Honestech Stopmotion Studio User Manual

honestech™

Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

User Guide

2. honestech™

End User License Agreement

IMPORTANT: READ THE FOLLOWING TERMS AND CONDITIONS CAREFULLY BEFORE CONTINUING

THIS INSTALLATION. IF YOU DO NOT AGREE WITH THESE TERMS AND CONDITIONS, PROMPTLY REMOVE THE SOFTWARE FROM YOUR COMPUTER AND RETURN THE SOFTWARE AND APPLICABLE HARDWARE, INCLUDING THE DOCUMENTATION, TO YOUR SUPPLIER AND YOUR MONEY WILL BE REFUNDED. IF YOU DOWNLOADED THIS SOFTWARE, PLEASE REMOVE THE SOFTWARE FROM YOUR COMPUTER AND CONTACT YOUR SUPPLIER TO REQUEST A REFUND.

In this license agreement (the “License Agreement”), you (either individual or an entity), the purchaser of the license rights granted by this License Agreement, are referred to as “licensee” or “You”. Honest Technology is referred to as the “Licensor”. The current version of the accompanying software (“Software”) and documentation (“Documentation”) are collectively referred to as the “Licensed Product”. Licensor m ay furnish hardware with the Licensed Product (“Hardware”)

1. License

In accordance with the terms and conditions of this License Agreement, the Software is the property of the Licensor and is protected by Copyright Law. While the Licensor continues to own the Software, the Licensor grants the Licensee, after Licensee’s acceptance of this License Agreement, the Limited, nonexclusive license to use on copy of the current version of Licensed Product as described below. The Software is “used” on a computer when it is loaded into the temporary memory (i.e., RAM) or installed into the permanent memory (e.g., hard disk, CD-ROM, or other storage device) of that computer, except that a copy installed on a network server for the sole purpose of distribution to another computer is not

considered “in use”. Except as may be modified by a license addendum which accompanies this License Agreement, the Licensee’s rights and obligations with respect to the use of this Software are as follows:

You May,

1. Use the Software for commercial or business purposes in the manner described in the Documentation.

2. Use the Software to share Internet connection, transfer data, files and images among the computer in the manner described in the Documentation.

You May Not,

I. Copy the documentation that accompanies Software. II. Sublicense or lease any portion of the Software. III. Make illegal duplication of the software.

2. Copyright and Trade Secrets. All rights in and to the Licensed Product including, but not limited to, copyrights and trade secrets rights, belong to Licensor, and Licensor holds title to each copy of the Software. The licensed Product is protected by United States Copyright Laws and international treaty Provisions.

3. Term. This License Agreement is effective until terminated. Licensee may terminate this License Agreement if Licensee breaches any of the terms and conditions herein. Upon termination of this License Agreement for any reason, Licensee shall return to Licensor or otherwise destroy the Licensed Product and all copies of the Licensed Product. Upon request of Licensor, Licensee agrees to certify in writing that all copies of the Software have been destroyed or returned to Licensor. All provisions of this Agreement relating to disclaimers of warranties, limitation of liability, remedies, or damages, and Licensor’s proprietary rights shall survive termination.

4. Executable Code. The Software is delivered in executable code only. Licensee shall not reverse engineer, compile or otherwise disassemble the Software.

3. Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

5. Limited Warranty

a. Licensor does not warrant that the functions contained in the Licensed Product and Hardware will

meet Licensee’s requirements or that the operation of the Software and Hardware will be

uninterrupted or error-free. Licensor does warrant that the media on which the Software is furnished and the hardware will be free from defects in materials and workmanship under normal use for a period of thirty (30) days for software and ninety (90) days for hardware from the date of purchase and/or delivery (“Warranty Period”). This Limited Warranty is void of failure of the media on which the Software is furnished has resulted from accident, abuse, or misapplications.

b. EXCEPT AS PROVIDED ABOVE, THE LICENSED PRODUCT IS PROVIDED “AS IS” WITHOUT

WARRANTY OF ANY KIND, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, AND THE ENTIRE RISK AS TO THE QUALITY AND PERFORMANCE OF THE LICNESED PRODUCT AND HARDWARE IS WITH LICENSE.

