How to Use a Surface Gage for Stop Motion Animation

Learn how to use a surface gage to animate stop motion puppets for easing in, easing out and objects at a constant speed. It's easy to do and you don't need an expensive gage. Just a block of clay, a dowel rod and a piece of wire. Or of course you could buy a real gage that machinists use, but it's not always necessary.

See more tips and tricks at:
http://www.animateclay.com

Check out the stop motion store at:
http://www.stopmotionstore.com

Category:

Film & Animation

Tags:

• how to
• tutorial
• surface gage
• stop motion
• animation

[Clayguy101]

hey i was wondering if you could give me some tips, i dont have much in the way of money so armatures arnt an option for me, its been a long time since i have animated, but i really want to get back into it, my main problem is modeling. I want to make small characters that look like anime characters if that makes sense and i cant figure it out.

[animateclay]

@Clayguy101 Hey clayguy, my tip for you is to do all you can to build an armature out of something. It's the foundation of your puppets. Without one you can't animate them.

[lukeriverplate]

Hey Animateclay,

I'm barely starting off with this stop motion stuff, and I wanted to make a monster for an indy movie i'm making with some friends, any tips on making the beast?

[animateclay]

@lukeriverplate I would go with the build-up technique, where you take foam and tie it to your armature. Then paint over the outside with latex you tinted with acrylic paints. Check out the lone animator blog - just google it. It describes how to do it.

[fallbrookg]

animateclay, do you know of any videos of someone doing animation? I'd like to see a good animator do like 30 frames of just making a puppet walk or something

[animateclay]

Yeah, check out my favorited video section, I know there are a few in there.

[srcuadra]

Hello, very nice tutorial, where can I get that structure?

[Clayguy101]

@animateclay thanks for your reply, ive been thinking about using magnets for a sort of tie down but cant figure out if they will interfear with my computer or camera. Thanks!

[terrymation]

interesting, I never thought of using this technique