Live view and capture
See a live feed from a webcam or external camera, then save the current image as the next frame at the playhead with one key.
Stop-motion animation studio
Animate one frame
at a time.
FreezeFrame Animator is a focused desktop studio for stop motion. Shoot from a webcam or your phone, judge every move with onion skins, cut on a fast timeline, and export — without ever leaving the keyboard.
- Webcams & phone cameras
- MP4 · MOV · GIF · PNG · JPEG
- macOS · Windows · Linux
Illustrative mock-up. The scene is live: press play, or click a frame in the timeline.
The capture loop
Built around the rhythm of the shot.
Pose, capture, check, repeat. Every step has a key, so your hands stay on the set and your eyes stay on the frame.
-
1
Pose and capture
Turn on live view and press Enter. The frame lands at the playhead, ready for the next move.
-
2
Check the motion
Toggle onion skin with O, scrub back with the arrow keys, and hit Space to play it at your project's fps.
-
3
Refine and export
Duplicate, reorder, retime, add sound, then render to video, GIF, or a numbered image sequence.
Features
Everything you need to finish a film.
A complete shoot-to-export workflow, with the pieces working together.
Onion skinning
Overlay previous frames on the live view and the current frame. Choose how many to show, their opacity and falloff, and an optional red/green tint.
Scrubbable timeline
A strip of thumbnails showing frame order, hold length, and the playhead. Click to select, drag to scrub, and zoom for dense projects.
Frame operations
Insert, delete, duplicate, reorder, and replace frames with multi-select. Cut, copy, and paste frames right in the timeline.
Undo and redo
A full edit history that covers captures, deletions, reorders, and property changes. Experiment freely; every step can be walked back.
Exposure and timing
Shoot on ones, twos, or threes, or set a custom hold. Change the project fps at any time without losing a single captured frame.
Camera controls
Adjust exposure, white balance, focus, and resolution from inside the app, then lock them so your look stays fixed between shots.
Framing guides
Rule of thirds, center cross, safe areas, and aspect-ratio guides over the live view. They never get baked into your frames.
Audio tracks
Import sound or record it in the app. See the waveform on the timeline, and hear short snippets as you scrub to land on dialogue and beats.
Export anywhere
Render MP4, MOV, or GIF at the resolution, fps, and range you choose, or write numbered PNG or JPEG frames. Audio is muxed in.
Keyboard-first
Capture, step, play, delete, and toggle onion skin from the keyboard. A built-in reference sheet, opened with ?, lists every shortcut.
Projects that stay safe
Create, open, save, and autosave projects with a defined fps and aspect ratio. Bring in existing Stop Motion Studio projects.
Onion skinning
See where you've been. Plan where you're going.
Ghosted neighbors make spacing, arcs, and easing obvious at a glance. Tune the overlay to the shot: how many frames, how strong, how quickly they fade, and whether past and future frames get their own color.
- Up to 10 frames of history on the live view
- Linear or geometric falloff, or a flat overlay
- Red/green or grayscale tints to tell frames apart
- Preferences are yours and never saved into the project
Future frames appear when reviewing a project; live view shows past frames only.
Shoot on
Frame rate
Timing
Hold a pose. Change the pace. Keep every frame.
Exposure control lets you decide how many project frames each captured image is held. Animate on twos for a classic look, or on ones for fluid motion — per frame, or across a whole selection.
- Ones, twos, threes, or a custom hold
- The timeline shows each frame's hold length
- Switch between 8, 12, 15, 24, 30 fps (or your own) any time
- Playback honors your fps and per-frame durations
LensLink™
Your phone is a better camera. Use it.
Turn a phone or tablet into your live-view camera over WebRTC. There's no signaling server and nothing to install on the device: pair with a QR code, and the picture streams straight to your computer.
- 1Choose LensLink™ in the camera list. A QR code appears.
- 2Scan it with your phone or tablet. It opens a page that runs in the device's browser.
- 3Show the code it displays to your computer's webcam to finish pairing.
- 4Shoot. The device's feed behaves like any other camera, and its camera controls are available in the app.
Keyboard-first
Never leave the puppet.
The keys that matter during a shoot are single presses, so you can capture and review without reaching for the mouse.
Capture
- Enter
- Capture frame
- C
- Toggle live view
- G
- Framing guides
- CtrlS
- Save
Playback
- Space
- Play / pause
- ←→
- Step a frame
- Shift←→
- Jump 10 frames
- L
- Toggle loop
Frames
- CtrlD
- Duplicate
- CtrlXCV
- Cut, copy, paste
- Alt←→
- Move frames
- Delete
- Delete frames
Onion & edit
- O
- Toggle onion skin
- []
- Fewer / more frames
- CtrlZ
- Undo
- ?
- Show all shortcuts
Export
From frames to finished film.
Choose the format, resolution, frame rate, and range, then render. When your project has audio, it's muxed into the video for you.
MP4Share anywhere
MOVEdit in your NLE
GIFLoops for the web
PNGNumbered frames
JPEGNumbered frames
Roadmap
Where it's headed.
The core shoot-to-export workflow is here today. These are the tools planned next, from sharper preview modes to professional production features. Plans can change.
Workflow
- Preview modes Play a selection, a looped region, or the last N frames after each capture.
- Reference layer Overlay video or an image sequence for lip-sync and rotoscoping.
- Interval timer Time-lapse capture at a set interval and count.
- Notes and markers Label frames, scenes, and shots right on the timeline.
Production
- Exposure sheet A dope-sheet table view that stays in sync with the timeline.
- Layers & drawing Non-destructive compositing, with pencil and shape tools.
- Rig removal Paint out wires and supports from a clean plate.
- Color correction Per-frame adjustments and flicker reduction, with originals untouched.
- Scenes and shots Organize one project into shots and assemble the final cut.
Advanced
- Motion paths Trails of tracked points to refine arcs and spacing.
- Remote triggers Capture from a phone, USB button, MIDI device, or networked remote.
- DMX and motion control Per-frame lighting cues and programmed camera moves.
- Chroma key Key out green or blue screens and swap in a new background.
- More formats and sync Dragonframe and image-folder import, workspace layouts, cloud backup.
Early access · version 0.0.1
Ready when your puppet is.
FreezeFrame Animator is under active development. Downloads will appear here as soon as the first builds are published.
Live view needs camera access, and LensLink™ asks for local network access, so your computer may prompt for permission the first time.