Stop-Motion Animation With an IPod Touch / IPhone

Step 1: Materials / Applications

Objects Used in Your Video

All of the props and vehicles that I include in my videos are built out of Legos, however, clay/play-dough is also a good material. If you need ideas, there are plenty of animated videos on YouTube.

Stand for Your iPod/iPhone

If you have a stand for an iPod touch like I do, defiantly use that. If not, you can use blobs of clay to support it.

iPod Touch or iPhone

You could use an iPad but it is easier to use an iPhone or iPod Touch if you have one. If you use an iPod Touch, you will need to have a 4^thgeneration because (as of March 29, 2012), none of the other generations have cameras. If you don't have any of those, i know that there are many computer programs you can use to create stop motion animation.

Frame x Frame (FREE)

This is the application that we will use to create the video. Search for "Frame x Frame" in the app store.

Splice (FREE)

This is the video editor that you can use to assemble the different sections of your video, add different effects and transitions, and add titles. Search for "Splice" in the app store

iMovie<(Optional)> ($4.99)

If you are willing to spent 5 dollars, iMovie is a great video editor that works faster than Splice.

Other

If you have another video editing application or computer program that you like to use, feel free to use that too. The iMovie that comes installed on Macs works great.

Step 2: Build Props

Before you film your video, you will need to build/gather all of the props and characters that will be in the video. Here are some of the vehicles that I have built.

Step 3: About Frames Per Second

Before you start filming, you should know about FPS and and what the rate of your video will be.

Frames per Second (fps) is how many pictures will be played every second. The higher the fps, the smoother your video will look. Movies played in the movie theater are played around 30 fps. However, the higher your fps, the more pictures you will have to take and the longer it will take to make your video. I film my videos at 15 fps (you can look back at the video on the first page of this Instructable if you want to see what that looks like),however, if this is your first video you may want to experiment at around 8-10 fps. In the next step I will show you haw to use the app and adjust the fps.

Step 4: Filming the Video

Pictures

1) Open the app labeled "FXF by JOBY."
2) Tap the menu button.
3) You can tap "Tap to Focus" to turn it off if you want, then, select "Stop Motion."
4) Select "Manual Shutter." (The "Continuous Shutter" is for making a time lapse)
5) Scroll up and down to select how many frames per second you want. (you can refer back to step 3). Then press "Done"

Now just start taking pictures, moving the objects a little in-between each photo. The more you move the objects in-between each photo, the faster they will appear to move when the video is done. When you are finished with your movie, press "Done", and it will be saved to your camera roll.

If you are filming a long video, you can film it in sections and then use the splice app to splice the videos together.

Step 5: Another Video

Thanks for reading my Instructable! If you have any questions, just post a comment or send me a message. Let me know if you tried doing this and how it turned out.

Here is another video that I made for you to see.