In my spare time I use pecial and paper.

Rule #1 in animation: No rules, just lots of tools.

Physical animation

Tools for making physical animations, paper, clay, or feathers.

• do need modelling or sculpting clay.
• camera
• must be colors that your capture device can recognize.
• if using clay, don’t bake them, otherwise animation might be very still.
• Undisturbed area for filming, somewhere you can leave, but not have it mess up. 30 seconds, takes 4 hours; seriously consider getting a warehouse, especially if you have pets. Plenty of light required.
• need room for camera, computer, characters, and set.
• if camera moves, the animation won’t be still.

Camera

• fixed focus, better for far away images.
• variable focus, better for close up.
• use a camera that shows up as a USB device.
• stand is preferred, otherwise use lump of clay.
• program uses Video for Linux 1 drivers, not Video for Linux 2 drivers.
• Digitial camera, shoot stills. No onion paper effect.

Software

• stop motion
  • rather buggy
  • able to use jpeg of gif images, and live webcam feed
  • 640x480 VGA resolution required
  • most use friendly application
  • packaged in Debian

Digital Animation

• GIMP
  • Familiar interface, well supported, stopmotion supported.
  • Can’t create 3D images.
  • No predefined animation affects.
  • gimp animation package - GAP. onion skinning supported.
• Inkscape
  • vector based, infinitely scalable
  • grouping feature
  • easy to follow tutorials
  • cloning feature
  • potrace - bitmap –> vector.
  • large files
  • learning curve
  • smooth gradients
• Blender
  • vector based
  • 3d based tool
  • python scripting
  • steep learning curve
  • very non-standard GUI
  • 3d modelling tool
  • user interface overwealming at first
• KToon
  • good for simple animations
  • “onion paper” effect
  • Debian package is broken
• Synfig Studio
  • best program
  • “tweening” effect, use keyframes, it will fill in the rest.
  • well documented and maintained.
  • difficult GUI, but not as hard as Blender.
  • command line interface
  • time consuming
  • undo sometimes doesn’t work as expected
  • not available in Debian stable (etch).