What PC software and set up should I use with my JVC Everio 30GB to create stop motion?

Question

Ideally I'd like to use onion skinning and be able to see what the camera sees on my PC monitor while capturing frames direct to my PC. The camera is a JVC Everio Hybrid 30GB Hard Disk Camcorder (GZ-MG130EK) and only supports USB, as opposed to firewire. Every forum I have checked has recommended firewire capture cards or has discussed Mac software such as I-Movie. I'd love to find something that will work on my PC and allow me to capture images directly. I do have a Firewire PCI port on my PC, but no firewire port on my camera. The PC software I have tried tells me that I don't have a capture device connected, even when my camera is turned on and connected to the USB port. I'd really appreciate any help anyone can offer with this problem. Thanks in advance.

Answer 1

I'm surprised that you've not been advised that FireWire is no good whatever for any model in the JVC Everio range since they're neither DV or HDV tape models. Your camcorder is Standard Def hard disc drive based and therefore needs USB 2.0 to get the material out to a computer. What's more, iMovie HD or iMovie 08 won't be able to see it either because of a weird thing that JVC does with the MPEG-2 TS (transport stream) file format it creates.

Answer 2

I don't know why they're recommending firewire exclusively, USB should work fine. I've done stop motion and traditional animation with cameras connected to a PC by USB and I had no problems. If you're having trouble getting your PC to recognize your camcorder, try downloading and updating the drivers from the company website. Also see if they can be recognized by the stop-motion programs listed below. It should be plug n' play, essentially.

To actually frame-grab and compile the movie, I'd suggest using Monkeyjam if you're on a PC. It's free.

http://www.giantscreamingrobotmonkeys.co...

AnimatorDV: Simple+ became freeware.

http://www.animatordv.com/download7

You can also check out this website for other stop motion animation programs; some free, some retail. I haven't used any of them (other than Stop Motion Pro) so I couldn't tell you if the rest of their features were any good or not, but at least it gives you other options.

http://www.stopmotionworks.com/stopmosof...

For any specific questions, you should check out http://www.stopmotionanimation.com

It's a message board filled with stop motion animators helping eachother out. They even have a handbook section that has basic answers and info on a variety of stop motion topics (armatures, sets, cameras, etc)

http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/handb...

Here are some online resources about the basic principles of animation. These principles can and should be applied to any genre or medium you choose to work in, whether that be drawn, CGI, or stop motion animation.

http://www.idleworm.com/how/index.shtml

http://www.awn.com/tooninstitute/lessonp...

http://www.animationarena.com/principles...

http://www.animationmeat.com/notes/notes...

If you need more help or info, let me know.