AnimaShooter and a chromakey technique

A new video in the "Behind The Scenes" genre from the animation enthusiast, acting under the nickname Danialdali and working for AnimaShooter. In particular, the work with chromakey is discussed.

 

Linux versions of AnimaShooter Pioneer and AnimaShooter Junior are released

Linux versions of AnimaShooter Pioneer and AnimaShooter Junior are released and include all the features and fixes of corresponding Windows versions. For Pioneer, the licenses purchased for the Windows versions are valid. Download programs packaged as AppImage here.

The number of Linux-based operating systems is huge, and the Linux community of AnimaShooter is still small. Therefore, Linux versions of the program lack testing on different operating systems. If you use Linux and work on AnimaShooter, please tell us about your experience. We are interested in OS name and version, kernel version, and screen resolution.

AnimaShooter 3.9 is already available for download

AnimaShooter 3.9 is already available for download: www.animashooter.com

Now you can easily shoot even if your camera's Image Quality setting is set to something other than L (S, others). Added export WEBP with settings. Added export to MKV. Bugs fixed.

What's new in this version in a bit of detail

Export to MKV. In Capture and Pioneer, you can now export video in the Matroska multimedia container, which is a free and open container format, a file format that can contain an unlimited number of video, audio, images, or subtitle tracks in one file. It is a universal format for storing common multimedia content, such as movies or TV shows. When saving to MKV, the WEBM video codec will be applied for data compression.

Added WEBP export with settings. Now even the free Junior version has the ability to create a finished animation in WEBP. WebP is a modern image format that provides excellent lossless compression for images on the web. Using WebP you can create smaller and richer images that make the web faster. WebP lossless images are 26% smaller than PNG images. Lossy WebP images are 25-34% smaller than similar JPEG images at the equivalent SSIM quality index. When exporting, you can specify the number of cycles to play the animation (set 0 so that it spins infinitely), quality, method (affects the quality and speed of file creation), and sharpness.

You can now easily shoot in AnimaShooter Capture even if the camera's Image Quality setting is set to something other than L (S and others). Earlier versions of AnimaShooter Capture did not allow you to do this because there was a discrepancy between the live image from the camera (called Live View) and the captured frame. Canon cameras have one problematic feature. They don't report the actual size of the captured image in pixels, hiding it behind a letter code. Thus, different models of cameras have different pixel sizes of the L-format frame - the more expensive the camera, the larger the size of the output frame in pixels. This peculiarity makes it impossible for AnimaShooter to understand how the frame received from the camera should be scaled before the frame is shot and received via USB. Although you still can't get information about the incoming frame from the camera (this is not what the Japanese developers intended), we decided that this is inconvenient for animators, and now you can shoot even in modes other than L - but only after the first shot (when AnimaShooter understands what size the frame de-facto came in).

www.animashooter.com

No coupon code is needed

 Purchase AnimaShooter at a discounted price http://www.animashooter.com

New version of AnimaShooter 3.8.18 has been released

We are pleased to announce that a new version of the AnimaShooter 3.8.18 has been released, incorporating a bunch of new features and bug fixes: www.animashooter.com

1. New free feature — import of video

AnimaShooter, regardless of version, has stop-motion features that you can use for free at all times — loading and saving projects, shooting frames with webcam or HDMI devices, editing and exporting sequences, filters including chromakey preview, etc. In other words, you don't need a licence to make these features work. Just download any version of the software and get started.   

From version 3.8.18 video import was added to the set of free features. Now using AnimaShooter Capture or AnimaShooter Pioneer you may add video footage (as a sequence of frames) taken from any video file (supported by AnimaShooter) to your project. 

2. Exposure Control for imported or captured RAW footage

The new Exposure Control feature, included in all versions, lets you adjust the exposure of your frames at any time — when you shoot (Capture version), when you import frames (any version), or when you wish if a RAW frame is already included in your project (any version). You can work on a single frame or on all the frames included in your project. This gives you the ability to change the exposure setting whenever you want, not just when you shoot.

3. The new Chromakey Preview filter 

The new Chromakey preview filter allows you to remove the coloured background in your footage and thus check whether everything is okay in your scene if you shoot with chromakey and plan to further remove the background when editing. You can choose any colour as the background for keying your scene, but the background colour mustn't be present on any part of the foreground object. You will usually get the best results with a green background. You can also add a background image that will appear behind the foreground image that has the coloured background removed.       

