Animation software has been around for a while now but you would be pretty hard pressed to beat Zu3D as a stop-motion package – what a belter! If you can find better than I’ll eat a ball of plasticine and a couple of bricks of Lego as well. It gets loads of gushing reviews from users and they are well deserved; I’ve been using Zu3D for a couple of years now and I cartwheel every time I do because it is so easy and very satisfying to make nifty animated films without getting my IT knickers in a twist.
The magnificently powerful software is chock-a-block with features that include onion skinning between frames, narration options, titles/credits (pre-set or customise your own), drawing on frames, adjustable frame rates, eraser tool, multiple video tracks, multiple export options, drawing straight on to frames to make your own animations, and much more. You can easily import your own audio/backgrounds too. Depending on your experience, you have the option of selecting between simple and advanced tools so there’s something for everyone. For example, it comes with new automatic chroma-keying, painting tools and a magic rubber and rig-removal tool (sounds painful but it isn’t). The new features of Studio 3 go way beyond the original to include time lapse, speech bubbles, create hand drawn animations, and print flick book/storyboards/posters. These tools are gratifyingly intuitive and the video features included combined with some great unlimited video tracks make this a gem.
Network licence and install is available. Use it on any machine – all you need is a webcam. Take a look at the online tutorials to get a feel for the resource; these give a great overview and are explained simply and clearly. To see what other users have been creating then go to the featured films section where you will find a mad range of film categories including history, science, maths, horror, combat, documentary and dancing. You can make your own movie and publish it for others to view and comment on. Brilliant; everyone loves an audience (and the site is moderated, so don’t fret too much about who is likely to say what to whom).
