Piximakey Animation Studio
Say goodbye to mindless screen time and hello to digital creativity. The Piximakey Animation Studio makes animation easy.
Make your own stop motion animation
Stop motion animation is an efficient way to utilize technology in education in a meaningful way and Piximakey turns it into a game, from three years and up.
The simple animation technique, which is mode from photographs played quickly after each other, when the eyes perceive this sequence of pictures as movement, is fun for children of different ages. You can work with pictures, motion, and sound in an easy-accessible way that encourages creativity and cooperation and developing communication skills.
The compact wooden suitcase contains device stands, backdrops, and special stop-motion animation clay so it only takes a few minutes to set up a scene and you can animate wherever you want.
With five cans of professional animation clay in five colours, you can easily create figures suitable for animation. The oil-based clay doesn't dry out, so it can be used repeatedly, and when it runs out you can refill it with a slice from our 1kg clay rolls.
Piximakey Animation Studio is a plug’n’play solution designed in cooperation with educators and teachers.
How it works?
1. Assemble the camera stands
The Piximakey Animation Studio contains two different device stands, so you can film from the front and from above.
2. Set the stage
The suitcase itself functions as a stage with built-in backdrops.
3. Introduce your characters and design your world
Find your favourite toy or build your own character and find out where your movie is going.
4. Open the app and select the camera angle
When you open the Piximakey app and start a new movie, you can immediately see what the camera sees.
5. Take a photo, move the figure – and repeat
Your movie is created by taking a picture, moving your character a bit, taking another picture, moving the character a little more, and so on.
6. Record and add sound effects or voice acting
Press the microphone button and it will take you to the audio editor screen. Here you can hold down the red record button to record sound.
7. Premiere your first film and share it
Developing 21st century competencies
Literacy Skills
Literacy Skills include children's ability to handle, decode, and use technology, information, and media. When we use tablets and mobiles for stop motion, the students relate to both the purely technical, e.g. how the phone's camera takes a good picture, and the more artistic, where message, image, and sound merge on a digital platform.
Life Skills
The third branch, Life Skills, includes universal abilities that you take with you through life. Personal skills such as initiative, productivity, leadership, and social skills are essential for doing well in adulthood, both in and out of work. When a group of children make a film together, it is essentially a creative production that they themselves control. There is typically an overall framework, such as a theme or a time limit, but other than that, the children themselves must define tasks, go from talk to action, prioritise, cut from and complete a product. Stop motion provides far greater opportunities to change direction along the way than live recordings, so the above competencies are trained from start to finish.
Learning Skills
The second branch we refer to as Learning Skills, and it includes the four C’s: Critical Thinking, collaboration, creativity, and communication. When children make films together, they go through a creative collaborative process that challenges them on many levels. Ideas must be translated into reality, and this requires compromises, problem solving, and cooperation. Furthermore, working with stop motion develops children's ability to critically decode video, as they experience how easy it is to deceive the viewer with the help of animation, background music, and editing.
Download the Piximakey app, take first picture, and off you go
The Piximakey app has user-friendly intuitive design, so even a 3-year-old can animate on their own. You see the functions you need, when you need them, and you’ll be guided from the first picture to sound-recording and sharing of the finished movie.
App includes:
- Stop motion animation
- Sound recording
- Film editing tools
- Easy film sharing
- Tutorial videos
In addition, while the animation is being created, the app shows you a „ghost picture“ of the last photo you took, so you can see how far you move the figure.
The app is free to download and is available for Android and iOS smartphones and tablets.
Packaging content
- 1× wooden briefcase with built-in stage
- 2× backdrops (dark purple and light blue)
- 5× stop motion clay in 150g tin
- 1× large wooden stand for filming from above
- 1× small wooden stand for filming straight ahead
- 1× Start guide
Animation clay
- Soft to the touch and safe from 3 years
- Imagination, mindfulness, and fine motor skills
- Stays in place so you can bring it to life
- Oil-based non-drying formula lets you shape, animate, and reshape
- Re-usable, refillable, and recyclable
