Stopmotion

Stop motion is animation with real objects: clay figures, LEGO, paper cut-outs, toys. You move the object a tiny bit, take a photo, move it again, take another. Stopmotion helps you take the photos and line up each new pose with the previous one.

What you need#

• A webcam (any USB webcam that works on Linux), or a camera whose photos you copy in afterwards.
• A tripod or something that holds the camera completely still.
• Steady light: close the curtains and use lamps. Daylight changes and makes the film flicker.

Capturing with a webcam#

1. Plug in the webcam and start StopMotion Animation → Stopmotion.
2. Settings → Preferences → Video Import: choose the device (/dev/video0 is usually the first webcam).
3. Click the camera button to start the live view.
4. Turn on onion skinning (mix slider: 1 or 2 previous frames). The last photo shows faintly over the live image.
5. Move your figure a little, then press Space (or the capture button) to take a frame. Repeat.
6. Press Play to check the movement.

Twelve frames per second is a good start; 24 is smoother but needs twice as many photos.

Photos from a camera#

Edit → Add frames (or drag image files into the frame list) to add photos taken with a camera or phone. Rename them in order first (for example 0001.jpg, 0002.jpg).

Sound and export#

• Add sound with the Sound button of a scene.
• File → Export → Video writes a video file (it uses FFmpeg); File → Export → Cinelerra sends the frames to Cinelerra.
• Or export the frames and put them together with FFmpeg: ffmpeg -framerate 12 -i %04d.jpg -c:v libx264 -pix_fmt yuv420p -crf 18 film.mp4

In a virtual machine#

The VM must pass the webcam through: in VirtualBox install the Extension Pack and use Devices → Webcams. See VirtualBox.

Tutorial: Stop motion with a webcam.