Bricks in Motion
We are a friendly filmmaking community devoted to the art of stop-motion animation using LEGO® and similar construction toys. Here, you can share your work, join our community of other brickfilmers, and participate in periodic animation contests!
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I just did this test trying out 12 fps for the first time ever...and I love it! It seems so much better than 15 for brickfilming, (IMO)...what do you guys think, is the switch a worthy decision?
Link:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdzsSWj1 … e=youtu.be
And another!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EhW_qSEG … e=youtu.be
Tell me what you thought for those animations!
Last edited by MrMingleProductions (March 10, 2013 (11:20am))
I've done my last few films at 12fps. It's not a bad framerate by any means, and can help mitigate the tedium of animating slow scenes. I don't know if I'd say I like the end result better than 15fps, but so long as you can animate well it isn't difficult to make it work.
15 is better, because of smoother, but you can try.
Guys, I like the level of smoothness i got in the tests, and i dont believe that the animation is all in the smoothness, its just the animation. Aardman use 12 and it suits them fine...i really think this'll work!
Nope, Aardman uses 24 FPS (same as the standard live-action frame rate). It's one of the reasons their films take long to make.
I thought it was 24 on twos? I don't know, I may be wrong...
Well, the animation looks really smooth, despite being lower than the usual rate.
If I were shown this in a brickfilm, I would have just assumed that it was 15. It looks significantly better than 10 FPS.
Obviously, if you don't want to go for the extra 3 frames a second, this may work.
Though, this isn't more smooth than the rest of your animation. I'd say that 15 is still better.
Thanks Squid! Yeah, I don't know, I really like the motion i can achieve with 12 and how much quicker i find it but 15 is obviously smoother...i might use a mixture, with 12 for talking and such and maybe 15 for fast motions.
Traditional animation studios animate 24 FPS in twos, but sometimes insert an in-between frame for certain complex or fast motions.
I think your test looked pretty good. 12fps would definitely be fine to use. Sure 15fps might look better however. But this 12fps does have a certain appeal in it's stylistic qualities. If going down by 3 frames saves you a lot of time, it may be worth it. However, if it really doesn't cut down on time spent animating, I don't know if it's really worth it or not.
That first one was fantastic, but it would look much better with 15 FPS! 
Same thing on that second clip!
When I started "animating," I would film a shot with my old video camera, pause the live footage (a feature I discovered on that camera) and then play the next frame... With this process, I would speed up the footage in the computer so that it appeared as if I had done true stop-motion. (Which, it was, but, in the form of video)
Recently, I looked back at those films, and clocked it at approximately 8 fps.
After then, I got a still-camera and would animate at what I thought to be 15, but was actually 12 fps.
Since early 2011, I have used "true" 15 fps. However, I always have been looking to improve the look of my films... And, taking inspiration from the "look" of the films of One Brick Studios, MindGame, and Starflight Studios, I have tried to film on 2's at 24, AND digitally adding an "onionskin blur" frame between all frames: i.e. f1, f1+2, f2. In the end, I've found that the extra time spent editing in these extra frames isn't worth the oh so just barely smoother animation! At least for me.
So, I stick with 15 fps... However, for a test, or even if you're just lazy, it's fine to animate at 12 fps...
However, if you DO choose to animate at 12, I would suggest testing out the "onionskin blur" frame thing, as it makes 12 look more like 15. 
(Onionskin blur frames can be achieved easily, in GIMP, by setting the "above" layer to 50% opacity: and saving that frame as a between “1” and “2” frame - like “1+2.png”)
Just remember... You don't have to film the whole movie at one constant frame rate.
Repelling Spider, I totally agree...although 15 looks good, my 12fps is more stylish...and I actually animate much quicker with it than 15 even though its only 3 frames less lol
it's 3 frames less x the number of frames, a 20% reduction in the time required to photograph.
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