I’m putting together a stop-motion animation workshop, and I’m looking for free software editing programs that will help patrons put images together. We have iMovie, but we only have one MacBook Pro, and ClipChamp for Windows, but I wondered if anyone knew of a free program we could use that will make the process more seamless and beginner-friendly.
When I did this program years ago Vine was still a thing, so that shows how outdated I am!
Any help anyone can share would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!
If you have tablets at your library, a free and very good stop motion animation app is Stop Motion Studio (Google Play link | Apple Store link)
You can try non-stop-motion animations using the OctoStudio app and block coding.
For more low-tech, if your library has some cameras, the photos can be uploaded to numerous gif-makers online. (Ezgif | gifmaker.me | GIPHY)
If time is limited, it might be helpful to set up camera stations that makes it easy to not have shaky misaligned photos. Bonus: scaffolding the experience can allow for more iterations in a short period of time, which gives learners more feedback on what works and what doesn’t, and supports their learning!
If you’re comfortable with doing things on the command-line or Mac Terminal, there’s a tool called Gifsicle. For easy installation on Mac or Linux, you can use Homebrew, a package manager.
Here’s another set of ideas on stop motion on the forum by @Dave , using iMovie and iPad: Stop Motion Videos
Alternatively, if you want to focus on non-stopping motion, you can try automata with cams, or paper pop-up cards / books also offer a variety of movement-based explorations.
