stopmotion with mac?

[kariP]

Thanks, good information.

Though my macbook don't have a firewire. I would have to go macbook pro to get one.

The best solution for this is just not to use mac. We have pc laptops and the rest (few of them) in our school and stopmotion pros. Then we use DSL cameras for capture and after effects and premiere for the rest. Because of many groups starting their filming this and next year I thought "Hey, i have tvp, it has stop motion. Ill buy a DSL camera and then we do some action". But.. there was still some technical hurdles.

Thanks for all the help, im sure i got some important bits and pieces. http://www.stopmotionanimation.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; was a good find anyway. Ill try to research an usb connected dv cam as a possibility.

[D.T. Nethery]

Thanks, good information.

Though my macbook don't have a firewire. I would have to go macbook pro to get one.

The best solution for this is just not to use mac. We have pc laptops and the rest (few of them) in our school and stopmotion pros. Then we use DSL cameras for capture and after effects and premiere for the rest. Because of many groups starting their filming this and next year I thought "Hey, i have tvp, it has stop motion. Ill buy a DSL camera and then we do some action". But.. there was still some technical hurdles.

Thanks for all the help, im sure i got some important bits and pieces. http://www.stopmotionanimation.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; was a good find anyway. Ill try to research an usb connected dv cam as a possibility.

Have you purchased the DSL camera yet ? Because there are certain Canon digital cameras that do work for Stop-motion capture with TVP . (but only on a PC ) . The list of Canon cameras that are known to work with TVP is in the user manual.

The other thing to consider is to do what many professional Stop-Motion animators do and use a DSL to capture , but mount a tiny webcam parallel to the DSL camera . This would allow you to use a DSL with your Macbook for stop motion capture. The webcam provides the live-video feed to TVP on the Macbook so you can use the "Mix" (onion-skinning) and Light Table controls to see your previous frames compared to the current live frame , as an aid to calculating your spacing when moving the puppet (as shown below) , but the actual high-resolution images are captured to the digital camera's memory card. Then you transfer the high-res. images to your computer and open them in TVP for adjusting the final timing or to use the digital paint tools in TVP to remove wires or other visible rigging from the the captured frames . This is one of my favorite features of TVP for stop-motion work. It's so easy to use a clean plate of the empty set on one layer underneath the animation layer , then simply erase out any visible rigging on the animation and the erased areas show the clean plate on the layer beneath , so it's seamless. (this only works for locked-down shots , no camera movement) But even with a moving camera shot you can use the digital paint tools in TVP to paint-out rigging .

TVP_StopMotion_Functions.jpg (80.85 KiB) Viewed 17911 times

[kariP]

Ok, yes, this webcam attached paraller to the dsl feels like a simple solution. It could also be faster.. while just saving the preview from the webcam to the computer you might be able to work your way through the animation faster. I remember from our animation practises where we used dsl connected to a computer: I said "take", my partner said "wait, still saving the previous". Can be frustrating while your idea is already few frames ahead.
I presume you would need some kind of a remote "finger" to shoot? And one would have to be very precise with placing the two cameras.
If I take this idea forward, this kind of thing could come handy. You'd see exactly what your shooting.
http://www.photographybay.com/2010/07/1 ... under-200/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Still, I think if I would take the photos this way, straight to the camera, my next program would anyway be after effects. Just because i've been using it more and our school computers have more power.

I haven't bought a camera yet, but Im thinking of it. I don't need much, but a good camera is starting to show itself as an investment.

Thanks for your replies and ideas D.T.

[StopmoNick]

For stop motion, I use a frame grabber to capture and preview the animation. For the highest quality I shoot with a Canon EOS 40d DSLR with Live View. Dragon (a Mac framegrabber) will work well with Canon or Nikon DSLRs - one click grabs the video live view for previewing, and also the final full size still image, both via the same USB cable. You can compare the last few video assist frames taken with the current live view, to see exactly how far you have moved the puppet, or you can view the full res captured frames taken so far. Framegrabbers are specifically designed for this job.
Framethief is a perfectly usable free demo for standard def video capture, but I prefer StopMotion Pro on the PC or Dragon on either PC or Mac for my Hi Def work. What you want to spend on the framegrabbing software depends on the resolution and camera type you are using.

Once the shot is done, I then import the whole sequence of images into TV Paint for all the re-sizing, colour grading, wire removal, or effects animation work. I pretty well edit in TV Paint as well, and add titles, so there isn't much left to do but add all the sound tracks by the time I load the clips into Final Cut Pro.

I suppose it could be good if TV Paint could also act as the framegrabber, but it's more important to me that it does it's job well.

[Fabrice]

Update :

As promised, here is a list of the resolutions and fps grabbed by the Black-Magic cards (ie : TVPaint can grad images from those video signals) :

720 X 486 29.97
720 X 486 23.98
720 X 576 25.00
720 X 486 59.94
720 X 576 50.00
1920 X 1080 23.98
1920 X 1080 24.00
1920 X 1080 25.00
1920 X 1080 29.97
1920 X 1080 30.00
1280 X 720 50.00
1280 X 720 59.94
1280 X 720 60.00

Now, you have to make sure that the HDMI (video) camera you are using is able to record a video and at the same time to transmit it through the HDMI port.
If not, you will only be able to get images from pre-recorded video.

Please tell me if it makes sense.

[brake]

Hello, I have done testing with my Canon 7D and a BlackMagic Intensity. I am only able to select

720x486 UYVY
720x486 RGB24
720x486 RGB32

I go to change the settings and the BlackMagic settings do come up, but after I switch it to 1080i 59.94.

I still get the same 3 settings in the drop down and if I go back to the settings button, the BlackMagic settings default back to NTSC.

Any ideas?

[brake]

Also, the Canon 7D does in fact capture and output 1080i video simultaneously.

[Fabrice]

Hello, I have done testing with my Canon 7D and a BlackMagic Intensity. I am only able to select

720x486 UYVY
720x486 RGB24
720x486 RGB32

I go to change the settings and the BlackMagic settings do come up, but after I switch it to 1080i 59.94.

I still get the same 3 settings in the drop down and if I go back to the settings button, the BlackMagic settings default back to NTSC.

Any ideas?

I think I have already seen this before. Is your Black Magic firmware up-to-date ?

I guess you should be able to check this somewhere on the preference panel > BlackMagic or something like that.

Also, the Canon 7D does in fact capture and output 1080i video simultaneously.

It sounds really interesting !! Thanks for the information. I will try to run some tests in the coming months somewhere ( Canon don't provide any material for test ... as usual ... )