How to Use Blinking in iStopMotion

Blinking in iStopMotion animation is a function that allows you to switch back and forth between the last frame photographed with your external camera and your real time preview for the purpose of fine tuning the progression of the action in your animation. IStopMotion animators use blinking in conjunction with onion skinning to tighten their animation and select the appropriate next frame in the animation series.

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

1. Select "View" in the bottom right of the iStopMotion animation working screen.

2. Click on "Blinking" in the options listed down the right side of the screen.

3. Turn on the blinking option. Select the box located next to the "Speed" slide bar in the blinking options drop-down menu.

4. Take the next frame in your iStopMotion animation with your external camera.

5. Check the "Mark Source Image" box below the "Speed" slide bar.

6. Look for a red blinking light in the top left corner of the screen. The light indicates that the photo you just took has been "marked" as the animation frame.

7. Turn on the "Preview" function at the bottom of the iStopMotion animation working screen.

8. Move the object you're photographing for the iStopMotion animation.

9. Watch as iStopMotion blinks you back and forth between the animation frame you marked and the real time preview.

10. Adjust the blinking speed between the two frames with the slidebar at the right of the screen in the blinking drop-down menu.

Tips & Warnings

• Check the system requirements before downloading the demo or purchasing the software license. IStopMotion only runs on Mac. To get the best results, Boinx suggests Mac OS X Tiger, QuickTime version 7.1 at least, a graphics card with OpenGL support and the still camera plugin Mac OS X v 10.3 or newer.
• Boinx Software recommends that users of Mac OS X v10.2.x run iStopMotion 1.5, and Mac OS X v10.4 "Tiger" users run iStopMotion version 1.8.1 or newer.

Resources

• Purchase iStopMotion from Boinx Software.