Creating videos is a passion that unites many peoples, not only professionals in the sector but also newcomers, and people who do it exclusively as a hobby. Thanks to new technologies, then, today it is really easy to build a video starting from single frames and images: it is a technique known as stop-motion, which requires no technical skills, especially thanks to the special programs. Not all applications of this type, however, are free or simple to use: that’s why today we’ll show you a list of the best 6 free software to create stop-motion videos on your PC also remembering that we previously showed you how to make videos in stop-motion on Android.
1. Purple Elephant
The first software we will see today is Purple Elephant : an excellent open source program that you can use to create beautiful stop-motion videos. This software allows you to compose and edit traditional 2D animations, giving you the possibility to create animations starting from the photographs. In practice, it is a handyman of video editing, however easy to use and accessible to anyone. All you need to do is learn how to work on frame levels, and do some practice with its tools.
2. MonkeyJam
Among the best free software to create stop-motion videos is also placed MonkeyJam: a very compact tool, very useful for this purpose and also to capture images from various devices, such as cameras and webcams. Once you have acquired the images, you will be able to separate the frames quickly and easily, including an audio track as background music. Among the other options you can take advantage of, you’ll find the spreadsheet editing, and tools like cropping, adding or deleting layers, and more.
3. JellyCam
JellyCam is a very simple software that allows you to create stop-motion movies and add frames, images and audio files. Like the previous one, it also allows you to capture sounds and images from your PC or external devices. In practice, it gives you all the tools you need to create a video with objects that seem to move on their own. The program also has a small interface, streamlined and easy to understand even for inexperienced users. Finally, you can also duplicate or flip the frames, and preview the video in real time.
4. SharpAnimator
SharpAnimator is another of the best free software to create stop-motion videos: very intuitive to use, it allows you to create this type of animation with the help of your webcam. This is a particularly practical program, which is perfect even for those who have never used video editing software before. Then it must also be said that it is full of more or less advanced options, such as Timed Snap.
5. Stop Motion Animator
Stop Motion Animator is a complete application, developed exactly to create stop-motion videos: its name, on the other hand, does not lie. It offers you the possibility to capture video from the webcam or from any other analog or digital device. You can also acquire individual frames by clicking on the Grab button. Among other things, Stop Motion Animator allows you to customize various settings related to frames, such as number and frequency of overlap.
6. qStopMotion
We conclude our article on the best free software to create stop-motion videos with qStopMotion. Let’s talk about a program that all in all looks very much like the others, in terms of operation, options and grabbing of the frames from the webcam. One of its main features is the ability to create HD quality stop-motion videos. It’s a bit more complex than the others, but it raises the bar to a higher level.