Overview
StopMojo is cross-platform stop-motion animation suite designed to aid in the
creation of stop-motion animations. Currently it includes a capture program
supporting capture of image files from various video capture devices,
overlay of previous frames (onion skinning), and export to AVI and QUICKTIME
video formats.
The goal is to create a program or suite of programs to facilitate the creation of
stop-motion movies. Initially, we only intend to provide software to capture
individual frames (possibly exporting to various video format files) and
create/edit exposure sheets (xsheets) for audio/lip sync.
We do not intend to provide a general video editing packing like
Adobe Premiere or other similar programs. We intend to provide software to
capture stop-motion scenes that can then be imported to a video editing
program to be compiled into a movie.
Current Features
- Cross-platform: works on Windows, Linux, and Mac OS (hopefully, any platform support Java and the Java Media Framework is supported) -- only tested on Windows XP so far.
- Supports standard video capture devices including webcams, video capture cards, and DV Firewire cameras. See Software/Hardware Requirements
below for details on other software that may be required.
- Live view with previous frame overlay (onion skinning) with adjustable alpha
- Grid overlay
- Quick preview of captured frames
- Export to AVI and QUICKTIME video formats using various installed Codecs
- Capture of 1, 2, 3, or 4 frames at once
New Features in Version 0.2
- Added plugin support for capture devices. Plugins are currently available
for JMF (Java Media Framework) devices and QuickTime capture devices
(this should allow capture on Mac OS X!).
Future Features
- Editing and creation of x-sheets (exposure sheets)
- Analysis of recorded audio for lip/audio syncing to animation
- Support for capture from digital still cameras with video capture
through-the-viewfinder (webcam/spycam or other) and import of captured
high-resolution images as well as cameras that allow direct capture of
viewfinder and high-resolution images (such as various Canon cameras)
- Rotoscoping (i.e. overlay of frames from video files with adjustable alpha)
- Markers you can drag and place over the live preview to mark locations in the
frame to keep track of motion
Screen Shots
Click to view full-size image
Downloads
Please see the Softfware/Hardware Requirements for details
on the hardware/software required.
Windows
- Version 0.2b (latest, stopmojo_0_2b_setup.exe, 20MB)
- Complete self-extracting Windows installer including JRE (Java Runtime Environment 1.5.0) and JMF (Java Media Framework 2.1.1e). Just download and execute to install.
- Version 0.2b (latest, stopmojo_0_2b_min_setup.exe, 440KB)
- Self-extracting Windows installer (does not include Java or the JMF). Use this one if you already have Java and the JMF installed or are updating from a previous version. Just download and execute to install.
Note: uncheck the QuickTime Capture Plugin if you do not have QuickTime for Java installed (see Software/Hardware Requirments below.)
Generic (Windows, Linux, Mac OS)
- Version 0.2 (stopmojo_0_2.zip, 166KB)
- Generic JAR file and license files. Assumes you already have the JRE and JMF (Java Media Framework) installed. Download and extract to a folder. Execute with "java -jar stopmojo_capture.jar".
Source
- stopmojo_src_0_2.zip (263KB)
- Complete source code.
Software/Hardware Requirements
Windows
Please note that the Windows installer in the downloads
section above includes Java and the JMF, which is all you need to capture from a
webcam. Support for other capture devices may require other software and drivers
listed below.
- Java Runtime Environment (required)
- Version 1.4.2 or later (current and recommended is 1.5.0). Download here and run to install.
- Java Media Framework (required)
- Version 2.1.1e or later (current). Download here and run to install.
- QuickTime/QuickTime for Java (not required)
- Version 6.5 or later (current). If you want to use the QuickTime Capture plugin, you need to install QuickTime for Java. If you don't have QuickTime installed, download the installer
and choose the 'Custom' installation and click on 'QuickTime for Java'. If you already have it installed,
run the QuickTime updater from the Start menu (Start->All Programs->QuickTime->QuickTime Updater) and click
on the 'Custom' button and select 'QuickTime for Java'.
- VDIG Drivers (not required)
- QuickTime requires VDIG drivers for each capture
device you want to use. Apparently, very few products ship with VDIG drivers, but
there are two drivers that allow access to Windows WDM devices/drivers:
- WinVDIG (FREE!!!) -- Available for free from www.vdig.com, just
download and install. Works fine for me!