4. Video Effects

From this version, AnimaShooter has a Video Effects dialogue that allows you to apply one of the suggested effects to the exported video. For frame-by-frame animation, one of the most important effects is Anti-Flicker, an effect that lets you effectively level out jumps in the lightness of a scene or objects in the frame.

Get it: www.animashooter.com

AnimaShooter 3.8.18 beta version released

What's new?

1. New free feature — import of video

AnimaShooter, regardless of version, has stop-motion features that you can use for free at all times — uploading and saving projects, shooting frames with webcam or HDMI devices, editing and exporting sequences, filters including chromakey preview, etc. In other words, you don't need a licence to make these features work. Just download any version of the software and get started.   

From version 3.8.18 video import was added to the set of free features. Now using AnimaShooter Capture or AnimaShooter Pioneer you may add video footage (as a sequence of frames) taken from any video file (supported by AnimaShooter) to your project. 

2. Exposure Control for imported or captured RAW footage

The new Exposure Control feature, included in all versions, lets you adjust the exposure of your frames at any time — when you shoot (Capture version), when you import frames (any version), or when you wish if a RAW frame is already included in your project (any version). You can work on a single frame or on all the frames included in your project. This gives you the ability to change the exposure setting whenever you want, not just when you shoot.

3. The new Chromakey Preview filter 

The new Chromakey preview filter allows you to remove the coloured background in your footage and thus check whether everything is okay in your scene if you shoot with chromakey and plan to further remove the background when editing. You can choose any colour as the background for keying your scene, but the background colour mustn't be present on any part of the foreground object. You will usually get the best results with a green background. You can also add a background image that will appear behind the foreground image that has the coloured background removed.       

4. Video Effects

From this version, AnimaShooter has a Video Effects dialogue that allows you to apply one of the suggested effects to the exported video. For frame-by-frame animation, one of the most important effects is Anti-Flicker, an effect that lets you effectively level out jumps in the lightness of a scene or objects in the frame.

Reducing flicker for stop-motion animation

What is flicker?

The common problem is inconsistent lighting or luminance variation between consecutive pictures taken on the same camera, with the same lens and settings.

There are many causes of flicker:

1. Auto camera settings;

2. High aperture settings, too fast shutter speeds, Av stepping, Tv stepping;

3. The type of lens used;

4. Fluctuating electricity;

5. Animator's clothing worn, and the materials that are being photographed.

Get the latest AnimaShoter Capture (Beta) and use the Antiflicker effect

Download AnimaShooter 3.8.18. Go to Timing Tab->Video Effects->Antiflicker. Set up the Smoothing algorithm, amount of frames to use in calculation, and click Save & Close. Start encoding.

Disable auto settings (except auto-focus)

Make sure that all auto settings on the camera body and lens are turned off and set to manual. Any auto settings, such as auto-exposure, auto white balance, and light optimizer may cause luminance variations from shot to shot.

Note, you still need auto-focus if you wish to be able to use the Canon zoom feature (x5, x10). Using auto-focus will not cause flicker, but it may cause differences in the focal plane depending on the shot's depth of field and movement.

Use a slower shutter speed

Fast shutter speeds are another common cause of flicker because most DSLRs cannot be consistent from frame to frame when shooting at fast shutter speeds. Keep the exposures to 1/30th of a second or greater.

Use a manual aperture lens to avoid flicker

With a digital lens, the aperture will close down to slightly different positions for each shot. That's why it is strongly recommended to use a manual aperture lens (such as a Nikon lens) with a Canon body. This is not a problem for still photography, but for stop motion it creates flicker. Using a Nikon manual aperture lens with a Nikon to Canon lens adapter for Canon cameras is good.

Note, a manual aperture lens has a physical ring for controlling the aperture. Do not get a ‘G’ series lens, which has no aperture ring.

Any lens with a manual aperture ring should solve the problem, by keeping the iris blades in the same position for the entire duration of the stop-motion shot.

Electricity levels

Electricity fluctuations may affect your lighting setup over the course of the shot or throughout the day. In this case, a variac transformer is your friend.

Clothing

Wear dark clothing while shooting to reduce the risk of light reflecting off the clothes. This is a very common cause of stop-motion flicker.

Your sets and objects

Watch out for highly specular materials that might be lying around or hanging on the walls of the shooting space. Mirrors, metallic objects may be the cause of the flicker.