When I got a Nintendo 3DS, it had a camera app with a stop-motion tool. It had features like onion skinning, filters, and automatic shooting for timelapses.
That's what got me into stop-motion animation as a secondary hobby.
The minimum setup
When I saw a "GIF" feature on my phone's default photo gallery app, the minimalist in me wondered what that substitute for the 3DS is worth.
The touchscreen is hard to not move, the app is limited to an initial edition of 50 frames, there's no onion skinning, and I can't change the export format without sideloading to my computer.
However, it's enough for short films with the Note figures, and objects aren't slightly out of frame due to the 3DS' stereoscopic cameras.
That reminds me, I should replace the SD card soon, it really starts to slow down. Don't worry, I make backups.
Tips and tricks
I'm not a professional, but if you're interested in stop-motion animation and just starting out, here are some practical tips:
- Secure your camera tightly. The DS and 3DS are great because the camera is on the top half and buttons on the bottom half. However, with a smartphone, be cautious when you tap the touchscreen. I don't do automatic shooting, but you could try it.
- Use a well-lit place, or have access to basic luminosity/contrast filters. Beware of partially cloudy days.
And some artistic constraints I follow:
- Keep projects humble. With my favorite framerate, a 10-second film is already 100 frames!
- When possible, I use the apps/hardware I already have, to not waste time on making choices.
- Duplicate key frames. If you can't duplicate them in editing, just take several photos. I like to triple the frame, a bit like Morse code where a dash is 3 dots long.
- Don't move more than one thing at a time unless you know what you're doing. The camera counts as one.
I hope it'll make for clearer movies made faster.
- Dogme 95, a filmmaking movement with constraints like those
- Lettuce's Creative Constraints which made me discover it. By the way, expect a post on Gemini/gemtext soon!
Does that help making good games?
You'd think the biggest side benefit of stop-motion to video game is character animation. However, my figures have no animated limbs. Interestingly, a bit like my video game characters having very few frames as well. I guess that's my style.
So they mostly use "positional acting" on the scene.
Game dev domains that enjoy more benefits are level design, cutscene timing, and narration. I don't use dialogue in the stop-motion movies, so the show-don't-tell narration is the only way. Or just unrelated scenes, don't forget to have fun sometimes.
On that note, happy staggery movement, and see you in the next one!