Stop Motion Fun Stuff: Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas, Pt. 3

Due to all the holiday festivities going on I had to really rush to get this post out on time, But anyway here's the last part of the Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas show.

I hope you all have a vary merry Christmas, and a happy New Year!

Stop-Motion How-To: Achieving the Chroma-Key Effect

Chroma keying is the process of replacing a solid background with a picture or digital set. Colors like blue and green are most commonly used for chroma keying because they are the best contrast for the human skin, allowing the computer to better decipher the differences between the subject and the unwanted background. Chroma keying will allow you to incorporate more digital material into your movie, saving you from having to construct complicated and expensive sets.

Admittedly, getting the chroma key to produce a seamless product creates frustrations of its own.If you follow the tips Mark Apsolon outlines in the two vids below will help lessen some of the strains and headaches of chroma keying. You can check out the program VisionLab Studio that Mark talks about in his second vid here but If you don't want to pay $350.00-$450.00 for the full version, you can download Wax, a free chroma key program, but keep in mind that because it is free, it doesn't offer nearly the number of options that bigger programs do.



How to make awesome Chroma key!
How to use Green Screen Software for Chroma Keying

Stop-Motion Fun Stuff: Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas, Pt. 2

Here's the second installment in Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas.

Stop Motion News: Wallace and Gromit Christmas Idents on BBC One

Wallace and Gromit have recently appeared in a series of TV idents for BBC One, in honor of UK release of Wallace and Gromit: A Matter of Loaf and Death on Christmas Day. Unfortunately for me and thousands of other Wallace and Gromit fans, Aardman has yet to schedule the US release. In the mean time, we can catch these W&G Christmas idents from BBC One.



Wallace and Gromit BBC One Christmas Idents Hanging the Christmas Lights
Wallace and Gromit BBC One Christmas Idents Going Caroling
Wallace and Gromit BBC One Christmas Idents Dusting Off Snow
Wallace and Gromit BBC One Christmas Idents Snow Angels
Wallace and Gromit BBC One Christmas Idents Sledge Walk

Stop motion How-to: Removing Rigs From Your Stop-Motion Videos

Paul from Stop Motion Pro has put out quite a few short vids, showing how to use the stop-motion animation capture program Stop Motion Pro. One of these vids shows how to remove things like rigs or other unwanted objects from your stop-motion animated film. Luckily, you don't even need to purchase the Stopmotionpro software to use this method.

Stop Motion News: Coraline

Lykia Studios new full-length stop-motion movie based off of Neil Gaiman's book Coraline. Coraline will release into theaters February 6. Directed by Henry Selick (who was also the directer for Nightmare Before Christmas), Coraline features absolutely eye-popping animation. It looks like it could be the best (as far as animation goes) stop-motion feature-length movie ever made.

Check out the preview and some behind the scenes stuff below





Behind the Scenes Of Coraline, Pt. 1
Behind the Scenes of Coraline, Pt. 2
Behind the Scenes of Coraline, Pt. 3
Behind the Scenes of Coraline, Pt. 4

Stop-Motion Fun Stuff: Will Vinton's Claymation Christmas, Pt. 1

Well, it's one of my favorite times of the year again - Christmas! To help celebrate this wonderful season, I will be posting the entire Claymation Christmas show in this and the the next two "Stop-Motion Fun Stuff" posts. I hope you enjoy them.

Stop Motion How-To: Sculpting

Sculpting is a important part of stop-motion animation because it allows you to portray your model's characteristics. For the most part brick film and toy animators won't need to know how to sculpt, but if you are planning on doing an animation with a clay, silicone, or plastic, sculpting is a necessity.

Sculpting is a skill gained more through experience than through teaching. Although you can definitely pick up a trick or two by watching experienced sculptors, you must work at sculpting until you have mastered the skill. If you have just started sculpting, you're probably still making crude blobs of clay. But don't be discouraged, because if you put your heart in it, you will get better. Every time you sculpt, challenge yourself to try something a little harder. And who says you can't make a great animation with a blob of clay?

Animateclay.com provides a very helpful DVD How to Sculpt Puppets 2 DVD Set, containing a ton of tips and tricks that I've used over and over again.