Claymation

Claymation (or stop motion animation) can be achieved with simple tools. The following are steps in creating the ultimate claymation short film or movie.

To create animation you need the following,

Camera
A simple digital camera would be the ultimate way to create a animated movie. In the movie Corpse Bride, they purchased a 16 megapixel camera for their shooting. You can also use a movie camera, or a web cam. (You could go out and purchase a professional animation camera). A film camera, will take hundreds of rolls of film. So If its a low budget project, stick to digital. If you are doing it film, do it with a professional animation camera. Don't forget to purchase a tripod! Without one, animating will seem impossible.

Editing
If you are going digital, you need a computer. I prefer a Mac, but a PC will do just fine. Macs come with all the software to make your own home movie! Then get an editing software for your clips. iMovie comes free with MacOSX. Next, if you are adding voices to your feature, get a good microphone. Last thing, you will need very much disk space. A short film takes under four gigabytes!

Story

 * /Script/
 * /Story Boarding/
 * /Animatics/ (optional)

Modeling

 * /Sets/
 * /Props/
 * /Clay Puppets/

Most amateur animators tend to just go out and buy some clay, but there are many to choose from. I can't tell you what exactly to buy, but make sure you buy all the same brand, or the clay figurines will all be slightly different colours. you can also build or buy an armature. An armature is basically a skeleton for your clayman. you can make these by just bending some aluminium wire to fit your model, or buy an armature from lots of leading brands such as stop mo tec armatures, which I would recommend, or armabenders armatures. you can buy stikfas from www.stikfas.com. you will find out what these are on the site. If you are a seasoned animator and are looking for something more, try buying a guide on how to make foam latex puppets on www.animateclay.com. Foam latex is a substitute for clay, which looks more professional and does not have fingerprints all over them. These things can be made easily and are a brilliant way to kick up your animation a notch.

But whatever you do, you must concentrate while making a model. You better consult some books on anatomy, this really helps.