Making an animated film

What might you need to continue making your own animations? Well, software to take the photos, a computer, a camera, and things to animate.



Animation Software


At Red Kite Workshops we usually use I Can Animate (PC/Mac) This great program is used by many schools in Scotland and is available for PC or Mac. You can download a trial version and then buy it online.



Another brilliant and new program is Zu3D (PC only) You can edit and add music, sound and titles in this great, and quite cheap program.


iStopMotion is also a great program for Mac only.



A brilliant free program for the PC is called Helium Frog, just download it and try.

Computer
Newer computers are likely to be faster and will play back animation smoother. It doesn’t matter if you use a PC or a Mac, but remember they use different software.
                      
Windows PC’s
Laptop or desktop, it doesn’t matter. PC’s usually operate with “Microsoft Windows”. Windows XP or newer is good as it comes with a simple free video editing software (Movie Maker)

Apple Mac’s
Again, you can use a laptop or desktop. The OSX operating system is best as it also has free editing software (iMovie)



Carmera
Still cameras are not ideal as you can only see the image on its screen quite small. A DV camcorder (which can be bought for around £120) gives TV quality images when connected to the computer. Note that to connect one of these to a PC or Mac you need a Firewire connection and the right cable.

Another option is a web camera. They can be cheap (from £10) and connect via USB. With DV and Web cameras you can see the live image, large on the computers monitor (you don’t get this with still cameras) It’s also useful to have a camera with manual control of the focus. If you buy a USB web camera to animate, make sure you get one that has a resolution (number of pixels width and height) of at least 640 x 480. A good high quality web camera you can use is the “Hue HD” camera. It has a handy flexible neck. You can buy them all over the place.

Animating without a camera
Although it's great fun making your own models or cut-out puppets, there is software online that lets you animate things without needing a camera or your own characters.



Scratch is a completely free Windows or Mac software you can use to make your own stories, games and animations.



Another brilliant 2D animation software is Animation-Ish, made by Toon Boom.


www.yoyogames.com is a great website for making your own games. All the software is provided and if you want to make something truly original, bring in your own artwork for characters and backgrounds.

Also Pivot Stick Figure is simple and free.

Animation guide

So you might need some tips from Red Kite Animation on actually animating stuff. This part of the website hasn't been finished yes but is COMING SOON!!!!

Editing your animation

Windows (PC)
Windows Movie Maker is a free video editing program for Windows XP or above. If you animate with any of the above software, you can put clips together with music and sound effects with Movie Maker. If you have Windows XP, you may already have it installed, as it comes with the operating system. Otherwise, click here to download.

Mac (OSX)
For Mac OSX users, you can edit video using "iMovie" that comes with the system.

Buy some better editing software
Although free software can edit your films and even make DVD's, commercial software is much better, and some don't cost much. Pinnacle Studio can be bought for between £30 and £40 (try Amazon.co.uk) The normal HD version is enough.