The Teachers' Animation Toolkit

 137
USING DRAGON STOP MOTION IN THE CLASSROOM
The following advice makes the assumption that you are already 
familiar with using Dragon Stop Motion. (If not, then these tutorial 
videos provide an excellent overview: http://www.dragonstopmotion.
com/tutorials.php)
We recommend using the following production settings when 
working with students. This approach will provide you with rendered 
fi les containing two exposures per animation movement with a 
high picture quality. You will actually only capture one exposure per 
image movement, for the fastest possible workfl ow.
When using a widescreen standard defi nition camcorder:
In the Camera Settings window, use these settings: Image Size: 
100%. Compression: Highest Quality. Aspect Ratio: Wide. Noise 
Reduction: On. Resolution: Custom: 1024 x 576
In the Animate window, set playback to 12.5 fps. This will simulate 
playback at 25 fps, as if you are shooting two exposures per image 
movement.
Capture exposures should be left in the default Single Frame mode.
When you render the take as a Quicktime movie for import into an 
editing program, use these settings:
Make a compressed, self-contained movie at high resolution, with 
pixel dimensions of 1024 x 576. Make sure the frame rate is set to 
12.5 fps. In this way, the movie will render with two exposures of 
each image capture and playback on the timeline at the same frame 
rate as the preview did.
Use the DV Pal compressor at the highest setting, set to 16.9 aspect 
ratio, with the frame rate set to 12.5 fps.
The end result will be suitable for DVD production or publishing on 
the internet after further compression.

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138
The Teachers’ Animation Toolkit
When using an HDV camcorder or still camera:
In the Camera Settings window, use these settings: Image Size: 
100%. Compression: Highest Quality. Aspect Ratio: Wide. Noise 
Reduction: On. Resolution: Custom: 1920 x 1080.
Make a compressed, self-contained movie at high resolution, with 
pixel dimensions of 1920 x 1080. Make sure the frame rate is set to 
12.5 fps.
Use MPEG 4 compression at the best setting.
If you want the best quality possible, use the animation setting 
when selecting a codec. The fi les will be much bigger as no extra 
compression is used. However, you will be hard-pressed to notice 
any improvement in image quality if you are using a video camera 
as your image source.