so ive been dipping my toe into stop motion with constraction figures and It isn’t going that well. sets are very hard to make and my characters seen to constantly fall over. the other problem I have is the movement always seen too big. I have attached a sample of my stop motion. HOW CAN I IMPROVE?
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I’m no expert because I haven’t done stop motion in a long time, but I’d recommend getting a stable light source. When I was taking some more professional photos for a contest I was entering a while back, normal lights weren’t doing the trick so my mom and a sibling held flashlights to better get all of the details. I’d also recommend a very stable stand for your camera.
As for character stability, that’s a bit tricky - with CCBS bone pieces like you were using, it’s going to be hard to click the armor on without the skeleton shifting a bit. When you can, I guess you could try to put tiny little pieces of tape on the balls of the joints to increase friction. I had to do that with my Toa Mata Gali set and it works pretty well, you can’t see the tape unless you’re really looking for it.
Movements seeming big is just something that happens. If you’ve got more points of articulation, you can have smaller movements that don’t change overall posture as much, but with a standard Hero Factory dude, big motions are kind of all you can get.
I hope this helped! I also recommend checking out some guides on YouTube, I remember there was a guy who made specifically Bionicle stop motion videos who was really good at it. I can’t remember his name now, but he gave some great tips.
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If stability is an issue, using something like putty on the feet might help
I think the only solution here is to have more frames, with less movement between each one
That said, I think the sample you shared is actually really well done!
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I used to do quite a bit of stop motion myself! Based on your little sample video, here’s my advice:
I’ll start by echoing some of the already given advice.
Always a good thing, but personally, I didn’t see much of an issue with lighting changes in the sample video. So it’s not imperative.
From what I saw in the video, this seems to be the biggest thing. The camera distance and framing jerked around a lot, which takes away from the movement of the objects in the scene.
So yes, try and get a very sturdy tripod for your camera, and take extreme care not to bump or move it during filming. If at all possible, maybe try and find a remote activation device? Not easy to come by, but it helps when you don’t have to touch the camera to take a photo.
I think this is the best approach.
Movements looking “big” or not smooth are often either timing or spacing issues.
This video is meant more so for traditional animators, but it also applies to stop motion. If nothing else, it could give you a more solid grasp of general animation and animation acting techniques that will make your animations better:
Ease-in/Ease-out and Timing are probably the most important for stop motion animators, and this video gives handy visual models that can be applied to stop motion animation frames.
But overall, I’d like to remind you to try and have fun!
I don’t have the time to do it much anymore, but when I did a lot of stop motion in the past it was one of my favorite hobbies. Finding joy in that process drives you to make more and learn, and those are ultimately the only ways to really improve!
Best of luck!
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well I’m using my MacBook camera and cloud stop motion. would getting a bluetooth webcam help?
normally I just use daylight so that’s probably a easy fix.
thanks! I’m very proud of it!
any brand or type In particular?
how can you work around this?
my last question is set/backdrop design. what’s a easy way to make convincing sets? as you can see in my sample the backdrop is just a wall
(also this animation took me about 9 hours (building and pictures) is this average?)
@atobe_brick @pakari @minethuselah thanks so much you guys!
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Well, smaller movements aren’t always necessary, so its not too big of a deal. If you want to stick with the CCBS dude, try using looser joints when you want smaller movements because it’ll be easier to movements him without accidentally shifting him a lot.
As for set design, blank walls are generally fine, but you could try using foam to make larger objects, or going outside if you want nature. The best way to fake something is to not fake it at all, so try to find a background that you don’t have to change much.
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I was about to comment a similar thing.
Sometimes the best set is no set at all. It might not always work, but you can totally embrace the “real world” backdrop. Work from animators like Lozaus1 or even the storytelling of Suddenly Oranges’ Reviving Bionicle work are good examples.
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