Animating with Stop Motion ProTM shine the laser again, and make a mark. You now have a distance of perhaps a yard between your marks that you can easily increment and animate. Isn't this much better than making 24 tiny marks in a teeny-weeny little space? Camera Dollies and Mathematical Eases In some cases you may be fortunate to find a secondhand lathe bed that will move a platform using a screw drive that allows for fine incrementation. The drawback to this solution is the finite length of a lathe bed and the weight of the device. Another alternative would be to create a sliding platform out of an aluminum channel as used with window sliders. It is important to have some type of locking mechanism so that the camera can be stabilized in between each camera position. Once you create a Frames 30 inc 28 26 24 22 18 Camera Increments platform that is smooth and lockable, it is time to make your animation increments. 1 .25 .25 2 .25 .25 .50 The method I have used with great success 3 .25 .25 .25 .75 is based on the Disney bell curve formula. It 4 .25 .25 .25 .25 1 is a visual system that can be done graphically 5 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 1.25 without a lot of mathematics. You will need 6 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 1.25 lined paper and the ability to count. In this 7 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 1.25 example we will be moving a camera 3 feet 8 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 1.25 over 30 frames and include the all-important 9 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 1.5 ease in and ease out. Here are the steps: On your lined paper, write down the frame numbers from 1 to 30 along the side. 2. Choose the smallest increment you would like to use along your yard or meter stick. For this example, we will use 1 4 -inch increments along the yard- stick. There are 144 1 4 -inch markings along a yardstick. To the right of each frame number, put down .25 represent- ing 1 4 inch or our smallest increment. 3. Add up the number of .25 increments you have used up. You will have 30 × .25, or 7.5 inches. In other words, you have used up 30 out of 144 1 4 -inch increments possible in your move. 4. Move one column to the right and put down 28 1 4 -inch increments from frame 1. 186 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 .25 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.5 1.25 1.25 1.25 1.25 1 .75 .50 .25