Open Planet Software has introduced Smoovie 1.0 (http://www.openplanetsoftware.com/smoovie), which offers a way for Mac OS X users to create stop motion movies on the Mac and share them. It’s designed exclusively for Mac OS X 10.6 (“Snow Leopard”) and has support for the Mac’s iSight camera and Apple Remote.
With Smoovie, you can use the Mac’s built-in iSight camera along with the Apple Remote to capture images straight into the app. Onion skinning overlays existing frames with the live video to help make decisions about getting the next frame just right. For users who prefer to capture the action with a digital camera away from the computer, Smoovie can also import images from disk, iPhoto and Aperture.
Smoovie’s editing tools are modeled after a strip of film. Playback speed can be fine-tuned and both standard (4:3) and widescreen (16:9) aspect ratios are supported. Smoovie also allows a music soundtrack to be chosen from iTunes.
The app features built-in uploading to YouTube and sharing with iTunes for watching on iPhone, iPad and AppleTV.
Smoovie is available from the Open Planet Software web site and costs $49. A demo is available for download.
