This is the easiest and cheapest way to do stop motion animation... using a full screen webcam. Mine is the Unibrain Fire-i, a Firewire webcam which sells for under $100.00. All my tests have been shot with it. Another model that has been tested and works is the Logitech Quickcam, but I haven't used one myself, and can't comment on it. One nice factor of the Logitech is that it works with USB and doesn't require firewire. There are doubtless other models that will work... here are the factors you have to look for:

*full screen resolution*
This means a resolution of 640x480. Many webcams aren't meant for full screen use, and just don't measure up.

*manual focusing ability*
Many webcams don't offer it because they are meant primarily to aim at yourself while you're talking to people somewhere out there in cyberspace, so they tend to come with autofocus.

*complete user control over image funtions*
If you let the camera auto-control the image, it will change as things move around onscreen, resulting in flickering.Functions you should be able to control manually would include gain, exposure (sometimes alternately called iris) white balance and saturation. Some also offer control of black level, which is an added bonus. The Unibrain offers complete manual control over all these.

The biggest drawback to using a webcam is optics... the lenses are tiny and just won't deliver really great images. You get a very limited depth of field, which means the area in front of the camera that it can keep in focus. In other words, if you focus tightly on your puppet, the wall behind him might be slightly out of focus. This becomes more pronounced as the camera moves closer to the object. From farther back you'll get better depth of field.



Attaching the Unibrain to a tripod:

The Unibrain is made for clipping onto a flatscreen monitor, so it comes with a spring clip on the back, mounted by means of a jointed arm so it can swivel around any which way. Unfortunately the swivel joint isn't very strong, and will let the camera move around, which is a big no-no in stopmo! What I did was to rough up the back of the camera and the front side of the clip with a file and use some 5 minute epoxy to glue them permanently together. Then I just flip the camera plate on my tripod straight up in the air and I can clip the camera right onto it.









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