6. Limitation of Liability

a. Licensor’s sole obligation or liability and licensee’s exclusive remedy under this agreement shall be

the replacement of the defective media on which the software is furnished and/or the hardware according to the limited warranty above.

b. In no event will licensor be liable for any consequential, incidental or indirect damages including,

without limitation, any loss of data or information, loss of profits, loss savings, business interruption or other pecuniary loss, arising out of use of or liability to use the software or documentation or any hardware, even if licensor has been advised of the possibility of such damages, or for any claim by any third party.

7. General

a. Any Software and Hardware provided to Licensee by Licensor shall not be exported or re-exported in

violation of any export provisions of the United States or any other applicable jurisdiction. Any attempt to sublicense, assign or transfer any of the rights, duties or obligations hereunder is void. This Agreement shall be governed by and interpreted under the laws of the State of Texas, United States of America, without regard to its conflicts of law provisions. Licensor and Licensee agree that the U.N. Convention on Contracts for the International Sales of Goods shall not apply to this License Agreement.

b. This License Agreement may only be modified or amended by a written license addendum that

accompanies this License Agreement or by written document that has been signed by both you and Licensor. Site licenses and other types of enterprise licenses are available upon request. Please contact Licensor or your supplier for further information.

c. Any controversy or claim arising out of or relating to this Agreement, or the breach of this Agreement,

shall be settled by arbitration administered by the American Arbitration Association in accordance with its Commercial Arbitration Rules and Judgment upon the award rendered by the arbitrator may be entered in any court having jurisdiction thereof. The arbitration shall be held in Texas, United States of America.

If you have any other questions concerning this License Agreement, or if you desire to contact Licensor for any reason, please contact Honest Technology.

4. honestech™

Table of Contents

End User License Agreement ..................................................................................................... 2

Table of Contents ........................................................................................................................ 4

1. About honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0 ............................................................... 6

1.1. What is Stopmotion Studio™? ............................................................................... 6

1.2. Minimum System requirements ............................................................................. 6

2. Installation and Un-installation of honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0 .................. 7

2.1. Installing honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ .......................................................... 7

2.2. Uninstalling honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0............................................... 11

3. Program Interface ......................................................................................................... 13

3.1. Menu Button ....................................................................................................... 13

3.2. View Screen ........................................................................................................ 14

3.3. Control Panels .................................................................................................... 14

3.4. Storyboard .......................................................................................................... 14

4. Managing Projects ........................................................................................................ 15

4.1. What is a project? ............................................................................................... 15

4.2. Create New Project ............................................................................................. 15

4.3. Open Project ....................................................................................................... 15

4.4. Save Project ....................................................................................................... 15

5. Capture .......................................................................................................................... 16

5.1. Select Camera Device ........................................................................................ 16

5.2. Camera Setup ..................................................................................................... 17

5.3. Capture Images .................................................................................................. 18

5.4. Auto Capture ....................................................................................................... 19

5.5. Review frames .................................................................................................... 20

5.6. Chroma Key ........................................................................................................ 21

5. Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

5.7. Rotoscope ........................................................................................................... 24

6. Storyboard .................................................................................................................... 25

6.1. Full Storyboard .................................................................................................... 25

6.2. String Removal ................................................................................................... 25

6.3. String Removal screen ........................................................................................ 26

6.4. Image Editor ....................................................................................................... 27

6.5. Overlay Frames .................................................................................................. 30

6.6. Add Image Frame(s) ........................................................................................... 31

6.7. Cut Frame(s) ................................................................ ....................................... 32

6.8. Copy Frame(s) .................................................................................................... 32

6.9. Paste Frame(s) ................................................................................................... 32

6.10. Moving Frame(s) ............................................................................................... 33

6.11. Delete Frame(s) ................................................................................................ 33

6.12. Insert Blank Frame ................................ ............................................................ 34

6.13. Add Intro/Ending Credits ................................................................................... 35

7. Audio Recording ........................................................................................................... 36

7.1. Record audio for voice-overs, sound effects, etc... .............................................. 36

7.2. Add Background Music ....................................................................................... 37

8. Creating Output ............................................................................................................ 38

8.1. WMV Format Settings ......................................................................................... 39

8.2. MPEG1, MPEG2, and HD MPEG Settings .......................................................... 40

8.3. iPad / iPhone / iPod Settings ............................................................................... 41

8.4. PSP Settings ....................................................................................................... 42

8.5. YouTube Settings ................................................................................................ 43

8.6. Facebook Settings .............................................................................................. 44

9. Hot-keys ........................................................................................................................ 45

6. honestech™

1. About honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

1.1. What is Stopmotion Studio™?

With honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™, you can easily create stop-motion video. Capture images using a digital camera, webcam or DV camcorder and add background images, audio, and music to create your own stop-motion movies. Capturing images is easier and faster than ever with the new auto capture feature. The grid and key drawing options will help make your characters’ movements more precise and accurate, resulting in professional quality animation. Using a solid-color background and chroma key function, you can take your animation to the next level by placing your character wherever your imagination takes you. You can even apply chroma key to existing photos that you have.

