The easy way to tell your story

If you want to make your own movie telling a story on a shoestring budget, stop motion animation (also sometimes called claymation) with iStopMotion is the way to go. No need for a script, talented actors, a crew, a huge stage. Just bring your toys and your fantasy, hook up your camera to your Mac and have a go. It is so easy, your kids can do it. Spend your weekend doing something worthwhile with your family. Stop Motion animation with iStopMotion is fun for everyone. It challenges your imagination and gives immediate gratification.

Watch David Pogue, New York Times Technology Columnist, get excited about the magical weekend he spent with his family.

Hours of Fun - with a Twist

Creating animations with iStopMotion is not just pure fun. While animating, kids learn skills that are useful to them in the future. They learn to set a goal and work towards it. They learn to break it down into small steps (literally). And storytelling skills are very en vogue at modern marketing seminars.

It's great how quickly you can get iStopMotion up and running. My 10 year old son is talking all about sets, storyboards and lighting now!

Kevin Mears

customer

What is Stop Motion Animation?

If you watch a movie, you are actually watching a sequence of still images paraded before your eye at high speed. The movement you see happens because there are small differences from one still image to the next. Early film makers quickly discovered that you could do special effects by shooting the images one by one instead of at full speed. They would make a puppet of a gorilla and build a miniature Empire State Building and put them in front of the camera. In between making images they would make subtle changes to the gorilla, bringing it to life when the final movie was played. This technique is still used for kid's TV shows, commericals, music videos and even feature films. And now you can do it at home.

To me, that was the perfect weekend of inspiration and magic and creativity. That's what technology can do.

David Pogue

New York Times Columnist

Immediately Gratifiying

It is very important for kids that they can immediately see the fruits of their work. Onion skinning shows you even while you are animating what it is going to look like. You can easily spot when you accidentally moved the camera or forgot to move a piece of your scenery. Correct this error and move on.

Let Your Imagination Wander

Use one of the background scenes included with iStopMotion Home to put your actors on the moon or deep down under water or have your movie play in a desert. All from the comfort of your living room. Or add a curtain to the foreground to make it look as if your performance takes place on a theatre stage.

Show It To Your Grandma

Take your animation with you anywhere you go. Either put it on a DVD with Apple's iMovie and iDVD and show it on a TV set, or use your printer to create a flip-book, something so simple that it works even without electricity, and fits into your pocket to be taken anywhere you want.