Best Free Stop Motion Software For Mac

Many feared that the inception of 3D animation would eliminate stop-motion animation in some day. While animation stop-motion animation still shines with its unique charm and the help of stop motion software that simplifies the process of making stop-motion animation.

Those are all free and very good video editing tools. As for shooting the sequence; you can do it without plugging the camera in to a computer, but I have a Canon, so I like to use the Canon Utilities software so I can liveview the feed on my computer and monitor the picture a bit better.

But what exactly is stop-motion animation?

  1. This software works on many platforms like Windows, Mac OS, and Linux. This software is compatible with many webcams. MonkeyJam is a stop motion software that allows you to capture images using a webcam. Capture images as Jpeg or PNG. Capture image in color or black and white.
  2. Top 8 Best Stop Motion Software. Stop Motion Pro Eclipse. Supported OS – Windows. Stop Motion Pro Eclipse is a comprehensive software solution that can be used to create complex stop motion animations. The tool can play up to 30 frames per second and allows you to record audio while playing animations.
  3. Blender remains some of the best 3-D modeling software for creative artists with its completely free use. Stop Motion Animation Tools. Best for Making Stop Motion Videos: Dragonframe. Dragonframe remains one of the best stop motion software solutions for mac today.
  4. Boinx iStopMotion (free trial, $10 app) While this stop motion software has a really strange name, do not let the difficult name fool you. In fact, this stop motion software is the best option for beginners. Even if you never did stop motion animation before, Boinx iStopMotion makes it incredibly easy.

Stop motion, also referred to stop-frame animation, is a kind of animation technique that objects are photographed with a small amount of movement between each frame, and the whole series of photos are finally combined and played continuously.

You might hear of representative works of the world-class stop motion animation company, such as Chicken Run, Wallace & Gromit, Shaun the Sheep by Aardman Animations; Coraline, ParaNorman by Laika. And this article has collected 7 best stop motion software that help you make stop motion animation like a pro. Without further ado, let's dive in!

#1. Dragonframe

Platform: Windows, macOS, Linux

Dragonframe is full-fledged and professional stop motion software that has the tools needed for the highest quality stop-motion animation production, and is ideal for projects aimed for digital cinema, television broadcast, and commercials.

When shooting and editing stop motion animation with Dragonframe, there are lots of helpful tools available. It can provide a video assist for animator to ensure whether you are doing right with movements, lights and others, but you need to have a camera, webcam, or smart phone that comes with Live View capabilities. If you're unhappy with camera settings made previously, you can regulate ISO, shutter speed, exposure, temperature, etc. directly from the program. More so, you can view the change between frames in real-time using the onion skin feature.

Key Features:

  • It uses Live View and onion skin as a video assist for shooting stop motion.
  • Frame-based timeline editing. You can reshoot frames in the middle, restore deleted frames, and move frames to any position with ease.
  • Animation tools include chroma key, drawing tools, playback/looping marker, configurable hotkeys, etc.
  • Rotoscope layer help you yield a better result.
  • Export stop motion animation using MOV, MP4, AVI and other formats.

#2. iStopMotion

Platform: macOS

iStopMotion by Boinx is one of the best stop motion software out there. It does not cost too much and requires a low system to run, which is the perfect balance between power and ease of use. A core benefit with iStopMotion is that it makes it possible to have your iPhone /iPod as the cameras and iPad as the controller, so that you can easily switch one camera source from another on your iPad and photograph objects with multiple camera angles. That makes iStopMotion well worth the investment. It should be noted that it is still not available to macOS Catalina currently, which might be prohibitive to some.

Mac

Key Features:

  • It works with stop motion animation as well as time-lapse videos.
  • Compatible with a wide range of cameras, such as Nikon DSLRs, Canon DSLRs, WiFi Cameras, Firewire Cameras and many more.
  • Instant playback allows you to watch your projects anytime you want.
  • Tight integration with Final Cut Pro X and iMovie. You can export your projects and retouch in other video editing software.

#3. MonkeyJam

Platform: Windows

MonkeyJam is a Windows-exclusive and free stop motion software that lets you capture still images separately from your camera and compiles them into a stop motion movie. What you need to do is to hook up a camera to your Windows PC through a cable, to launch MonkeyJam and set up video as well as camera settings. And you are good to start capturing stop motion. Though it doesn't have onion skin to compare the movement changes between two frames, the limitation, to be honest, isn't a deal-breaker for me as it's completely freeware.