1.2. Minimum System requirements

• Operating system: Windows® 8, Windows® 7, Windows Vista® , Windows® XP

• Processor: Pentium IV 1.8GHz or equivalent

• Memory: 128MB of RAM (256MB or higher recommended)

• Free Hard Disk Space: 50MB for program installation

• Microsoft DirectX 9.0 or higher

• Windows Media Format SDK 9 or higher

• Windows Media Player 7 or higher

• Image Input: JPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF

• Audio Input: MP3, WAV

• Video Output: AVI, WMV, MPEG

• Video Capture: Web Camera, DV-Camcorder

• Audio Capture: Microphone, etc…

7. Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

2. Installation and Un-installation of honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

Note: To optimize performance of the product and your computer, defragmenting the Hard

Disk Drive (HDD) prior to installing honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ software is recommended. Also, if there is any security software on your PC that may block or

interfere with the installation or removal of the software, please disable it or turn it off prior to installing or uninstalling the software.

2.1. Installing honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™

2.1.1. Insert the installation CD into your CD/DVD drive on your computer. The installation should start automatically.

Note: If the installation does not start automatically, choose Run from the Windows Start

menu. Then enter “d:\autorun” (assuming the installation CD is in D drive) in the run dialog box. You can also double-click on “Setup.exe” file on the installation CD to being the installation.

2.1.2. Click [Install] button to start installing honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0.

2.1.3. Installation process will begin with the following screen.

8. honestech™

2.1.4. The following welcome screen will appear. Click [Next >] to continue.

2.1.5. End-User License Agreement will appear as shown below, read the agreement and if you accept the agreement, click [Next>] to continue.

9. Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

2.1.6. Choose Destination Location screen will appear as shown below. Accept the default or change the installation location by clicking change. When you are ready to install Stopmotion Studio™, click [Next >] to continue.

2.1.7. Select Program Folder screen will be displayed next. Accept the default folder or choose your program folder then click [Next >] to continue.

10. honestech™

2.1.8. The Setup status screen will appear as shown below. This step occurs automatically.

2.1.12. Stopmotion Studio™ Setup is now complete; click [Finish] to complete the installation.

11. Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

2.2. Uninstalling honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

2.2.1. Uninstall honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0 using its own uninstallation file or the Add or Remove Programs in the Control Panel.

2.2.1.1. To uninstall using the uninstallation file: from the task bar, go to Start  All Programs 

honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0 and click on Uninstall honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0

2.2.1.2. To uninstall with Add or Remove Programs: from the task bar, go to Start  Control Panel  Add or Remove Programs. Select honestech™ Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0, and click the Change/Remove button.

2.2.1.3. Click [Yes] to confirm and uninstall the program.

12. honestech™

2.2.2. The uninstallation is in progress. Please wait for completion.

3. Program Interface

13. Stopmotion Studio™ 4.0

3.1. Menu Button

 Manage projects (new, open and save/save as)  Create output  Settings

Help Button

The Help Button provides descriptions and usage information about certain features. How to use:

1. Click the Help button ( ).

2. Move your mouse cursor over any tab or button you wish to know more about. If the Help Button is applicable, the mouse cursor will change to

3. Click on the tab or button and an information window will pop up describing the specific feature and how to use it.

14. honestech™

3.2. View Screen

 Capture screen  Storyboard preview  Image overlays

3.3. Control Panels

1. Camera A. Brightness Control B. Image Flip C. Grid D. Key Drawing E. Auto Capture

2. Chroma Key A. Preview captured frames B. Open and view background images C. Manual chroma key section adjustment D. Mask option

3. Rotoscope A. Open reference image B. Control transparency

4. Audio A. Import audio or record your own audio B. Easily synchronize audio clips to specific frames C. Add background music

3.4. Storyboard

 Organize captured frames  Edit frames (cut, copy and paste)  Add audio

 Add text and titles

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