Claymation Videos
using iMovie ‘06
This tutorial assumes that you are using a Logitech Web Cam to take your still images for your claymation video. Of course, you can use any digital camera to do this. Just be sure to place all of your photos (and only those photos) into one folder, and name your photos with sequential numbers, so that you do not have to spend as much time sorting them after you put them into iMovie.
If you are using a Logitech Web Cam, open the QuickCapture
software, and then select Preferences from the QuickCapture
menu.
In the QuickCapture Preferences window, next to Capture Pictures, select Other.
Select your Desktop, and then click the New Folder button
to create a new folder. In the New Folder window that
opens, type a name for the folder, such as Project.
Click Create.
This will create a new Project folder on
your desktop.
Now, as you take the sequential photos for your claymation video, they will all automatically be saved into this folder, and they will be numbered sequentially as you take them. This saves you time later.
When you have finished, go into your folder of images and locate the very first picture that was taken. It should have the name of untitled.pict.
Change the name of this picture to untitled 0.pict, so that it will go into the correct order when you import your images.
Now that you have all your images, and they are correctly named, you are ready to begin creating your claymation!
Importing your images into iPhoto
First you must import your folder of pictures into iPhoto, which makes it easier to work with them in iMovie. You should have an icon for iPhoto on your Dock.
Drag your folder of images on top of the iPhoto icon.
This will force iPhoto to open and then all the photos in the
folder will be imported into the iPhoto library.
After all the photos have been imported into iPhoto,
click on Last Role in the Source area on the left.
Select all of the claymation photos (click one of the photos, and then press Apple-A on your keyboard).
Then click on the File menu and select New Album from Selection.
Type a name for the album and click Create. The album will now show up in the Source area on the left of the screen.
Click on the album name in the Source area. Look at the photos that are displayed. They should be in order because of the way they were numbered. But it is possible that they are in reverse order (from the end to the beginning). If they are in reverse, then click the View menu, move down to Sort Photos, and then choose Descending (or Ascending, if Descending is already selected).
If your photos are now in the correct order, exit iPhoto.
Creating your Claymation Movie in iMovie
Click the iMovie HD icon on your Dock to start iMovie
When iMovie starts up, you will see a splash screen like this.
Click on Create a New Project.
Select your Desktop as the location to save your new iMovie project (or you could select the Movies folder)
Click Create.
When iMovie opens, click the Media button.
Then, at the top of the Media area, click the Photos button.
If the floating Photo Settings window is not visible, click this button:
In the Photo Settings window,
make sure there is not a
checkmark next to Ken Burns Effect.
NOTE: A clip duration of 0:12 is actually 12/30th (or 2/5th) of a second.
Our goal is to set the clip duration to less than this (to perhaps 0:06), so that the claymation video has smoother motion. But a glitch in iMovie ’06 prevents us from directly setting it to any duration less than 0:12. Here is a trick for working around that glitch:
With only one of your photos selected, click the Apply button on the Photo Settings window. This will import that one photo to the time-line of your movie, with a duration of 0:12 second. Delete that clip from your time-line by pressing the Delete key on your keyboard.
Then click on one of your photos again. When the Photo Setting window
opens this time it will show a clip duration of 0:11 instead of 0:12. Click the
Apply button again and the photo will be added to your time-line as a clip with a
duration of only 0:11. Again, delete this clip from your time-line. Repeat this process. Each time you do this, the Photo Settings window will show a duration that is one thirtieth of a second less than the time before. Continue to do this until it shows the duration that you desire (0:06 or 0:05 is usually fine).
Once you have the clip duration to the desired length, click one of your images to select it, and then press Apple-A on your keyboard to select all the images in your claymation album. Click the Apply button on the Photo Settings window. This will import all the claymation photos into the time-line as video clips with a duration of 0:06 second each. This is 1/5th of a second each. So if you have 10 images, your video will be 2 seconds long. If you have 100 images, your video will be 20 seconds long, and so on.
After iMovie has imported all your images the clips should be lined up on your timeline like this:
Now you can edit your claymation video in iMovie the same way that you would any other video. You can add titles, credits, background music, etc.