Rotoscope Animation

Rotoscoping is an animation technique that animators use to trace over motion picture footage, frame by frame, to produce realistic action. Originally, animators projected photographed live-action movie images onto a glass panel and traced over the image. This projection equipment is referred to as a rotoscope, developed by Polish-American animator Max Fleischer. This device was eventually replaced by computers, but the process is still called rotoscoping.
                                                                      - from Wikipedia

** Since you will be working both in school and at home on this project, using different devices, remember to save all parts of your work into Google Drive at the end of each session so that you can access them no matter where you are. Also, post your progress to Google Classroom at the end of every class. **

Process:

1. Create a "frames rotoscope" folder on your desktop.
2. Videotape a short segment using your smart phone or iPad
3. Upload the video to your computer
4. In Photoshop: File - Import - Video Frames to Layers
5. Select your .MOV file and Open
6. When the "Import Video to Layers" dialogue box pops up, select your preference for "Range to Import" (You may Limit it Every 2, 3 , or 4 frames), and be sure to click the checkbox for "Make Frame Animation." You may also select a segment of your video instead of the whole thing.
7. Go to Window, and make sure Timeline is checked. The horizontal box should show up at the bottom of your screen. The video frames will automatically populate the Timeline, and they will be in the correct order.
8. Your frames will also be layers in the Layer palette. Always show the same Layer (Using the eye icon at the left of the layer name) as the Frame. For example, when you highlight Frame #1, make sure only Layer 1 is visible.
9. For every Frame/Layer combination, create a New Layer just above the visible one. For example, Just above Frame 1, you will make a new visible layer titled "001" to correspond to both Layer 1 and Frame 1. Use that to trace the parts of the photo you want (The moving parts).
10. Experiment with painting techniques and other effects on the layer (This can be done either during the initial drawing stage or after all the frames have been traced and saved into a folder.).
11. Export the Frame into the "frames rotoscope" as a jpg. (001.jpg., 002.jpg, etc.)
12. Click off the eye icon on that layer (1) to make it invisible, select the next Frame (2) make visible the next Layer (2), and create a new visible Layer (002) above that one.
13. Continue the process.
14. After all your jpgs have been created, you may open them all back into Photoshop by going to File - Scripts - Load Files into Stack, and follow the steps from the previous (looping) animation.