Key Features:

  • Easy to use and sheet-driven interface.
  • Images are captured in BMP, JPG, or lossless PNG with or without color.
  • Customizable FPS rate.
  • Export videos as AVI formats.

#4. Stop Motion Pro

Platform: Windows, macOS

Stop Motion Pro is a tool developed for creating stop-motion animation and other forms of animated movies. A host of cameras can be used with Stop Motion Pro, including webcams from Microsoft or Logitech, Canon DSLRs, as well as Nikon DSLRs. Of course, you can either use supported capture cards, scanners, video cameras to shoot the images you want to animate. When it comes to its editing features, you can use drawing tools to create many special effects, or use multiple sound tracks to make your movie vivid.

Key Features:

  • Onionskinning adds a transparent overlay of your previous frame so that you can get the movement right.
  • The focus tool lets you check focus of your camera easily and accurately.
  • Erase wires, supports, holders with amazing rig removal tools.
  • Customizable shortcuts let you fly through your workflow.

#5. iKITMovie

Platform: Windows

iKitMovie is not a one-trick pony in terms of creating stop motion animation. It has a powerful sound library which contains 2200 high quality sound effects, such as Motors, Explosions, Forest Ambiences, Earthquakes, Clocks, Coins and many more. This way, you can totally rely on iKITMovie's built-in sound library and don't need to pay for copyrighted sound effects anymore. You are allowed to record voice-overs for your animation via headsets or microphone in iKITMovie as a matter of course. If you want to turn your stop motion Lego, claymation into a blockbuster, iKitMovie is a good choice.

Key Features:

  • Onion skin is a must.
  • Green screen/blue screen. It can replace your backdrop in a click.
  • Enhance your stop-frame animation with various sound effects and visual effects.
  • Export your image sequences to various movie video formats needed.

#6. Zu3D

Platform: Windows, macOS

Having Zu3D stop-motion animation software gives you the opportunity to get pretty good results with your stop action movies. Not only does it allow you to photograph still images of an object, it also provides a variety of tools to enhance your animation. Moreover, it uses a very simple operation philosophy so you'll likely feel comfortable pretty quickly even as a new-comer.

One other important tidbit to know is that it can remotely control webcams, mobiles, and tablets to capture images, which is useful when you've got your hand full.

Key Features:

  • Support unlimited video tracks and audio tracks.
  • You can add texts, speech bubbles, and credits to your movies.
  • Emulate the lip-sync effect with drawing tools.
  • Remove unwanted strings, wires, supports with the rig-removal tool.

#7. qStopMotion

Platform: Windows, Linux

Let's say would like to make high quality stop-motion movies with the help of a piece of decent stop motion software, yet you might have a tight budget to spend on professional stop motion software. You can go out with qStopMotion. Once you've experienced this free stop motion software, you will find that qStopMotion to not just complete, but surpass some paid programs in both simplicity and flexibility. It packs with features like onion skin, Live View, camera controls and more.

Key Features:

  • Create stop motion animation videos by importing images from a camera live or your hard drive.
  • It's possible to control your camera settings in the program.
  • Basic editing tools like adding, inserting, deleting, previewing, etc.
  • Helpful keyboard shortcuts to help you navigate the program.

Stop Motion Software

Rating

Pricing

Onion Skin

DragonFrame

$295

iStopMotion

$19.99

MonkeyJam

Free

Stop Motion Pro

$18/month

iKITMovie

$69

Zu3D

$24.99

qStopMotion

Free

Final Words

Every character, every expression, every scene in a stop motion animation video needs to be fabricated and built according to a certain ratio, which is time-consuming and has huge labor costs. The good is that the development of stop motion software brings convenience to stop motion animation photographing. It would be challenging to make effective creative decisions for your projects if without stop motion software. Then go and choose one needed from this article.

Stop motion software enables creating stop motion animation by adding physical images that are captured from any device. They allow adding pictures of popular formats like PNG, JPG, BMP, GIF, etc. They allow resizing images, setting frame rate and save them in animated video formats.

Related:

Stop motion app for mac

To know more about these software one can search Google using “stop motion software free”, “best stop motion software”, “free stop motion software for windows” or “stop motion software download”.

