this is a short introduction to stop motion if there is something I have missed or you would like to see in this section that would be help full e-mail me stephen@rollingcabbage.com

most pictured are expandable just click them

Part 1 equipment

A pc, digital camera or web cam, animation soft ware I use Imageready that comes with Photoshop, and you also need something to animate

Part 2 Model building

Build your model out of your preferred substance

I would advise if you intend to keep the model that it is given a internal wire frame this gives them more strength and are less likely to fall over and give grater control over the model

I do this by using fore strands of 1.2mm solder twisted together to produce the required frame for the model arms and legs and sometimes the neck if it is long but I normally have the head on a nail or pin to give extra range of motion to the head and the wire frame extra strength to the model.

Part 3 the story board

Its good to plan what you would like to do with the model IE

    walk forward 2 steps                            turn      wave arm up and down

part 4 set up

first you need a area where the animation will take place. Fix your camera in  place I use blu-tack for this it is important it does not move

next place the model in front of the camera t the right focal length  for the camera in a well lit room there is no need for a lamp, but it is still good to use one as it gives a even amount of light over the model and eliminates unwanted shadow and light changes. Make sure the lamp is out of the sight of the camera, and not giving out unwanted reflections.  I would not use the camera flash there should be enough light from the lamp and the flash can cause un wanted reflection and does not always catch the model in the same way

Part 5 Movement  

The smaller the movement the smother it will be but to save frames you can get away with  quite big movements    in 1 step It is possible to move the leg all the way from the start position to all the way up with in 1 frame. If the model falls over simply pick it back up and as long as you get it near enough in the same place or doing the next action no one will notice

Part 6 Animation

 You can use any program you are use to with but this is how to do it in Image ready

Down load your pictures to a folder or use the camera card go to file then import then to folders as frames

When this is done locate the file with the pictures and click ok  

When the picture opens crop the unused out side do this by selecting the required space and going to image then down to crop.

Then chose optimised in the picture options this will show the picture size in MB in the bottom left you want this about 200mb if its too big it may bust your band with so it is a good idea to check to fix this problem you can make the image smaller by going to the optimised options at the top left and choosing about 64 colours if this does not help make the image smaller by going to image and down to image size… and make the picture about 200 pixles wide or smaller

When its small enough go to file and then to save optimised as and give it a file name then ok and your done  

the result 

thank you I hoped this helped