Jake Ludington's Digital Lifestyle

I have to do a video project for school and I want to make a LEGO stop motion video. Is there any free stop motion software for windows that might help me?

If you have the patience to do it, you really don't need any special software to make a stop motion video. Since stop motion is effectively a series of still images organized to tell an animated story, you can build a stop motion movie by taking still images with any digital still camera, name them sequentially (which your camera will likely do automatically), then import them into a video editor like Windows Movie Maker with a duration of 1 second for 30 frame per second video or 2 seconds if you want 15 frame per second video. From there you can add audio and export the whole thing. While this method will work, it can be frustrating because you don't get a live preview. There are other alternatives...

Free Stop Motion Software

Simply grouping a series of still images will produce a stop motion animation, but achieving smooth motion is difficult because you can't live preview your next shot. One of the apps I find simple but effective for stop motion animation is the aptly named Stop Motion Animator, which works with any live video source, including a Webcam.

One of the key things that sets Stop Motion Animator apart is it's ability to do onion skinning with your stop motion. You can see the previous frame as you line up your next shot to make sure you get smooth motion. Stop Motion Animator also lets you play back your video at any point in the process, making it easy to verify you're getting all the shots you need. I've used the software successfully with XP, but Vista routinely crashes when trying to use it.