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Topic: Need Mac Software

I have been using many different free stopmotion softwares, but none of them save in video format.  I am looking for a software with all the normal features of a stopmotion app, but exort video (with multiple frame rates, like 15 fps one scene and 24 another), connect to webcam, and for Mac.  I am willing to pay, but about $50 is my top budget.  Anyone know of any good softwares?  What softwares do you all use.
Pretty much, I am a starting brickfilmer, releasing my first brickfilm in a couple days, but need to start forming my software list that will be reliable.  I have Wondershare Filmora and Hitfilm Express for editing, Audacity with Blue Snowball for audio/sound effects, Gimp for photo editing/rig removal, but need a software that exports video or a software that can make image sequences with my images.  Tried Framed software, but it isn't updated for mac os sierra.

Thanks for the help!

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Re: Need Mac Software

I would recommend iStopMotion. I have not used it myself, but I have heard that it is really really good for the 50$ price.
Again, I don't have any experience so, I can't really talk about its features and other things but everyone I know who uses it, is actually really liking its capabilities. It should definitely be updated for High Sierra and all the upcoming versions of macOS.

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Re: Need Mac Software

Is there anyone who can talk about their experience with Istopmotion?  I have found a couple of reviews saying they love it, and others that say that the chroma key is bad and it crashes often.  Any opinions about this software.

Also, I have taken about 2000 pictures for my next brickfilm to be realeased on my channel, but the software I have been using doesn't compile photos.  Does anyone know of a free or cheap (<$10) software that can do this?  Thanks for the help!

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Re: Need Mac Software

Basically any editing software will work. I personally use HitFilm 4 Express, if your computer can handle it, it's great for editing and compositing.

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Re: Need Mac Software

i have tried to sequence images in hitfilm, but cannot figure out how to change the duration of a selection of pictures at the same time.  Can you explain how to do this?

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Re: Need Mac Software

Check that the project is set to the frame rate that you animated at, and remember to import the frames by clicking the arrow next to "import" and selecting "image sequence" and select the folder with the frames in it(make sure that nothing else is in the folder, and they are arranged in the correct order). If you do that, you should see all the frames in one tidy box in the media section. I'm guessing you were having trouble importing frames because you weren't importing them as an image sequence, but if it still doesn't work and you need to manually change the duration you can do that by selecting the wanted frames, right clicking and selecting set duration. I know that 0.7 roughly equals 15 fps.

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Re: Need Mac Software

Try Frame by Frame. I've never used it because I use Windows, but I've heard good things and the guy who runs the site this says it works well. Here you go.

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Re: Need Mac Software

Alright, thanks to both of you for all of the help and suggestions so far.  Snorlax, I tried importing the images as an image sequence in Hitfilm and I think that will work, but I am wondering where you change the frame rate and if there is a way for one image sequence to be like 15fps and a different one be like 24fps.  Can there be different speeds for different sequences in the same edit?

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Re: Need Mac Software

When you open up a project, at the top there should be four tabs, "Home" "Project" "Edit" and "Export". If you click on Project you can see the frame rate, resolution and other things. Change the frame rate to what you want and then save it. As I said earlier, you can change the duration of a particle sequence by right clicking on it and selecting "Duration". What this means is that you can have a 15fps video, but have some of the shots be 24fps, you just have to change their duration.

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Re: Need Mac Software

Wow!  Thanks so much for the help!  It is working perfectly!  You just solved all my problems! mini/bigsmile

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Re: Need Mac Software

I figured out how to put image sequences together and that is all working in Hitfilm, but this morning when I went to export the video, the software wouldn't open, popping up an error that said
"Your computer does not appear to meet the minimum requirements to run HitFilm.
Please install the software on a computer which meets the system requirements provided here: hitfilm.com/support/hitfilm-express-2017
If you think this is not correct, please ensure that you have the latest GPU drivers installed and try again.
HitFilm will now exit."
I checked all the specs and they should all work with this version of hitfilm.  I tried re downloading hitfilm, but it still didn't work.  Any ideas on how to fix this problem?

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Re: Need Mac Software

Hmm, I'm not a HitFilm expert, but it may be your graphics card is not up to date and/or too old. It seems HitFilm worked well for you, but like I said, Frame by Frame is supposed to be really good. And this is a two in one program. You can animate and export without having to open your images in another program.

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Re: Need Mac Software

Yeah. I had a Mac and FrameByFrame was good. Except that it exports rather slowly and can crash sometimes if you take too many frames. You can even import images and export them.

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Re: Need Mac Software

I use I Can Animate (The original, not 2). It isn't available to buy any more but you can still download the free trial http://www.kudlian.net/products/icananimate/download/ which seems to last forever mini/confused . It's a little bit temperamental but has onion skinning, chroma key, configurable frame rate and exports to video. I also use the built in rudimentary vector drawing for special effects but would recommend virtually anything else for that purpose.

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Re: Need Mac Software

I have been looking at the software and wanted some opinions on it, so thank you for that @JOCo.
I would like a software that has rig removal in software, because right now I have to do one at a time in gimp and it takes a long time.

I currently use Heron Animation for frame capture, and FrameByFrame for image sequencing, but both of these softwares tend to crash once in a while when I am exporting my frames.

The only cheap software I have found that has rig removal is stop motion pro, which is not on mac yet.  Has anyone here used Istopmotion?  I have heard its good, but the reviews on the app store are not very good.

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Re: Need Mac Software

Have you heard of Fancypants on Youtube? He is a really good animator and he uses Istopmotion. It seems to work for him and his animations are really good. You can use Istopmotion to capture your frames which I would recommend. There are tutorials on how to mask in Hitfilm which you can do easily with a video. Frame5 studios also used to use it and the animations he made with them are good as well.

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Re: Need Mac Software

Hello, I used to use iStopmotion when I had a Mac. Now, I have a PC (which means another hunt for stop motion software for me). But I can definitely recommend iStopmotion, it is very cheap, easy-to-use, and has a lot of basic and advanced features for stop motion. I have used up to iStopmotion 3 I believe. It worked great. They have a trial if you are unsure about buying it. I'd recommend you try it and see if you like it. That's my two cents. Hope it all works out for you. Good luck!

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Re: Need Mac Software

Thanks @TheLegoBrick and @Brick Block Animations!
I will definitely get the trial for istopmotion.  Is there rig removal in software? 
Also, @TheLegoBrick could you link one of the tutorials for masking in hitfilm?  I looked around, and couldn't find any.
Brick Block Animations, I definitely recommend Stop Motion Pro for PC.  I have been thinking about going back to PC for animating just so I could use Stop Motion Pro (its not on Mac yet).
Thanks so much for the help!

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Re: Need Mac Software

Absolutely joebert10. And thank you for the recommendation. I just might save up for Stop Motion Pro myself. And as far as I know there isn't rig removal built-into iStopmotion. However, you can choose to edit single frames I believe, and mask them in external software (i.e. GIMP or Hitfilm). Then you can import the edited frames back into iStopmotion. Best of luck! mini/smile

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Re: Need Mac Software

I have Stop motion pro eclipse (stop motion pro) and is as good as Dragon frame plus you can edit frames. I would try the trial to see if it works with your camera.