Stop motion Animation kits

[mrsdaz]

Ok so I’ve been researching these and can’t decide whether to just go with the Lego version at £14.99...or something more around £50 mark.

My ds has dabbled with stop motion animation at cubs so he has an interest in it. But is it worth spending more money on the whole kit or can he do just as well with the cheap ones?

Have you seen the Stickbot studios? www.smythstoys.com/uk/en-gb/toys/action-figures-and-playsets/stikbots/stikbot-zanimation-studio/p/152089 this is the starter set and then you can get different themed movie sets such as Pirates or a farmyard.

My ds got the Stikbot Studios last year and he loves it. He uses it all the time and you can get different add ons for it. He’s got a pirate set and some stikbot dinosaurs now too.

Aren’t they different things?
So the Lego one has ideas of how to set up scenes, make the films etc, but the £50 ones have a camera and software included as well... well, that’s how it looks to me. So I guess it depends on if your son has a phone/tablet already that he can use to take the pictures? And I think you can download apps...

I’m thinking of getting both actually, as DD doesn’t have a camera, so would need the whole kit, but also would love the Lego ideas :)

I didn't even know these were a thing! Following with interest

This is the Lego book and kit:
Lego

And then I’m torn between two camera kits, this one and this one both similar prices, but slightly different features :)

Oooh following with interest. Can't you just use a phone/tablet for the filming?

You can, but my DD doesn’t have one, hence being interested in the kit.

I think there are apps that you can download to “put it all together” (that’s as technical as I get at the moment!) if you’re using another camera, whereas the £45ish kits that come with a camera also have the software, sound effects etc.

Mrsdaz apologies for jumping on your thread but can anyone recommend a similar kit for an older recipient, say a 36 year old DH? mine loves a toy over Christmas

Also following, anything that works particularly well with an iPad would be great. DD has been using the pause button on her android phone camera to surprisingly good effect but she would really like to step it up

Although actually if I could get a camera included it would be good since the iPad is mine!

These look great! I hadn't heard about them before. Can anyone advise which one might be best for dgd who is 11? She has a phone and I think she has an iPad.

@huevosRancheros yes those are the two I’m torn between too! My ds has a kindle but not a phone. I think I’d rather get the whole thing combined as it’ll be easier for him I think. I don’t know which to choose though...

@gruffalostick feel free to jump on and find a nice toy for your DH 😁

I got DS the HUE one for his 6th birthday a few weeks ago. It's more expensive (though I bought his secondhand on ebay) and I think it's worth it for the stable camera on flexible wire. He loves doing sma but holding a regular/phone camera steady while properly moving his figures is impossibly difficult for a small child. And the Hue software is super easy for him to manage by himself. We'd used some freeware in the past but he needed me to manage most of it and it was nigh on impossible to add a voice over. With the HUE software he managed it himself within minutes. I set him up with his own desktop on my laptop and installed the software so he can work away by himself.

Here's his first movie, made with a few minutes of playing around the morning of his birthday.

I bought my DS the £50 zu3d set for his birthday recently and it is great! So far we have only used it on the ipad but plan to set up web cam etc with laptop soon. It is easy to use and a great new way for him to play with his millions of playmobil, lego and other figures!

Wow, @trancepants, love the video 😍
I think it’s just such a creative thing for them to do.
My kids have VTech Kiddizoom camera which lets them do SMA, but the quality of the pics is so poor (yy to camera shake when they press the button Lots of blurry Lego mini figures going on adventures!)

Think DD will love it :)

This is exactly the dilemma I have! I'm currently trying to decide between the two sets Huevos linked to! Huevos if you don't mins me asking, what are the different features you mentioned? They both get really good reviews, but I was under the impression that they are pretty similar. Maybe if I can pin down the differences, I might work out which would be best for us.

@FrederickCreeding (used to love that book btw :)) - I don’t think there’s much in it to be honest.
I think I’m veering towards the Zu3D, for the simple reason that on the Amazon page you can see what the software looks like, and it looks good! Also, it seems that you can use it on an iPad, I don’t recall the other one mentioning that.
But I really don’t think there’s much in it, I’m sure either will be great :)

I’ve ordered the Zu3d one for £45 from amazon. Hoping it’s amazing!!

Thanks Huevos I think I'm veering towards that one too. I think it's because I've read that lots of schools use it. I like to think that means it will be reasonable quality and pretty user-friendly. You can definitely use it with an ipad. I actually phoned them to query it as we don't have an ipad so I wanted to know if it works with Android (which unfortunately it doesn't). But the lady I spoke to did say that we could transfer the iPad licence to the laptop - so could have it on 2 devices (laptop and desktop) which might be quite useful.

mrsdaz I hope it's amazing too. I'm quite excited as I think my ds will love it. He's always trying to film just using a camera and pausing it to change the scenes! I'm really hoping he'll love having the software to do it properly.

Yes, I’m sure the Zu3D had been around £50, and then last night it had dropped to £45ish (so the same as the other one) - I saw that as a sign, so bought it

mrsdaz hope your ds loves it, thanks for starting this thread as I’d been searching for similar :). Sorry for hijacking!! I’m so excited about it, I think my dd will love it :)

Just bumping this as I’m also trying to choose between the two!

If you use it on iPad, how do you get the images from the camera onto the iPad? Presumably with the laptop version you could link it via usb or something.