ClayMation
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Ever wanted to create your own Animated objects ? You can,very simply. Use Plastercine (any type), Clay, Bendy Toys, in fact almost anything. Things like statues can be revolved by placing the article on to your record players turn table for example. It's not as difficult as you may have thought. You can even turn a saucer upside down onto a dinner plate and revolve the sauce with the object on it.

Plastercine is the simplest way of doing a quick animated object of your own choice. This bird took me just ONE hour to create, take pictures (6 in all),remove unwanted areas and finally put it together. The result is very good indeed. There's no detail at all, and yet this is the result. Invest in a small digital camera for use on computers. Prices start from as low as £70. Never buy Mail Order unless you have already seen the camera operating with its pictorial results. If you want to do animation using drawings, then it is important to ensure that the camera can produce reasonable likenesses. Hence the reason for not buying Mail Order.
Get yourself a tripod that can elevate and swivel. Prices start around £10. You can get secondhand units for much cheaper. It's worth the purchase, as you can also use this to help take family pictures, portraits and the like.

How To..
Keep things simple. Decide on the subject matter to be used, any special support needed and how to implement it. Also think on how many sequences are needed to animate the subject. Always ADD an extra movement between each of what you think will give the best result. This will allow for any errors in calculation. Normally about 16 frames per second. However that's not really needed for animation files. You will have to weigh the price of having great detail/motion against the length of the file, time it takes to load and the duration of the animation. You will notice an overall reduction of processing speed if the animation is part of a global display of other animated objects. If you are doing animations for the Web, then it is vital to keep the size of the file down. I suggest a maximum of no more than 80k bytes. Normally convert pictures from millions of colours to 256 colours. If the subject matter is to be reduced into a small picture, then detail can be reduced. Try converting one frame/picture to 16 colours and examine the result.

Here is the Plastercine model but taken from below. This gives the effect of it hovering. Detail has not been added.

What was used
To make the stand to prop the model up, I used a large paper clip. This was straightened first and then shaped. We then place the created support onto a plastercine base.

We take a piece of plastercine and mould a general shape of a bird. Then shape another piece into a wing. Have a look at any book on Birds to get the shapes.
Do a bit more shaping to get a better look to the model, then rest it on the created stand. You are now ready to create your masterpiece.

If you have some interesting creatiions with simple to follow instructions, we would like to see them.