Creating Dazzling Digital Stories With Free Software, a Computer and a Webcam Jim Berry...
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Transcript of Creating Dazzling Digital Stories With Free Software, a Computer and a Webcam Jim Berry...
Creating Dazzling Digital StoriesWith Free Software, a Computer
and a Webcam
Jim BerryInstructional Technology SpecialistCherokee County School District
Canton, Georgia
Let’s Make Teaching Standards Come Alive!
M2N1 Grade: 2 Description: M2N1 Students will use multiple representation of numbers to connect symbols to quantities. Elements:
c. Use money as a medium of exchange. Make change and use decimal notation and the dollar and cent symbols to represent a collection of coins and currency.
www.georgiastandards.org
What Do We Need to Get Started?
1. Hardware2. Software3. Characters,
Props & Backgrounds
4. A Solid PLAN
Hardware
Software
There are numerous screen capture and movie creation software programs available for both PC and MAC
platforms.
For this presentation, we will use a popular free program called “Stop Motion Animator” and “Movie Maker 2” which is part of the Microsoft XP operating system (Service Pack
2 and later).
http://www.clayanimator.com/english/stop_motion_animator.html
For Much More Go To
www.clayanimator.com
Software Part 2:Microsoft Windows
Movie Maker 2(Comes with the XP Operating System: Service Pack 2)
Characters, Props & Backgrounds
The Sky is the Limit…Be Creative!
Before we get to clay…
Props & Backgrounds
Color printouts for backgrounds
http://www.studiolighting.net/homemade-light-box-for-product-photography/
Use Light Boxes for Better Quality Photography
Simple Light Box
Secure light above paper opening in top of box
Cut out square in the top of the box
Props can add a lot!
Great Place for Picturesto use as Backgrounds
www.pics4learning.com
Powerpoint Slides can be saved as .jpegs and used in MovieMaker
This picture was imported using a clipart search for the word “beach”:
What is “Claymation?”
In a claymation production, artists sculpt the characters out of clay and often support the
sculpture with wire molds underneath.
To create the illusion of movement, the position of the sculpted characters is altered slightly in
every still photo, or frame.
Just like other forms of animation, claymation generally requires a storyboard or background
for the characters to be set against and to develop what they will do or say.
So What is the Difference BetweenStop Motion & Claymation?
Stop Motion:
Objects are captured, frame by frame and Moved slightly between captures. The objectsare not altered-only moved slightly to give the appearanceof smooth motion.
Example: Using “Scrabble” letters to illustrate rhyming words. “TOP” becomes “TAP” as the “O” creeps off the screen and is replaced by the “A”
Claymation:
The art of making an inanimate object appear to be alive.
Characters are usually made of clay, but other objects couldbe used, as long as the objects are manipulated frame by frame So they will appear to be living.
Example: Even a “non-clay” object (a doll) could come alive if we captured the arm rising little by little-making it appear to be alive.
Storyboarding
Each “event” should be planned and brainstormed onto a storyboard.
Timing is key and will play a crucial role as we determine how many
frames “grabs” we will take.
A “Grab” is simply the act of capturing 1 frame.
In Stop Motion Animator:16 Grabs = Approximately 1 second
Let’s count how many seconds each event takes, then multiply by 16 to determine
the number of Grabs to take
Using the Free “Stop Motion Animator”
ProgramWhen the program opens, these 2 windows will appear:
Webcam’s current imageControls
You can drag the top border of the control window to the top-leftand the lower right corner of the webcam view window to arrange
your screen like this:
When you click “Start” the “Start”button will become the “Grab” button.
You can also hit the “Enter” key on the keyboard to capture (grab) frames. This is recommended because
there’s less chance of disturbing the scene
Example Storyboard
Action/Motion
Dialogue
Seconds/Grabs
Dialogue
Seconds/Grabs
Professor Abacus enters and moves to center stage
[Professor] “Sheepy? Where are you?”