Dragon Frame

Dragon Frame is professional stop motion software. It allows digital still cameras and video cameras. It comes with various animation tools which can be used with keypad controls. It allows setting timeline for frames using timeline editor. It allows synching lip movement and audio easily. It allows customizing x-sheet with ease.

Stop Motion Pro

Mac

Stop Motion Pro comes with well-designed interface for creating stop motion animation easily. It comes with best frame editor tool. It allows adjusting pictures and adding frame painting, markers, frame counter, cross hair, etc. It allows exporting output images to many file formats and allows uploading to YouTube as well.

AnimatorHD

AnimatorHD is useful software for creating stop motion animation. It comes with advance frames feature and allow adding plenty of variants for each sequence. It has “overlay” and “markers” features. It comes with latest audio scope and lip synching features. It allows controlling animation with great flexibility and previewing test shots.

Stop Motion Animator

Stop Motion Animator helps to create stop motion animation easily and quickly by capturing images taken from the webcam. It allows resizing and setting frame rate for animations. It allows saving animation images in AVI file format. It allows working fast and is simple to install as well as easy-to-use software.

Other Stop Motion Software for Different Platforms

With plenty of stop motion software available for various versions like Windows, Mac Os and Android, one can go through the below mentioned software details including their features illustrated for each version individually. They are purely dependent on platform that they use and hence should be checked for platform compatibility as well.

Free Stop Motion Software for Windows – MonkeyJam

MonkeyJam helps to create stop motion pictures from digital and webcam cameras by creating any number of frames. It allows previewing frames and allows making necessary adjustments. It allows adjusting FPS rate and edit layer names as well as colors. It allows saving and re-loading x-sheets. It supports multi-languages also.

Free Stop Motion Software for Mac Os – FrameByFrame

FrameByFrame enables stop motion movie creation with ease and quickly. It allows importing pictures from any camera for creating stop motion animation. It allows exporting completed stop motion animations. It is simple to install and very easy-to-use software and allows removing unwanted frames. It comes with timeline feature to display different takes.

Free Stop Motion Software for Android – Stop Motion Studio

Stop Motion Studio allows creating stunning stop motion animations with great ease. It comes with grid mode to place objects easily. It comes with movie editor which allows previewing each frame at various speeds. It comes with timeline zoom in and out feature to handle thousands for frames too without losing any frame.

More Great Stop Motion Software for Windows, Android and Mac Os

For windows version some of the stop motion software is “qStopMotion”, “IKITMovie”, “SharpAnimator”, and “Purple Elephant”. For Mac Os some of the stop motion software is “JellyCam”, “Smoovie”, “Dragonframe”, “Time Lapse Assembler” and “zonMotion”. “Stop-Motion”, “Clayframes”, “Stop Motion Maker” and “PicPac” are some of the stop motion software for android application.

Most Popular Stop Motion Software for 2016 is iStopMotion

iStopMotion comes with most advanced features which makes it popular stop motion software. It allows previewing the animation even before capturing the frame thus helps to make changes. It allows setting time-lapse and printing animations to desired format. It allows screen capturing and turns them into animation easily. It supports images taken from wide range of cameras and devices.

What is Stop Motion Software?

Best Free Stop Motion Animation Software For Mac

Stop motion software captures images from various devices like cameras and webcams to create stop motion animations. They allow creating frames for each sequence quickly and allow setting time lapse easily. It allows adding sounds or music to the animation. They support many image file formats to create stop motion animations. It allows uploading completed animations to popular websites like YouTube directly.

To know more about their varieties and get more information about them one can search Google using “stop motion software mac”, “stop motion software, free download”, “free stop motion software for windows 7” or “free stop motion software for mac”.

How to install Stop Motion Software?

Stop Motion Editing Software

Installation instructions are supplied by the vendor along with the stop motion software installation file download. One can go through these easy-to-understand instructions which are provided with screenshots for each step of the installation and complete the software installation. One should check for system requirements that are described in the software website.

Benefits of Stop Motion Software

Stop motion software are the best tools to create stop motion animations or movies quickly in professional way. They allow adding multiple layers for each frame and adding images in the animation frames. They allow previewing each frame and adjust the frame rate accordingly. They are built in such way that they can process any number of frames easily without missing a single frame.

They allow capturing images from webcam by plugging it to the system. They help creating animation movies with great sophistication and they are very flexible to make various adjustments to pictures using simple techniques understandable even for novice users.

Free Stop Motion Software For Pc

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