An important message regarding iStopMotion for Mac

iStopMotion for Mac 3.8.2 (and earlier) will not run on the upcoming macOS 10.15 Catalina or later.

If you're using iStopMotion on the latest macOS 10.14 Mojave, you've probably noticed a message from Apple saying that iStopMotion needs to be updated or will no longer work on a future version of macOS.

Sadly, this is true.

A bit of technical background: iStopMotion for Mac relies heavily on Apple’s QuickTime framework which will be removed in the upcoming versions of macOS due to be released in fall of 2019. iStopMotion for Mac is based on QuickTime and can not run without it. That’s why we have to give up on supporting iStopMotion for Mac in the existing form on future macOS versions.

What's the way forward?

We at Boinx Software are focused on innovation and we see changes as a chance to create new things. Software always changes and our team already works on a new application to bring back stop motion animation to your Mac. We make use of Apple’s latest technologies to deliver the best iStopMotion as soon as possible. For now we will not say how and when the new version is going to be released, but we want to let you know that we are working on it.

As a sneak peek here is a screenshot of a new iStopMotion running on macOS 10.15 Catalina:

Sneak Peek: An upcoming version of iStopMotion running on macOS 10.15 Catalina Developer Beta

What does that mean for you?

If you are using iStopMotion for Mac now and would like to continue to do so, don't update to macOS 10.15 Catalina.

Your current license and the application will not expire, but the application will not launch on macOS 10.15 Catalina. If you want to both keep using iStopMotion and update to Catalina, we recommend to get an external drive and install macOS Mojave or earlier together with the current version of iStopMotion on it. Start your Mac from the external drive when you want to use iStopMotion and from the internal drive when you want to use macOS 10.15 Catalina.

For the time being, iStopMotion for Mac will continue to be available from our online store for customers who do not plan to update to macOS 10.15 Catalina.

When will a new iStopMotion for Mac be available?

Currently, it is unclear and with all new technology, there are likely some pitfalls that are hard to predict. The prototype worked better than we expected, but there are still some issues to be worked out. So, we can't predict how quickly the new iStopMotion for Mac will be available. At this point however, it seems unlikely that it will be in time for macOS 10.15 Catalina to ship.

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Lego Alien Resurgence

Kevin of Key Frame Studios is proud of his first Lego stop motion movie – and rightfully so. The Alien movie parody was made with iStopMotion, a Logitech c920 webcam, iMovie and the Affinity Designer and Photo apps. Kevin writes that he appreciated the excellent image capture iStopMotion provided from his webcam. He adds that it was easy to edit frames in the external apps and the export featured the flexibility he needed to bring this masterpiece to life.

Stop Motion Skateboarder

The old Skateboarder vs. Spaceship plot reanimated with gusto by Stephen Coad. "iStopMotion is straight forward and easy, and being able to use a DSLR camera with it means you can get a high quality looking video," Stephen writes. We love how stop motion animation enables the craziest plots to come to live without a huge production budget. Root for the skateboarder, will he prevail in the end?

Skelfie

"Hold on, lemme take a skelfie." A skeleton waiting to scare people in the park decides to upload a new skelfie to favorite social media.

Lori Escobar’s animated short is part of a bigger project in planning featuring this skeleton on this setting of a park at night. Lori built the characters in rubber clay and constructed an elaborate set. iStopmotion is used to film the scenes with an iPhone 5 as the camera, a setup which Lori finds “really easy”. Adobe Premiere is used for post production and the effects are created in After Effects. Lori also wrote the music in Garage Band.

Please support Lori’s project on Patreon.