Claiming the record for World’s Smallest Stop Motion Film by Guinness World Records, IBM has launched themselves from technology giant to filmmaker phenoms. The viral video was posted on April 30 and has already been viewed over three million times! The official description of the video says, “the ability to move single atoms — the smallest particles of any element in the universe — is crucial to IBM's research in the field of atomic memory. But even nanophysicists need to have a little fun. In that spirit, IBM researchers used a scanning tunneling microscope to move thousands of carbon monoxide molecules (two atoms stacked on top of each other), all in pursuit of making a movie so small it can be seen only when you magnify it 100 million times. A movie made with atoms.” Watch how this amazing stop motion movie was created and prepare to be blown away.

Stop motion animation is being used more and more for educational purposes because of the easy to use tools available (like, ahem, iStopMotion!) and quick comprehension for young students. Just as IBM transformed their lab in the video above, science classrooms are being turned into film studios. Stop motion is no longer just an artistic medium, but a powerful learning tool when put in the hands of students. Check out some other ways that stop motion, and iStopMotion in particular has been impacting the world of education (like this! And this!) and click here to read more about IBM’s continual contributions to the world of atomic memory.

Animation Chefs worked with a group of local kids to make an adventure movie about discovering an ancient pyramid in a jungle and finding ghosts there. They took pictures of them doing different facial positions which they then printed out on card stock white paper. They cut out just the faces, and then built some bodies out of construction paper.

Last week of April, at Nordic Light Festival Of Photography, this time lapse of Kristiansund beautiful harbor was captured with iStopMotion for iPad and edited in FotoMagico, adding the slow pan & zoom effect and the titles within minutes.

Discover innovative ways to strengthen your photography business with your iPad.

Derrick Story is back with his fifth book release. "iPad for Digital Photographers" is a instructional guide on how to leverage the strengths of the iPad to enhance your photography and your business. With helpful tips that include editing techniques when you're on-the-fly, suggestions for backup storage devices, and how to take advantage of the hi-res display. WiFi connectivity, and powerful processor to increase efficiency, Story uses clear and entertaining writing to give great advice for the digital photographer.

With an entire section about how to use iStopMotion from Boinx, Story demonstrates that he is a jack-of-all-trades. From photography to stopmotion, readers will have a chance to learn from a professional on how to execute the most exciting and aesthetically pleasing pieces of art in multiple mediums. The video featured above entitled "The Overlook (Time Lapse)" was created utilizing the timelapse feature of iStopMotion for iPad. By combining his love for digital photography and stopmotion, it is easy to see why Story is an expert as you flip through the pages. Here is the description of the book in the iTunes store:

Many photographers are turning to the flexible, easy-to-use tools of the iPad and relying on them to wear a variety of hats in their photography business. Whether portable portfolio, editing tool, payment-tracking system, or appointment calendar, the iPad melds together the best attributes of the cell phone and a laptop computer and this unique book highlights them all. With this helpful resource, you'll learn how to get the most out of your iPad to not only improve your business but also enhance your photography.

Get the book now here for 16.99 USD. Make sure to check out Story's other publications including "The Digital Photography Companion" and "The Digital Photography Pocket Guide."mac You can also find him at Macworld Magazine where he writes a digital photography column or at his online camera club, The Digital Story.

The ever-wise Mac Sage reminisces on what it was like to animate as a child, ruing the fact that the “brilliantly simple” iStopMotion for iPad didn’t exist back in the day. Here’s why:

“I remember fondly my first animation class when I was eight years old. There was the excitement of creating a story with inanimate objects and bringing them to life with a Super-8mm camera. I also remember how agonizing it was to wait for the film to be developed so I could view the fruits of my labor. If only I had an iPad and iStopMotion back then…

iStopMotion ($9.99) is a well-design app for the iPad 2 and third-generation iPad. The interface is simple and intuitive, allowing young and old animators alike to get to the task at hand. You can use either the front or rear camera to create your masterpiece. And, with the free iStopMotion Remote Camera app, you can remotely control an iPhone camera to shoot your video.

Once you realize how easy it is to animate with iStopMotion, you’ll never look at the inanimate objects in your life the same way!”

You can say that again, Mac Sage. When it comes to iStopMotion, no object is off limits! Thanks for sharing your wisdom with the world.

Read Mac Sage’s full review of iStopMotion for iPad here.

