the science of craft

Creating the Basic Flipbook

This is a DIY flipbook in three parts:
PART 1: creating the basic flip book
PART 2: adding sound to your flip book
PART 3: flipbook film deluxe

This tutorial gets you started. It shows you how to create the frames for your flipbook (either by extracting frames from an video file, or creating your own frames with your digital camera) and offers tips for cutting & binding.


CREATING A FLIP BOOK** (PART I, STANDARD)

**note – if you are here from one of the flipbook with sound tutorials, and would prefer to focus on the sound module, rather than building the flipbook part from scratch, you can get 15 second movies turned into a flipbook at this site: https://secure.motionbox.com/welcome/landing/motionbooks

STEP 1.

choose the movie for your flip book by extracting frames from an existing video clip (option 1), or by creating the frames with your digital camera (option2).

Option1: extracting frames from an existing clip.

-you can take an existing video file, and extract the frames in Flash, AfterEffects, Quicktime Pro, or One Soft Stop Video decompiler. You can download free trials of Flash, AfterEffects, or OSS Video decompiler, if you do not have these programs. Here’s a quick step by step with the OSS Decompiler program which I found very straight forward to use, as it’s the program’s only function, and it’s extremely quick.

1.Download One Soft Stop Decompiler. Follow the install directions and restart your computer. Keep in mind that OSS is for Windows and is a five day trial, (but only $20 to buy).

Drag and drop your video(s) in the window. The program handles the standard video formats (.avi, .mpg, .mpeg, .wmv, .avi). Select the output format as .jpeg. Then specify the output destination for your files.

The second dialog lets you select all or a portion of the clip. It tells you the size (about 240 (2.5”) is a good size to start with), and the number of frames. Select “start continuous extraction.” You now have all the frames for your flip book as individual jpegs. It’s good to keep your flip book under 250 pages. (You can do one larger, it just starts to get a little cumbersome …keep in mind you’ll have to cut these pages out).

-Tips: On some of the more advanced programs you can choose frame rates. It is important to choose a frame rate that won’t leave you with too many pages, (anything close to 300 starts to get a little difficult to manage). For example, a 10 second movie at 24 frames per second leaves you with a 240 page book, which is a good size. Also it you want to make a flip book with audio, the size of your pages should correspond to the size of your sound module. Another item that’s important to note is the titles of the frames of your flip book (see step 2 making contact sheets).

Option2: creating frames with your digital camera.

-If you find extracting frames intimidating, you can recreate the effect using your digital camera. Make sure you have plenty of room on your card, set the image size to small, and slowly walk or move the camera around taking non-stop pictures. This is a nice way to get a first-person flip book movie.

Either method you choose, it’s important that the frames are numbered sequentially. (Your digital camera should do this automatically, but otherwise don’t forget to add place holders if your flip book is in the triple digits, i.e. 001.jpg, not 1.jpg or 01.jpg).

STEP2. create a contact sheet of your movie frames.
You will also need a way to create contact sheets of the images for your flip book. Adobe Photoshop has a customizeable contact sheet function. (File?automate? contact sheet II, then select folder and output size spacing for your contact sheet). Windows XP has a built in print function for multiple images (printing a folder “wallet sized” works, but is not customizable). Downloading shareware such as FocusViewer works, also the software that came with your digital camera may also work. I find Photoshop to be the best method (you can download a trial version). You have the most control and can do contacts of all your images at once. FocusViewer works well too, except for the fact that you can only do one sheet at a time.

some suggested settings to make a photoshop contact sheet

some suggested settings for FocusViewer contact sheet

Tips for your contact sheet:

-it will be helpful if your layout accounts for about ¾” of blank space on the left side of the image. Due to the nature of a flip book, any action happening on that side of the frame will be difficult to see, so it would be best to leave it blank.

-(For the version with audio), keep in mind the ht. of your speaker/sound module. It’s nice to keep the pages the same ht.

-It will save some time if there was a way to indicate the borders of the page within the contact sheet so you don’t have to measure out later. (particularly if you have ¾” white space to the left of the image, the other 3 sides will be a full bleed).

STEP3. Cut out your pages!

Time-wise, this part can vary depending on which method you use. I recommend using a rotary paper cutter, it cuts clean and square, and with it this part took me about an hour. If you don’t have a paper cutter, I recommend getting one they come in handy for all sorts of projects. You can also check your local kinkos, to see if they can guillotine the sheets for you. (I did end up going to kinko’s to get the side where you flip through with your thumb cut on the guillotine, it lends for a smoother playback of your flipbook movie, and cost less than $2).

important: leave a gap to the left, atleast ¾”, the book will be bound at this edge, and the area close to the bind won’t be seen when flipping the book.

You can stop here and got to step 5, or you can move on to part II create a flip book with sound!

STEP 4. (if your flip book is going to be silent)

Bind your book.

Kinko’s offers binding services, make sure you get a bind that keeps the page edges tightly together (not a spiral bind or a comb bind). Or you can bind it yourself, using two machine screws. Clamp and drill two holes in your book, and tighten it together with the nuts & screws.

Enjoy!

Please share your projects, as well as any comments, questions, suggestions.