As already mentioned in the introduction to this book, Stop Motion animation is a technique based on photographs. We say that the videos from this type of animation are usually pretty fun. Okay, now the million dollar question: I can do Stop Motion with 'Tupi' ? The answer is YES, however, the component dedicated to this subject still needs much work. For now, the interface allows exercises of simple animation, but the goals are more ambitious for the future.

For now, let's see how to create a small video using this technique:

• Get a digital camera. Since this kind of animations are based on photographs, the camera is of vital importance.
• Build the script of your story, following the tips mentioned in the chapter “First things, first!”
• Get the resources you need for your story: objects, people, etc..
• Set your camera on a fixed point (eg a table or a tripod) towards the place where you do your scene and make sure that the camera can not move sideways. Locate your resources at the scene, as you who are at the beginning of the animation.
• Start to take a photo every time you modify an object or people in the scene, according to defined in your script. Remember that every movement must be small, since this makes the animation smoother.
• Once you've captured every moment of history that you require for your scenes, connect your camera to your computer and download all the pictures in a folder.
• Open 'Tupi' and create a new project.
• Now select the Insert menu located on the top and choose the option arrangement of Images. A dialog box opens, asking you to select the directory where you saved the images to your animation.

;#; Fig 1. Option to insert an array (sequence) of images ;#;

• Pressing the OK button, the program will load each of image in a separate frame and following the alphabetical order in which files are located inside the directory.

;#; Fig 2. Directory selection dialog that contains the images ;#;

• If your images are very large, the program will be forced to resize them, because if they are many and are all larger than 1 MB, it is likely that your machine runs out of memory and the program will crash.

;#; Fig 3. Informative message when inserting images ;#;

• When you finish the process of importing images, you can take a look at your project in the Animation tab (module) (the second in the Workspace from left to right).

From this point, you have two options: you can export your project as a video file, or you can do some editing on the images you want using the tools of Illustration Module.

If you like what you saw and you want to convert it to video, return to the Animation tab and click the Export button located on the bottom panel.

Follow the usual steps of export, as described in the previous section: “Export a video file! Your Stop Motion project is a real now!

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