software, which can be used inspiration
If you don’t have an iPhone, Boinx does
offer a range of accessories such as tripod heads for the iPad. At this point,
however, if device movement is going to be a concern, you may want to consider
buying the full desktop version of the software with a webcam or go out and buy
an iPhone!
In short, iStopMtion 2 for the iPad is
great new features in particular, the audio waveform display – that have
polished it into a shining gem.
Inside information
Back: Go to the Gallery all iStopMotion
Clips
Cameras: Choose one of the Cameras of your
iPad or a remote Camera. Set up Focus and Exposure of your Camera
Play Button: Play the Clip at the speed
Defined in Settings. Tap & hold in case playback fails
Time Lapse: Turn on Time Lapse and set the
capture interval
Capture Button: Snap a single Frame or
start/stop Time Lapse. Tap & hold to insert White or Black Frame
Audio: Add audio to your Timeline. Either
chooses/ imports an existing file or record audio live. Also use to remove
existing audio
Timeline: Tap a Frame to display that
Frame. Swipe to scroll through the Clip. Swipe with two fingers to jump to the
beginning or end of the Clip. Clip length in minutes and seconds depends on the
frame rate which is counted in frames per second and can be adjusted in the
Settings.
Actions: Empty the whole Clips, delete
Frames from the Clip or duplicate Frames
Clip Settings: Set the playback speed for the
Clip, turn animation tools on and off and choose the display mode
Inside
information: Tapping the Help button reveals information panels for all the
controls in the software, with clear and helpful explanations of what
everything does
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iStopMotion
for iPad specs
·
Stop-motion animation software
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From: App Store
·
Info: boinx.com
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Pro: Useful audio waveform display, improved
frame navigation
·
Con: You’ll need an iPhone as well as an iPad
to get the best from this
·
Bes value: $9.5
·
Verdict: 5/5
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