Frequently asked questions

I'm no expert in film making but here's some tips on the software that works for me and answers to some questions that I've been asked.

How long have you been animating?

I made my first animation in December 2006. I spend roughly 3-4 hours a week animating... if I'm lucky!

What software do you use for animation?

I use Anime Studio Pro (Also known as Moho) for the 2D animation. There is a free trial available on their website and the software has some excellent tutorials to teach you the basics. You can also find a lot of help at the LostMarble.com forum.

The 3D animations are made with Blender, which is an open source modelling and animation package. Blender and 3D have a pretty steep larning curve but you can find some excellent (and free!) beginner tutorials on BlenderCookie.com and BlenderGuru.com

Any stop motion animation is done with Stop Motion Pro.

What Editing software do you use?

I've recently switched to Sony Vegas for video editing although occasionally I go back to Adobe Premiere Elements depending on which of them is crashing the least for a particular project (I generally hate both of them!).

I use WavePad for editing audio files. I've also started using Audacity for bits and pieces such as it's excellent noise removal. Audacity is open source and therefore free! Although I find Wavepad more stable.

What CG software do you use?

As previously mentioned I rely heavily on Blender for a lot of the graphics in my short films. I also use PFHoe Pro. for match moving which is very easy to use and good value for money. But make sure you are using a video camera with a CCD chip!

Green Screening I use HomeFX (I won't add a link as I think they may have discontinued the product I use). Anyway it's another fairly cheap package that has a lot of useful features and more importantly the green screening is far superior to that supplied with most video editors.

What Scriptwriting software do you use?

I use CeltX which is a free open source screen writing software.

Where do you learn stuff?

Freddie Wong & Brandon Laatsch have a great tutorial channel on Youtube. It's mostly After Effects but a lot of the principles can be applied to other software.

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