SETTING UP PREMIERE FOR STOP-MOTION ANIMATION

1. Create a new Premiere project, or, open an existing blank template project
2. Select Premiere Pro CC > Preferences > General
3. For ‘Still Image Default Duration’ select either a) 2 frames (for stop-motion animation), or,
b) 1 frame (for timelapse).

Selecting 2 frames for ‘Still Image Default Duration’ will give you animation at 12 fps when
using a 24fps sequence / timeline.

4. Create a new sequence: File > New Sequence.

Select a preset with appropriate video settings. E.g Digital SLR > 1080p > DSLR 1080p24

5. Create a separate bin for images in the project panel if you don’t already have one:
File > New Bin
6. Import folder of images: File > Import…
Either,

a) Select the whole folder of images for your animation, which you have previously prepped, by
just selecting the folder icon and selecting Import, or,
b) If you have your images numbered sequentially e.g. beginning with ‘1’ for the first image,
then you can select the first image in the folder and then tick ‘Image Sequence’ at the
bottom of the Import window:
 Importing as an image sequence will automatically join your images together
sequentially so that they will become a single clip in Premiere. This means you will
have less control as you no longer have access to individual images – e.g. cannot edit /
delete any, however, you may find playback is smoother – and the sequence is easier to
handle and work with as one single clip.

7. Edit to timeline.
If you’ve imported as an image sequence, then you can now just drag your image
sequence clip on to V1 in the timeline.

If you have imported the whole folder of images individually, then within that folder, select
the List View in the Project Panel – this should ensure they are listed in the order they
were originally. Now select all the images in the folder and drag on to V1 in the timeline.

If Premiere is struggling to play back the images smoothly then try lowering the playback
resolution in the pull-down menu bottom right of the Program monitor to 1/2 or 1/4:
 In any case, you may find Premiere cannot play back the sequence completely stutter-free,
however, once exported, the sequence should play smoothly.

8. Add titles, audio, effects etc

If you’ve imported all the images in individually, you may want to convert these into a
single clip which will make it easier to work with / move around / add effects to etc.
You can do this by, first creating a new blank sequence: File > New Sequence
Next, select the ‘Edit Sequence as nest’ button in the top left of the timeline:

Now drag the icon in the project panel that represents the original sequence into V1
of your new sequence. The individual clips are now consolidated into one clip. You
can always go back to your original sequence of images to edit them, and the new nested
sequence should update with any changes.

9. Export
When you have finished editing you can export your sequence in the same manner as you
would a video sequence.
File > Export Media…