Introduction
This guide is designed for trainers to lead participants through the creation of AR Posters, a process that combines “old-school” collage and cut-out animation with a modern augmented reality experience.
We use Stop Motion Studio to capture the frame-by-frame animation, and Artivive to anchor that digital movement back onto the physical poster. As a result, if you point a smartphone’s camera at the poster, it will reveal the hidden animation in it. It’s recommended to work with participants who already did basic exercises in stop-motion.
Required materials:
- For the Poster:
- A3 size paper or cardboard for “base layer/background”
- Old magazines
- Colorful papers
- Scissors, cutters
- Pencils, markers etc.
- Blu-tac
- Printer (optional: to print images on demand during the workshop)
- For the Animation:
- Smartphones or tablets with cameras
- Stands or Tripods (or DIY phone stands e.g. made from boxes)
- Stop Motion Studio (App)
- Artivive (Web Bridge and App)
- Wi-Fi connection for uploading/downloading videos.
- 1 laptop or computer to access Artivive Bridge
How to do it
- Create the poster
Create your composition using the cut-out elements, but don’t glue them together! Already imagine how the parts could move, so you prepare them accordingly.
- Set up for Stop Motion
Install Stop Motion Studio on your phone.
Launch the app and follow the tutorial to learn the controls.
Position your phone camera exactly above and centered.
Avoid working near windows, indoor lighting lowers the “flickering” in your final video.
- Animation
Before you begin, take a still photo with the regular camera app of your device. Then return to Stop Motion Studio and start the animation process. Try to have your animation end exactly where it started. This creates a “perfect loop” so when watching through AR, it will seem “endless”.
- Export and AR linking
Export your project as an .mp4 video, then launch Artivive Bridge.
“Create Artwork”: drag and drop the photo of the poster, then add the video as well.
Software Mini Guide
- The Interface: Use the Camera Icon to enter capture mode.
- Onion Skin: Use the slider on the left. This shows a faint “ghost” of your previous frame so you know exactly how far you’ve moved your piece.
- Frame Rate: Set your project to 12 FPS (frames per second).
- Crop: Set the camera aligned with the edges of the paper so it works without editing the video.
- Bridge (Desktop): Log into the Artivive website. Drag your Static Poster Image into the “Artwork” slot and your Animation Video into the “Video” slot, then Preview and Publish.
- The App (Mobile): Once the project is saved on the web, open the Artivive app on a device, point it at the physical poster, and watch the animation overlay automatically.
Share with us
Send us photos or videos of the exercise you did to info.fananimation@gmail.com.
