Monkey Jam

MonkeyJam
Tutorial
Here is a step-by-step guide on how to use MonkeyJam to
make stop-motion animations. I will try to be as detailed and
specific as possible. MonkeyJam is a free stop-motion capture
software by David Perry. You can get MonkeyJam at
http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.com/monkeyjam
MonkeyJam is popular for brickfilming but some have
troubles nowing just how to make itwork. Because I do know
how to use it I decided to make a tutoral. Hopefully It will
help you understand better.

Part One: Capturing
If you are importing photos you have already taken, skip this part.
1. Open up MonkeyJam and Create a new exposure sheet.

2. Now you need to set the properties for the layer. The name doesn't matter so Layer 1 is fine.

3. Image Folder is where theindividual images are stored. Click “Change” to browse for a folder
of your choice. I create a new folder for each project. Once you have your folder hit OK
4. The color of the layer doesn't matter at all.
5. Click OK. A new layer should show up. This is just where the frames are listed.
6. If it it isn't already, plug in your webcam or video camera.
7. Select the Capture button

8. A new windowwill pop up. Select “one” under image hold. This is very important!
9. Now you are ready to take your pictures. To take a picture, just click “capture”. If you have
never done stop-motion before, what you do is take a picture of whatever you want to animate,
move it just a little, then take another picture. Continue this until you have what you want.
10. When you are done or want to previewwhat you have so far, just close the capture window.

Part Two: Importing
If you already did part one this part is not necessary.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.

Select “File” at the top.
Go down to “Import”
Select “Images
A window will pop up. In the top part, select the folder in which you have your images.
Once you have selected a folder with images in it, the images will appear in the bottompart.
Select the images you want ( an easy way to do this is clicking on the first picture, holding
down shift, then clicking on the last picture.)
7. Change image hold to 1
8. Click “Add files”

9. Click “Import”
10. If all goes well, the images should show up in a new layer. If this doesn't work then the images
may not be compatable.

Part Three: Previewing
After capturing, orimporting your pictures, you are ready to preview your film
1. Click on settings (at the top, on the file bar) and hover over FPS. Select what FPS you filmed
your movie at. If you don't know, just try different ones until it looks good.
2. Click on preview.

3. It will render your preview. The more images, the longer it takes.

4. To watch your animation click the right arrow

5. You can alsopreview different movie sizes , different segments of the animation, and use
the scroller to see individual frames. You can go back and forth between the capture window
and the preview window too.

Part Four: Settings
I'm not being too detailed here so just ask me if you need to know more.
1. Go to settings ( at the top, on the file bar) and click “Preferences”
2. Here you can Change theFPS, folders, and layer color.
3. There are more option tabs along the top though

4. Under capture, you can change the capture mode (I'm not entirely sure what that is), Capture
color, image hold (you always want 1!!!), numbering (I'm not entirely sure what this is either.),
and image format.(this is for what format the image is saved as if you are capturing your
images)
5. Under preview,you can choose the render color and whether to auto render. You don't have to
change anything here.
6. Under editors, you can choose a program to use with your pictures. Just choose your favorite
photo editing software. (or just pick one or if you don't edit your pictures, don't bother.)
7. There are also settings in the capture window:

These are just another way to change the same...