Product Reviews

The Mac-only iStopMotion has been known for years as the best stop-motion animation tool this side of Hollywood, and users of all levels have had lots of fun with it. After a very long time in development, iStopMotion 2 has finally been released. The list of changes make it look like a very good deal, both for new users and current users of iStopMotion 1.0, so we were keen to see how it worked out in actual use.

First of all, the most important change. iStopMotion 1.0 had a long-standing bug that could, if you were unlucky or just opened and saved often, corrupt an animation document so that your work was lost. This was unusual, but it is something we've experienced in the past, so we are very happy to note that Boinx has finally sorted this out.

There are three different versions of iStopMotion 2 to choose from - Home, Express, and Pro. At £25 the Home version is the cheapest, and it has enough to keep almost any home animation enthusiast happy. The Express version costs £51, and includes the ability to import audio and sync animation to the sound waveform, rotoscoping, and more. The £255 Pro version adds HD animation up to 1080p, although it appears that you can't use any old HD camera and a FireWire cable. A special video capture card (Boinx recommends the BlackMagic Intensity card) is needed.

New animation projects are saved to disk from the start, so your work is saved as you go. Once you have saved your new project you will be presented with the new interface.

More of the important controls are now available in the main window

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rather than only in menus. There are a number of significant new options too, for example the chromakey-style compositing and masking effects, and it now includes a recording option for capturing live-action motion as well as frame-by-frame work. The window layout is very similar to iMovie HD, and is very simple to understand.

Rotoscoping is the process of making animations based on prerecorded video, and this is possible in the Express and Pro versions. Real-time recording of movements rather than just frame-by-frame capturing is another feature possible in the Express and Pro versions. This works well and is easy to use. It occasionally takes two frames at once, but this is generally unnoticeable in playback. Fast-moving objects might end up blurred. This can enhance the feeling of speed, but you might want to try another method if you want the object to be crisp.

Animations can be composited with existing movies, dropping the background out so your work blends into video clips. You can also make animated backgrounds and drop in movies if you use Express or Pro.

The foreground option, or at least the graphics that are supplied, won't be used a lot, but it is nice to have the option. The background compositing option is very simple to set up. You are able to sample colours from the camera's view and use them as the colour that is replaced by the image or video. It can be hard to get the conditions set up for it to work well, but all chromakeying processes have this problem. Good lighting and video equipment help.

The resolution limits of the Home and Express versions should be fine for most users, although this might change as HD video becomes more common. The Pro version costs rather more, but this is not going to be a big problem for professional users. For anyone who wants to have some fun exploring stop-frame animation, the Home version is an amazing deal; you should be able to make basic animations in minutes. If you want to get more serious, Express is still very affordable. iStopMotion 1.0 was a brilliant product, and version 2 is even better. It has ironed out the creases and added a lot of new and easy to use features.