Friday 20 March 2020
AnimaShooter 3.8.12.9
We are happy to announce that the new release of AnimaShooter 3.8.12.9 is now available for download! This version delivers a set of bug fixes. http://www.animashooter.com/
Thursday 19 March 2020
Reducing flicker for stop-motion animation
What is flicker?
Its the common problem of inconsistent lighting or luminance variation betweenconsecutive pictures were taken on the same camera, with the same lens and settings.
There are many causes of flicker:
- Auto camera settings;
- High aperture settings, too fast shutter speeds, Av stepping, Tv stepping;
- The type of lens used;
- Fluctuating electricity;
- Animator's clothing worn, and the materials that are being photographed.
Disable auto settings (except auto-focus)
Make sure that all auto settings on the camera body and lens are turned off and set tomanual. 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 is 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 depth of field and movement within the shot.
Use a slower shutter speed
Fast shutter speeds are another common cause of flicker because most DSLRs cannot beconsistent 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 using 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. For Canon cameras, it is good to use a Nikon manual aperture lens with a
Nikon to Canon lens adapter.
- 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 set up over the course of the shot orthroughout 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. Thisis 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 wallsof the shooting space. Mirrors, metallic objects may be the cause of the flicker.
Looking for some more info regarding flicker?
Check out this blog post at Adobe Blogs.Download this howto as a PDF.
Friday 13 March 2020
Configuration information for the 5D Mark II\Mark III
If you're using 5D Mark II\Mark III Canon cameras, we have found the following steps can optimize the camera settings for use with AnimaShooter. See our PDF howto.
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