Stop motion

[Simon Bonner]

Hi Sarah,

Well, first you will need to get to grips with the AE user interface. Check out the beginner’s tutorials at videocopilot.net to get yourself up to speed.

To make the movie, go to file, import, import files. In the dialogue, select the first image. Make sure the checkbox in the bottom left (jpg sequence) is checked. Hit ok.

You should now have the images imported and visible in the project panel as an image sequence. Select the sequence and bring up the menu for it (I use a pc so have to right click to get this menu – not sure what you do on a mac), and choose interpret footage, main. Set the frame rate to match the speed you want your images to run at. American NTSC is 29.97 and European PAL is 25, but you may have recorded at a slower frame rate (something about 10-15 might look good). Hit ok.

Drag the sequence over the ‘make new composition’ icon on the bottom of the project panel. Select the comp in the project panel and hit ctrl+k. Hit the advanced tab. Check the box to preserve frame rate when nested or in render queue. Hit ok.

Hit ctrl+n to make a new composition. Name final. In the dialogue, choose the preset you’re making a video for. NTSC dv widescreen is for US tv, etc. Hit ok.

Drag the sequence composition into the final comp. Select the layer in the timeline panel. Hit S. Scale the footage down so it fits the comp size. (it might look squashed – hit the ‘toggle pixel aspect ratio button’ in the bottom right of the composition panel).

If the frames jump about, you may be able to use the motion tracker set to Stabilize Motion to smooth that out.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Sarah Watson]

Hi there,

Thanks for that, was really clear and helpful. My stills are in order now but when I try and watch it in real tim, it plays at about one frame per second! Is there some setting I need to change?

Thanks again for your help,

Sarah

[Simon Bonner]

AE doesn’t play in real time. Is that the problem you’re having? It can be a real pain when you’re a newcomer to the programme but you get used to working around it. Ram preview a section by hitting the spacebar and then hit the spacebar again after a few moments to watch the ram preview in real time.

Or is is that you have the frames-per-second of the comp or image sequence set at too higg/low a level? Try raising or lowering those values.

Simon Bonner

youtube.com/simonsaysfx

[Sarah Watson]

I see! Thanks again for your help,

In much appreciation,

Sarah