- Abstract Plane vdig -- Available for download (free trial)
here. I haven't
tried this one.
- DV Camera Support (not required)
- To capture from a DV video camera over Firewire, you
have a few options:
- Use the QuickTime Capture plugin with one of the VDIG drivers above.
- Use the JMF Capture plugin with the free Panasonic DV codec
(click here for download and install
instructions, or download locally here).
- Use the JMF Capture plugin with OrangeWare's WebCamDV
(free trial available).
Note: JMF will not detect new capture devices automatically once it is installed.
You need to run the JMF Registry program (Start->All Programs->Java Media Framework 2.1.1e->JMF Registry),
click on the 'Capture Devices' tab, click on 'Detect Capture Devices' and then click
'Commit'.
Mac OS X (untestd)
- Java Runtime Environment (required)
- Version 1.4.2 or later (not sure what is current). Available from Apple's update service.
- Java Media Framework (required)
- Generic Version 2.1.1e or later (current). Download here. Expand the archive
(by double clicking, I think) and manually move jmf.jar to the /Library/Java/Extensions/ folder.
- QuickTime/QuickTime for Java (required)
- I assume this would already be installed, but if
not you should be able to get it here.
Linux (untested)
- Java Runtime Environment (required)
- Version 1.4.2 or later (current and recommended is 1.5.0). Download here and run to install.
- Java Media Framework (required)
- Version 2.1.1e or later (current). Download here and run to install.
- QuickTime for Java
- Apple does not support QuickTime on Linux.
Contributing
WE NEED YOUR HELP! YES, YOU SPECIFICALLY!
If you would like to contribute, we can use the help. We created
this as an open source project because we think it would be nice to have some
high-quality free cross-platform software to help create stop-motion movies. We've
looked around and there are quite a number of programs available, from fairly
expensive to fairly inexpensive on various platforms (click here for nice review of the top stop-mo software offerings), but none that can be
easily extended or modified as needed.
Since we are primarily programmers, we can really use contributions of
testing, artwork and documentation (although code contributions are welcome as well).
We could really use contributions of ideas, feedback, bug reports, artwork (icons!) and documentation
(help, how-to's, etc.) as well as ideas on how to improve the software. Got a great
idea on how we can improve the software? Let us know by contacting us directly
or posting on our forums.
Donations
We are setup to accept monitary donations through SourceForge
and PayPal. Just click
here or the button to the right to make your donation.
We could also use loans or donations of equipment including video capture devices for testing
and computers, especially a Mac running a current version Mac OS X.
Contact Us
Please contact us if you would
like to help out, have feedback or ideas on how to improve the software, or just want to comment.
License
Simple
StopMojo is licensed such that it is free for almost any use (even commercial) and,
if you are so inclined, such that you can grab the source code and modify it
to meet your specific needs.
The only restriction is that if you modify the software, you must make the modifiations
available for use by others under the same terms.
Legalese
The license of StopMojo consists of the GNU GPL plus a special statement giving
blanket permission to link with non-free software. This is the license statement
as found in any individual file that it applies to:
This program is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under
the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software
Foundation; either version 2, or (at your option) any later version.
This program is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY
WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A
PARTICULAR PURPOSE. See the GNU General Public License for more details.
You should have received a copy of the GNU General Public License along with
this software; see the file COPYING. If not, write to the Free Software
Foundation, Inc., 59 Temple Place, Suite 330, Boston, MA 02111-1307 USA
As a special exception, Derone Bryson and the StopMojo Project gives permission
for additional uses of the text contained in its release of StopMojo.
The exception is that, Derone Bryson and the the StopMojo Project hereby grants
permission for non-GPL compatible modules (jar files, libraries, codecs, etc.)
to be used and distributed together with StopMojo. This permission is above and
beyond the permissions granted by the GPL license StopMojo is covered by.
This exception does not however invalidate any other reasons why the executable
file might be covered by the GNU General Public License.
This exception applies only to the code released by Derone Bryson and/or the
StopMojo Project under the name StopMojo. If you copy code from other Free
Software Foundation releases into a copy of StopMojo, as the General Public
License permits, the exception does not apply to the code that you add in this
way. To avoid misleading anyone as to the status of such modified files, you
must delete this exception notice from them.
If you write modifications of your own for StopMojo, it is your choice whether
to permit this exception to apply to your modifications. If you do not wish
that, delete this exception notice.
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