stop motion Station 1.3
stop motion Station 1.3 comes in 1 version. stop motion Station is very different from other stop motion animation programs. For a start it only operates in full screen mode. In other words when you are using it all you see onscreen is the image of what you are capturing. Also the keyboard is the main tool used to operate the application unlike other applications which are predominantly mouse driven. However this is not necessarily a drawback as it helps you to focus on the object or subject of your animation. The enter key is the capture key and the spacebar is used to stop and start playback. Use F2 to bring up the menu under "more screenshots". The Up and Down arrow keys are used to change the frame rate eg. 15 FPS to 20 FPS etc. Also worth noting is that when the application starts it will adjust your screen resolution to 640x480 something which alarmed me a bit at first but you get used to it quickly.
The version reviewed ( 1.3 ) had some problems with Vista. You need to ensure you use the "Run as Administrator option" to get it to work. The help files I must say are very good indeed. Also Andrew Jaremko the man behind the program is very helpful and forthcoming with assistance and information.
Learning Curve
For beginners the learning curve is not steep.
Other features of the application worth mentioning include a time lapse capture and onionskinning.
FULL SCREEN image, always.
Immediate playback - NO RENDERING.
Change speed and direction DURING playback.
Play the movie forward, backward, or ping-pong.
"Scrub" through the movie (in View mode) with the mouse!
Cut, copy and paste frames to edit your movie!
Compare the camera image with frames in the movie, using Onionskin or Flutter.
Special screen modes let you view DV camera frames as 4:3 or 16:9.