3 Seconds (3 x 16 = 48 Grabs)
Music Music
Begin Cool Jazz MusicNone
Action/Motion
None
Professor Abacus raises hands to mouth
2 Seconds (2 x 16 = 32 Grabs)
Event # 1 Event # 2
Note About Dialogue & Music
We’re not actually adding dialogue and music now.
We’re only “planning ahead.”
We’ll add the dialogue and music in MovieMaker later.
Example Storyboard
Action/Motion
Dialogue
Seconds/Grabs
Dialogue
Seconds/Grabs
Sheepy enters from the right and moves next to Professor Abacus (His hands return outstretched)
[Sheepy] “Hello Professor Abacus!”
Music Music
Cool Jazz
Action/Motion
None
None: Sheepy is next to Professor Abacus
Cool Jazz
Event # 3 Event # 4
3 Seconds (3 x 16 = 48 Grabs)
2 Seconds (2 x 16 = 32 Grabs)
Question:How Many Grabs per Nudge?
Answer:How Much Time Do You Have?
Here’s the Bottom Line…
For the SMOOTHEST animation, you want to nudge the character in extremely small increments between grabs.
So, to move Professor Abacus to the center of the stage in 48 “grabs” (3 seconds of action) we could “Grab” a
frame then “nudge” him 1/8 of an inch 48 times:
Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge- Grab-Nudge
This would be extremely tedious and would take a lot of time (and patience)
Here’s a Realistic Alternative:
Let’s take 4 “grabs” (frames) for each time we nudge Professor Abacus. We’ll nudge him about ½ inch each
time. The result will be a little more “choppy” but it really won’t take away from the story.
You might experiment with this. It’s all about the time you have to spend on a project.
Remember, it takes about 16 grabs for every second of action so for a minute-long story it would take 960
“grabs” or frames.
Let’s Start “Grabbing”Notice that before we begin grabbing, Professor Abacus’ left arm
is barely in the frame
So, we’ll grab 4 frames, nudge him towards the
center, grab 4 more, nudge again, and so on until we’ve reached 48 grabs. He should end
up at center stage
We know from our storyboard plan the it will take about 3 seconds for Professor Abacus to move to center stage.
That means for 3 seconds at 12 grabs per second-we need 48 total “grabs.”
According to our storyboard, EVENT #2 has Professor Abacus holding his hands to his mouth while yelling “Sheepy, where are
you?” This should take about 2 seconds.
He does not need to move, so we’ll just arrange his hands and take 32 grabs.
2 Seconds (2 x 16 = 32 Grabs)
Here’s EVENT #3Sheepy enters from the right and moves next to Professor Abacus (His
hands return outstretched)
3 Seconds (3 x 16 = 48 Grabs)We’ll use the same technique as we did in EVENT #1:
4 grabs-nudge, etc., 12 times = 48 grabs
EVENT #4 (Final)
According to the storyboard there’s no action. We just need 2 seconds for Sheepy to say “Hello Professor Abacus!”
Here we’ll just grab 32 frames (2 seconds x 16 = 32)I also grabbed 16 more frames so we can have a little more
material
When You’re Finished Capturing Frames, Click “DONE”
You can save the “raw” video file (.avi) and we’ll import it into Movie Maker for audio, titles,
effects and credits
Open Windows Movie Maker
Import the raw video from Stop Motion
Animator
Drag the video down onto the 1st pane in
STORYBOARD view:
Click “Tools-Titles and Credits”
Choose “title at the beginning of the movie”
Type your Title and Choose an Animation Effect, Font Style, etc.
Click “Done, add title to movie”
You can add transitions between your titles and
your video.
Click “View video transitions”
Just drag the desired transition between
panes
Adding Dialogue
Several Options:You can add your own NARRATION,
however this will be in lieu of music. One way around this is to have music playing in the
background while you narrate.
Why the Limitations in Audio?
Movie Maker allows no more than 2 simultaneous audio sources. Even though the .avi file we captured from Stop Motion Animator didn’t include audio, it does “take up” an audio spot, as do all video files.
One effective way to include background music while supplying the dialogue is to use “Titles and Credits” and music at the same time.