Since the last time we talked to our good friends the Animation Chefs, the team has been cooking up quite a storm. Working on their sixth and seventh episodes, there has been little downtime to sit back and relax. With a busy household of four kids who all need to be in two places at the once, the production crew never really gets a break. Their crazy lives may be a little hectic, but they are enjoying every minute. Finalizing the latest season of seven episodes, which even includes a Valentine’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, and Easter special, the animation chefs haven’t even gotten to the main course.

Through readily available devices like iPads and smartphones equipped with stop motion animation programs, barriers that once held enthusiastic kids back from creating have been broken down, letting the fun pour in. With these tools in tow, the Animation Chefs saw a multitude of possibilities, one being the opportunity to help nurture youth interest in multimedia. They jumped at that opportunity with two goals in mind.

“We decided to reboot Animation Chefs as a regular web show with episodes, a site where kids could come to learn to do better what they were already posting on YouTube, and have fun being part of a community of others doing the same and have some fun along the way,” the Animation Chefs said. They also started up local classes to get kids hands-on experience working with iStopMotion and iMovie.

“We hold classes at a local gymnastic center, where a spare room can be rented, and word gets out through community groups and signs at the center as well as through the small following we have online. [We] use classes to experiment with teaching different age groups different kinds of animation and use what we learned to inform our web series [followers]. That way what we teach on the series, we know already works with kids. Our ‘fanimations’ come from these sessions.”

The Animation Chefs credit iStopMotion for some of their success. They trust the company history and the simplicity of the interface. They referred to iStopMotion as their “blanket: safe, comfortable, warm and fuzzy.” Having produced about 20 movies with iStopMotion for iPad, the team has never had a crash or any problems. But what makes them like it even more is how easy it is for their students to learn and produce their own short films. The Animation Chefs can see the creative wheels turning inside their young minds when given the opportunity.

“[iStopMotion] takes full advantage of the iPad's simplicity and tactility. The light bulbs go off over [students’] heads when they get how expressive they can be with their imagination. Visual storytelling is not something they've ever been taught or planned out with a camera. They can write stories. They can speak stories. Now they can show stories. Anything they can think of is possible! Powerful stuff.”

They want to teach millions of kids how to use the innovative digital tools around them to create media, not “just vegetate in front of it passively.” By continuing to share their knowledge through the web series, kids everywhere will soon have the necessary know-how to independently create their own animated movies. But it is more than just an art to them and the kids.

“We don't even think of this as art. We think of this as the basic way kids of our generation communicate, build community, and think. We think like distributors as much as we think like filmmakers. iStopMotion has a 'post to YouTube' button as an export function. An entire generation of kids not only create visual media, but distribute it as well. We don't take drawing classes. We don't take dance. We don't paint. We are self-taught visual storytellers who publish our vision to our fans. Is that art? Is that publishing? Is it visual literacy? Is it media literacy? We don't draw these lines. We are performing, educating, and building a community.“

Looking towards the future, the Animation Chefs don’t plan on slowing down. In fact, it seems they will be turning up the heat.

“We have attracted the attention of animation industry pros who have kids. So we have a number of relationships that we are using to make our second season even more helpful and exciting than the first. We are working on a massive database of animation formulas that even a 5 year old with an iPad can understand. We will eventually have a training program so anybody with tablet computers can start their own classes and teach their own local raving animators the finer points of all the above – using our research.“

One thing is for sure: whatever the Animation Chefs manage to cook up, the rest of us will be hungry for it. Check out the Animation Chefs website or their YouTube channel to stay up to date with the latest progress and videos.

We're a bit late on catching this one, but here's hoping you had a fantastic St. Patrick's Day last weekend! Hopefully YOU didn't get pinched... stop motion animation made by the Animation Chefs!

A large crowd and catchy band sets the stage for what seems to be a beautiful wedding along the water. But as the guests arrive for the joyous occasion, some uninvited creatures crash the party. Using his own original music mixed in Garageband, “The iPad Musician” Richard seamlessly tells the story of a day gone awry. With the iPad acting as a remote control, Richard used iStopMotion 3 to document the Lego wedding, citing that the “iPad remote camera setup meant [they] were able to leave the Mac where it was and [they] weren’t tripping over cables.” Taking well over 1,000 frames in seven hours, iStopMotion enabled an efficient and quick working platform. I wonder if there will be a honeymoon? To see more from Richard, visit his Vimeo channel or his Blogspot.

Recently, Oliver went on a short skiing trip to Oberjoch, Bavaria, Germany. The snow cats were pretty busy at night preparing the runs. The time lapse was made with iStopMotion for iPad and edited in Final Cut Pro.