Stop-Motion Animation: From a State of the Art to an Ideal Process

Stop-motion camera animation is a special animation technique where camera shots are made frame by frame. The camera is slightly moved between frames, and once these are assembled, it produces an illusion of movement. We are concerned with improving the existing stop motion camera animation practice. However, traditional animation methods in 3D software animation programs suffer from limitations. We present a state of the art for 3D animation of camera movements, outline its advantages and disadvantages in order to develop an animation interface capable to produce realistic camera moves. To this end we present an “ideal” process that overcomes the existing drawbacks and that is able to add constraints that greatly contribute to produce the imperfections and behavior of a real camera device. In particular, we are concerned with separating position and speed, as well as a curve representation that permits to control curvature. Linked to a motion control system, such a 3D animation method would produce realistic and handwork look camera moves for stop motion animation.