Claymation Ideas Development

1. Develop your character(s).
2. Brainstorm your animation ideas
3. Sketch out your idea, props, expressions, background.
4. Write a short "pitch" of the story idea.
5. Storyboard your animation in sequence/order significant frames or changes. This is the most important time in your creative process:

• Make sure to establish your scene, consider medium shots to establish your character, and close-ups to show details and expressions, cut aways, and frame composition. 
• Also plan your mood: lighting, background details, texture, and movement within and between frames. 
• Consider the space between, pauses, and thoughtful moments.

6. List out what you will need for your set-

• Materials- Recycled paper. Clay? Paper? Whiteboard? String/yarn? Lights?
• Image capturing device? Camera needs.
• Equipment needs : Tripod, lighting equipment, background stand...
• Backgrounds: Paper, fabric, or location.
• Location: School, home, room?
• Additional ideas:

7. Test shoot, lighting, scene, composition.
8. Create an X-sheet for timing, sound ideas, and production notes.

ClayMation Project

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=irOecGxh36g
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PTFI7_tAgm4
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jrZMpA2DSe4

1. Start with a Story Idea
Brainstorm a simple idea. Keep your story basic, short and to the point, but meaningful to you. Maybe document an uncomfortable experience and make it funny. Jot down points, scribble notes about ideas.

2. Write a Script
The first step to making a claymation is to write a script.  While your clay figures are unlikely to be very talkative, that doesn't mean you're not telling a story. It doesn't have to be long or complex, in fact if it's your first attempt it's best to start simple to get some practice so you won't be overwhelmed. Also consider a pitch about your story- a one line description of what your story is about.

3. Develop your Character
Sketch out character ideas. Figure out the expressive potential of your character, Clothing, props, shape, Consider how your character will move in the space that you will be creating. You may want to pick up a ball of clay to shape and experiment with.

4. Storyboard your Idea
 Not frame by frame, but draw short changes in your sequence or story. Significant movements each. Sketch out your idea. Consider shots- Long establishing shot, medium shots, close-up, and extreme close-up, and angles. Also plan your background, props, and lighting.

5. Share your Story
Tell your story out load to others. Hearing your story will help you consider believability, logistics and sequence. Encourage your listener to ask questions. Take notes. Consider making changes to clarify your story idea.


A note on the music/sounds:
Music/sounds can have a huge impact on the mood of your animation. If you want to create a sad or eerie mood, try using music with a lingering piano or a lone violin. Upbeat and cheery music would be appropriate if you wanted to create a blissful mood. Be aware of the mood your claymation is displaying so you can match music with it. You can't be showing a sad scene with benny hill playing, it just doesn't work.

Claymation/Stop Motion Animation

Let's take a look at a few stop motion animation pieces:
Some Stop Motion Animation Examples-

Balance
Zero

Blends of Stop Motion and Real Life-
Address Is Approximate from The Theory on Vimeo.
Only in Dreams

Metamutography-Blending Clay with StopMotion
Samsung is amazing!
Vimeo- Quadratmeterboy

Claymation
Pingu Goes SnowBoarding
Mound

Animated GIFs using Adobe Photoshop

Create an animated GIF in Photoshop from the Adobe Learn and Support site

Learn how to use a series of photos and frame animation to create an animated GIF.

In this tutorial, you'll learn how to turn a series of photos into a looping animated GIF using Photoshop.

This technique works well for creating a timelapse animation using series of photos taken from a DSLR or point-and-shoot camera, or even a mobile device. For the example, we used a series of photos taken with burst mode from an iPhone. Download photos from your ball animation
Tip: You can also use this technique to create an animated GIF from a short video.

Step 1 of 5

Import a series of photos

Open Photoshop and go to File > Scripts > Load Files into Stack.
Click Browse and locate the photos you want to use. While holding down the Shift key, select all the files and click Open.
Click OK to import the photos into a single layered file.

Note that a number of new layers have been created in the Layers panel on the right side of your workspace.
These individual layers will become the frames of the animated GIF.

