OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Stop Motion Recorder
Make Stop Motion Video With a Webcam
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How the Stop Motion Recorder works
This stop motion recorder turns your webcam into an animation camera. Pose your models, press Capture frame, move them a little and capture again. A faint onion skin of the last frame shows how far you moved. When you are done, Make video plays the frames into a video you can download.
Stop motion is the oldest special effect in film. Each frame is a still photo, and the movement happens between shots, by hand. Clay figures, LEGO, paper cut-outs and toys all work, and a webcam on a stack of books is enough to start.
How the stop motion recorder works
Start camera shows the live view. Each press of Capture frame saves the current picture as a JPEG in the page's memory. With onion skin on, the last captured frame is laid over the live view at 30% or 55% strength, so you can line up the next pose against the previous one.
Undo removes the last frame. Make video draws every frame in order onto a canvas at the frame rate you chose and records it with the browser's MediaRecorder, so a 10-second animation takes about 10 seconds to build.
Choosing a frame rate
| Frames per second | Frames for 10 seconds | Look |
|---|---|---|
| 6 | 60 | Choppy, handmade; good for first projects |
| 8 | 80 | Classic toy-animation feel |
| 10 | 100 | Smoother, still clearly stop motion |
| 12 | 120 | "Shooting on twos", the standard for most stop motion films |
| 15 | 150 | Smooth; needs very small moves between frames |
Studio stop motion is usually filmed at 24 fps but often holds each pose for two frames, which is the same as 12 fps here.
Tips and pitfalls
Fix the camera. Any wobble between frames shows as jitter. Tape the laptop or webcam down and avoid touching it.
Lock the light. Daylight from a window changes as clouds pass and flickers in the result. Close the curtains and use a lamp.
Small moves. At 12 fps, a figure walking across a table might move only a few millimetres per frame. Use Strong onion skin to judge tiny steps.
Keep the tab open. Frames live only in this page. Reloading or closing the tab loses them, so make the video before you leave.
How to read the result
The stats show the frame count, the length the video will be at the chosen frame rate and the frame size. After Make video, play the result in the preview and press Download.
FAQ
What frame rate should I use for stop motion?
Start with 12 fps. It is the rate most stop motion films effectively use and needs half as many frames as 24 fps. Drop to 8 or 6 for a deliberately rough look or a quicker project; go to 15 only if your moves are very small.
What is onion skinning?
Onion skinning shows a see-through copy of the previous frame over the live camera view. It lets you see exactly how far each piece moved since the last shot, so motion stays smooth and even instead of jumping.
Is my animation uploaded anywhere?
No. Frames are stored in your browser's memory and the video is built on your own device. Nothing is sent to a server, so the only copy is the one you download before closing the tab.
Can I add music to the stop motion video?
Not in this tool, which makes a silent video. Download the result and add a soundtrack in any video editor. Plan the frame count from the music's length: 30 seconds at 12 fps needs 360 frames.
See also: all Video & Screen tools, Images, Audio, PDF, SVG, Simulations & Screensavers, Generative Art, Chart Makers, 3D Model Viewers, Drawing Pads, Mockups & 3D Making, Diagram Makers, 3D Science, Tracker Music.
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