Home » Review: Honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0

Review: Honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0

Eng_Stopmotion Studio 4.0_3D

What is it?

It is a handy little software that lets you and your kids design stop motion videos.

Installation

Installation is pretty straight forward. You put the CD into your computer, and let the setup run and take care of itself. It does try to install QuickTime as well as Adobe Reader while installing too. Adobe Reader then went on to discover that a more up to date version already existed on my computer, so it stopped. At this stage, I actually cancelled the QuickTime install, as I didn’t want it on my computer.

Once installed, you can run the program, and enter your product key, which comes with the software.

During the first time run, it offers you tips, as well as lets you register your product. Registration allows you to get product updates info, etc.

How it works

Stopmotion is a technique by which a lot of kids as well as adult programmes work. Popular examples are Wallace and Grommit as well as South Park.

The idea is that you take lots of pictures of moving elements, and then run them together as a film. While Wallace and Grommit go for the highly polished look, South Park go for an intentional rough look.

So, all you need is either some pictures, or some toys that you’d like to take pictures of moving. You can plug in a camera to take these photos on the go, or add those photos to a time line.

Once photos are in the story board, you can edit them, adjust them, and turn them all into a movie.

Test Video

Here is a little video I have done to test out the software. It is very basic, and only a couple of seconds long, but it gives you an idea of what you can get out of this.

 

The above video is of course a totally raw video, without using any of the features at all, and you’ll be happy to know that StopMotion doesn’t quite stop there.

It offers the following features:

OnionSkin

Onion Skin allows you to import the next frame over on top of your current frame, so you get a smoother transition.

Chroma Key

Probably one of the most well known and popular feature among animations is where you create one character and place it over another background. This is called Chroma Key in StopMotion Studio.

Full Storyboard

There is access to the full storyboard, so you can arrange your images as you like, via a simple drag and drop interface.

String Removal

Another popular and clever feature is string removal, where you can get rid of unwanted parts of your images. A popular technique often used by Photoshop magicians!

Of course this means that you also have an included Image Editor in the software.

Overlay Frames

And to add, you can overlay frames, for giving you effects such as speed or motion.

Audio Recording

Add your own sound effects, voice, music.

YouTube/Facebook

Upload your movie directly to YouTube or Facebook via the software.

Smartphone/Tablet

You can convert your video to a format that can easily be watched on your smartphone or tablet.

More information

You can find more information about the software, as well as buy it from the following link:

http://www.honestech.com/main/stopmotion-studio-40.asp

Verdict

This is a seriously addictive software that gives you hours of fun for the whole family. The fact that can use your own images, as well as toys etc. can make this a very handy tool for kids to play with. Obviously, if you are so inclined, you can use this to create some seriously impressive videos as well.

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