Mixing frame rate in FCPX

Hei!

When making a stop motion movie, it's recommended to use 10-15 fps, right? When making a movie in fcpx I have to make a project with 10 fps. What happens then if I add some video clips with 30 fps? Do they appear as 10 fps? Do I need to manually change the speed to 30 fps? Is this possible?

Your information may be incorrect or you've perhaps misinterpreted it or misstated your understanding of it.

Shooting stop motion on-twos or, in another case, on-threes, is a labor-saving shortcut. Disney didn't stoop to that kind of work. If you shoot at 10fps you must still bring it into a 30fps (or some other standard video format) timeline if you want anyone to be able to see it.

You create artwork that's based on dividing your action into 10 (or 12 or 15) discrete steps that are double- or triple-exposed so you don't have to create 30 individual frames of action. It's a pre-production shortcut that has side effects. Your action is not as smooth, your movements lack subtlety.

However, there are workflows based on even fewer animation frames.

Traditionally the stop animators would shoot two or 3 frames before making adjustments up for the next capture.

You could achieve the same effect editing 10-15fps, any video you add should adjust to the project frame rate. However, you maybe wanting it to run at full frame rate, in which case you have a problem. Bumping up the frame rate to suite would mess with your stop frames.

This creates a bit of a problem for you.

It may just be better and more flexible shooting at 25/30 fps and take 2-3 frames at a time like the old school technique.

I do stop motion animation often. Sometimes at 15 frames per second, other times at 30fps. One of these days I'd like to do a 60fps stop motion animation just for funsies. Anyway what I do is import the individual frames into After Effects. If I am doing a 15 fps sequence, it runs too fast. Oh well. All I care about in After Effects is assembling the image sequence and maybe some panning and scanning if needed. That way the pans and scans match the stop motion animation frame rate exactly. I export a 30fps Quicktime file. In FCPX I slow that down 50% and make sure frame blending or Optical Flow is turned off. The end.

I was just wondering if there is a a way to conform a clip in this instance by time stretching it. Bland Off makes absolute sense!!

If you edit in a 30fps timeline FCPX will automatically stretch the clips by playing each frame of 15fps media twice. You can then edit your 30fps clips in without problem and export a 30fps video.

If you have already edited in a 15fps timeline, create a new 30fps project and copy and paste the contents of your edit into it. That should work although I haven't had time to test.

Good luck with it.

If I'm doing a short animation, I just drop the photos into FCPX, drag to select them all, control>D to set the duration to 2 frames for 12fps in a 24p timeline, 15fps in a 30fps timeline, or 3 for 8fps in a 24p timeline or 10 fps in a 30fps timeline.

for longer stuff, or stuff that requires intensive fx, I import the image sequence into a motion project with the same frame rate as my final project, this means that the photos play too fast, but the effects will match the frame rate of the stills.
Then I simply retime the clips in FCPX (with optical flow and frame blending turned OFF except for a special effect) to the correct speed.

Hope this helps,
-Mark

Many thanks for all your answers. So, when doing a stop motion, I do whatever movement I want, but take two or three pictures after each movement. And then drop them in a 24 or 30fps timeline?

Usually I edit the images in Lightroom, export them, stabilize in AE and at the end export the images to a video. By doing this I don´t have to deal with so many images. Just a video file.

But If I have a stop motion project where I take 150 images. I want it to last for 10 seconds. Dropping it in a 30 fps timeline will only give me 5 seconds. Will slowing it down to 50% give me the stop motion effect with Lego?

Many thanks for all your answers. So, when doing a stop motion, I do whatever movement I want, but take two or three pictures after each movement. And then drop them in a 24 or 30fps timeline?

Maybe. See Mark Nelson's answer. If you shooting Lego models, certainly you must know there are literally millions of people doing that? The support system for Lego animation is h-u-g-e. Hundreds of excellent youtube and vimeo training clips for Lego stop motion.

Usually I edit the images in Lightroom, export them, stabilize in AE and at the end export the images to a video. By doing this I don´t have to deal with so many images. Just a video file.

Stabilizing in AE does correct for possibly improvable staging and puppetry skills. AE also allows the animator to use sophisticated filters for stabilization of color and exposure as well as removal of armatures and rigs. Many time lapse freaks' projects live and die inside After Effects.

But If I have a stop motion project where I take 150 images. I want it to last for 10 seconds. Dropping it in a 30 fps timeline will only give me 5 seconds. Will slowing it down to 50% give me the stop motion effect with Lego?

Maybe.
The idea is that your individual images will simply get double printed. That's not exactly the same as planning for and executing a ten second clip of 30fps animation. But it usually suffices. Your project will end on frame 300 in the timeline which is image #150 from your inventory. Rarely does the last frame of a movie equal the last frame from the camera. Consider if the movie needs to fade out to black. That takes 15 or 30 frames of the timeline. Are images #135 through #150 (or #143-150) designed to allow room (in time) for the characters to pose and the scene to pause for the fade to black? Same concept possibly applies to the opening fade up. If you need 30 of your images to cover the top and tail fades, then your critical action must be planned to occur in 120 images, not necessarily 150.