Optional: Import a Video

If you're starting with a short video, you'll first need to convert the frames of the video into individual layers. Go to File > Import > Video Frames to Layers....
Locate and select the video file you want to use and click Open.
Click OK to convert the video frames to a single layered file.
Note: Photoshop may not be able to fully import a video that is too long. Use the options in the Import window to limit the amount of frames imported. You can select to import the entire video, or choose just a segment of the video. You can also limit the amount of frames imported to a set interval, such as every 2 frames.

Step 2 of 5

Open the Timeline

Go to Window > Timeline to open the Timeline panel.
Click the arrow on the button in the middle of the panel and select Create Frame Animation. Then click the button to create a new frame animation.

Step 3 of 5

Convert layers into animation frames

Click the menu icon from the upper right corner of the Timeline panel. Click Make Frames From Layers.
This will convert all the layers in the Layers panel into individual frames in your animation.

Click the Play button from the bottom of the Timeline panel (or press the Spacebar on your keyboard) to preview the animation.
Note: If your animation is playing in reverse, click the Timeline menu icon again and select Reverse Frames.

Step 4 of 5

Set the animation to loop

Click the repeat menu from the bottom of the Timeline panel and select Forever. This will create a looping animation.

Click the Play button from the bottom of the Timeline panel (or press the Spacebar on your keyboard) to preview the animation.

Step 5 of 5

Export the animation as a GIF

Go to File > Export > Save for Web (Legacy)...

1. Select GIF 128 Dithered from the Preset menu.
2. Select 256 from the Colors menu.
3. If you are using the GIF online or want to limit the file size of the animation, change Width and Height fields in the Image Size options.
4. Select Forever from the Looping Options menu.

Click the Preview... button in the lower left corner of the Export window to preview your GIF in a web browser.
Click Save... and select a destination for your animated GIF file.

Done!

Congratulations! You have just created your animated GIF.
Note that you can also use this technique for any layered Photoshop file.

Ball Animation

Animation- Bouncing Ball Explained
TED Animation Basics: The art of timing and spacing

Animation Assignment #1- DOT

Animation Assignment #1- DOT

Develop your idea
Make your DOT do something... it can turn into something, go somewhere, or... dot dot dot...

1st Play with toonator.com and develop your Dot animation idea. Try 3-5 variations of your dot on "Toonator" and post a least 3 to the Class Sharing Space. Then select your best idea and turn it into a flip book...

Flip Book:
You will be given a little flip book/note pad and a pencil. Some pages of the flip book may have graphics, some maybe blank. You can incorporate the graphics into the animation or not.

• Save the first page for your name and title, but do that last.
• Best to start from back to front.
• Consider what you want your dot to do. Choose your favorite/best from your Toonator idea development. Maybe ask some of your classmates to help you decide from you top 3 ideas.
• You can alter your concept from your digital draft if it works better for your Dot concept.
• Draw a dot on the last page.
• Then flip a page and draw the dot again, but alter the placement, size, or shape of the dot slightly.
• Flip the page again and continue until your dot does something or goes somewhere.
• To make the movement slower, keep the changes very tight/close to previous. Alternately, to make the movement more rapid, draw the dot further from page to page.
• Have fun!
• You can use color too!
• Be creative! 
• Remember that you have no limits other than your imagination. And the length of pages in your flip book.
• Draw minimum of 50 pages...
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1zDtAjQpT3Ofr_pkD3r1pZsPUueuCQCZrB9dGz0Q_pmQ/edit?usp=sharing 

Bone Tool- Weight Paint

To learn about "Weight paint". This is a mode (Like object mode) where you can select each individual bone and paint the area on the mesh you want to be affected by each bone. 

As long as it's part of the same mesh as the body, select the head bone in pose mode, right click on the mesh, go into weight paint, paint the hat, then select that bone in pose mode and see if it moves now. That's kind of a quick explanation, but this tutorial probably does a better job:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W_sfan8OchA

Some of the best tutorials under the animation section of blendercookie.com. Watching these are pretty inspiring because they show just how in-depth one can go into rigging and animation. I've seen everything from rigging pistons to jumping balls to spiders.

Animating Gingerbread men tutorials. 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WwTyGvog27I