Adding Titles to Supply the Character Dialogue
In Timeline view, play the movie from the beginning and pause the video at the exact point where Professor Abacus
holds his hands to his mouth to call Sheepy:
Click “Tools-Titles and Credits”Select “On the selected clip”
Type “Sheepy…Where are you?”
Choose an animation style and click “Done,
add title to movie”
You’ll see the title you just typed at the bottom of the screen:
Preview your video. If needed, you can shorten or lengthen any title by clicking the right border
Use the same technique to add the title “Hello Dr. Abacus!” as Sheepy meets him:
Adding Music:As a general rule…
Add music LAST
Why?
Sometimes we’re surprised when we add music early in the project. Transitions actually “steal” time from the slides they preceed (about a second) and this can have
dramatic consequesnces on how your music aligns itself in your movie
Dialogue
Seconds/Grabs
[Professor] “Sheepy? Where are you?”
Begin Cool Jazz Music
2 Seconds (2 x 16 = 32 Grabs)
Event # 2 At the beginning of event #2 in our storyboard, we
introduce “Cool Jazz Music”
Let’s import some Jazz into our project
Music
Click “Import audio or music”
Music files will appear with this icon
(It’s best to switch to “Timeline View” before inserting music into the
movie)
Click “Show Timeline”
Before Dragging the Music to the Timeline-Know these controls to find detailed moments:
Play/Pause
Stop
Rewind to the beginning
Move FORWARD
frame by frame
Go to end of video
Split the video to
allow insertion
of images or titles
Capture a paused moment of video
as a jpeg image
Move BACKWARDS
frame by frame
In Timeline view, play the movie from the beginning and pause the video at the exact point where Professor Abacus
holds his hands to his mouth to call Sheepy:
The “Cool Jazz” Music should begin when Professor Abacus begins to call Sheepy.
Drag the music icon down to the Timeline view so that the left edge aligns with the blue line where the video is paused
Drag music icon to
paused blue line:
Again, it may be neccesary to adjust the length of the music-click the right edge
to shorten as needed
Notice that right-clicking on a music, audio or narration file (in timeline view) allows you
several options.
Fading in and out can be very effective, especially when 2 audio sources meet up against each other.
Finally, we’ll add END CREDITS
Click “Tools-Titles and Credits”
And choose “Credits at the end of the movie”
Make a Stop Motion Video Using Only Movie Maker :
http://www.beverlyschool.org/animation/animationtutorial.pdf
Additional Information: Tips on Making the models
Try to keep the model simple and bold Include 2 or 3 features on face and head to animate Include at least 3 features on body to animate Make sure the features are big The model must be able to stand up Creating a storyboardMake a list of the events which will take place in your animation using bullet points Write down the length of time it will take for each event to occur Draw storyboard images to show the actions taking place for each event Shooting the animationInstall your chosen 'frame grabbing' software (see below for examples of software for Mac and Windows) and read the instructions of how to use the software Make sure the camera is on and you have removed the tape and plug the camera into the mains before you start to shoot your animation Shooting tipsTake 12 shots to start a scene before you start animating Take 1 shot per movement If you want to include a pause then take 6 shots If your character blinks or winks take 3 shots of the closed eye Take 12 shots to end the scene Remember that all movements must be small so the animation is smooth and flowing Watch and save your movie regularly Editing the animationWhen editing your animation you can take out any unwanted frames by deleting them You can also ‘copy and paste’ in extra frames to make the scene longer Sounds, titles and music can be added during editing Animation softwareiStopMotion by Boinx (Mac OS) iMovie by apple (Mac OS) 2animate by 2Simple Software (Windows) Revelation Natural Art by Logotron (Windows) DocsAlive by Softedge Systems (Windows) Kid Pix Deluxe 4 by RM software (Windows) Animation websites and softwarewww.animationforeducation.co.ukwww.tech4learning.comwww.accessarts.org/ArtKids/Tutorials/AnimationThanks to Oscar Stringer for providing the stop-motion instructions.
Thank you for being here!
Please pick up a card before you leave
All of the information in this presentation can be found on my website:
www.tinyurl.com/yhagoft