Honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0 – Review

Honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0 is a great way to capture and animate your own films and movies. With more emphasis being put on IT as a subject in schools and the introduction of coding as part of the national curriculum from September 2014, getting children used to using software and creating their own animations is a great way to help them at home. Honestech Stopmotion Studio is available from Currys for RRP £59.99, but is on offer with £10 discount so is down to £49.99, also available online.

The boy and I were excited to try out this software, as we have made a few stop start animations in the past including this fun Lego one. The software was super easy to install from the disc, and once registered online we were set to go. You will have to have your own video camera (webcam or Camcorder) and microphone to use this software, but interestingly it also supports the use of some DSLR cameras. We used a web camera, and found this easy to set up as the software instantly recognised it.

The Honestech Stopmotion Studio comes with a quick set up guide, which I found very useful, but most of the functions of the software were easy enough to work out. Encouraging the boy to think of a story and find some props, he decided to produce an animation with Kermit the frog. We looked at how to capture the images, and then moved onto the sound and adding music. The boy found the auto capture easy to use as the sound alerts you to when the next picture will be taken and has an onscreen countdown. You can also set how many seconds you would like between each shot which is useful.

We tried using the green screen function with limited success, and I think this would have worked better if we had a plain coloured background rather than replacing the carpet colour. The boy liked the record function and you are able to move the sound file to the frame where you want it to start. The only thing I found frustrating was that you have no control over the music or recorded volume. It was good that you could add both though as you could add in your own sound effects. Like all software I would save often to avoid loosing vital work Like I did, but on a second attempt I found the Stopmotion studio had saved all the recorded files so they hadn’t been lost.

We loved the onion skin effect which allows you to line up each of the frames you take. There is also a function where you can add in your own images as backgrounds. You have all sorts of fine adjustments with this software like frame speed, contrast and brightness. It was also easy to change the frame order and even flip images. With the addition of text, subtitles it would be easy to produce professional looking stories in full HD.

Here is the boys little film, and for something that took less than an hour to make I think it was good fun. Hopefully it will inspire the boy to try something a little more complicated next time.

Overall the Honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0 has to be the easiest to pick up software we have tried. It was super easy to publish directly to your you tube account, or save as HD quality films on your computer. There are even setting for ipad/ipod which would come in useful for kids who have these gadgets! This software is defiantly something the boy easily managed to pick up on his own, and once you have a good filming area set up endless hours of storytelling.

Both the boy and I give Honestech Stopmotion Studio a big thumbs up, and look forward to testing out our animation skills over the half term holidays. I can see many hours of fun making more of our fun Lego inspired films. I’m thinking of a star wars epic or maybe something with our new lego fencer? The possibilities are endless.

If you would like a chance to win a copy of the Honestech Stopmotion Studio 4.0 for your children to try animation for themselves then why not enter my gleam giveaway below.

honestech

Disclaimer we were sent this software for review the opinions remain our own and have not been altered.

Terms & Conditions:

The giveaway is open to the UK only

• It is mandatory to leave a comment in the post comment section answering the question specified. Other tasks completed will gain additional entries. The winner will be checked to make sure they have both left a comment and completed the task for the winning entry.

• Winner will be drawn by randomly after the competition closes at 23:59 on Wednesday 4th March 2015

• The winner will be sent an  e-mail to the e-mail address left at time of entry. The winner will need to reply to the e-mail within 7 days of the notification. Every effort will be made to contact the winner, but if no response is made within the 7 days a new winner will be chosen.

• The prize details are stated at the top of the giveaway, and no alternatives will be offered.

• The prize will be posted by the promoter, unfortunately I cannot be held responsible or replace missing parcels. Please contact me if there is a problem.

• Please alow 28 days from notification for your prize to be sent out.

• This competition is listed at: Win competitions at ThePrizeFinder.com and SuperLucky