Simon C. Williams

I wrote a review of Zu3D a couple of weeks ago, but have now decided to write a completely amended version of it. Why? Because the original review mentioned a few problems we had been having with the software, and we have now moved past those problems.

The reason we have moved past those problems is, quite simply, because of the incredible responsiveness of the Zu3D team in responding to and solving our issues. As a result of this, I can’t praise them highly enough in terms of their customer support. It really has been excellent!

I teach Digital Media to students in the 10 - 13 years range. Every second year, we focus on stop-motion animation techniques, with each small group of students spending seven 90 minute sessions on the topic.

Until this year, we had been using iStopMotion in conjunction with another app called iGlasses (which provides us with manual control over the webcams we use). Unfortunately, recent OS versions (we are Mac-based) haven't allowed these two apps to work together, so I had been looking for an alternative. After a decent trial session of Zu3D, it seemed like a no-brainer for our purposes.

We have now completed a seven week cycle with our first batch of students, and I must say I am very pleased that we moved from iStopMotion to Zu3D. A few weeks ago, due to the issues I mentioned earlier, I wasn’t so sure. Now I am a complete convert. In addition to the great customer support we have been receiving, here are a few other things I really like about Zu3D:

- The interface is very kid-friendly, while sacrificing nothing in terms of functionality
- The ability to layer multiple video and audio tracks provides great flexibility
- The timeline displays the actual previous frame contents, rather than just an indicator of those frames.
- Manipulating audio and video in the timeline is simple and intuitive
- The documentation is fairly comprehensive and easy to read.
- The ability to add text, sound effects and other post-production factors, even though we still use iMovie for most of these things, makes for a very comprehensive and versatile production package, as do the facilities for such things as drawing on screen, chroma-keying, importing images (even png images with transparent backgrounds - very cool) and adding “scenery”.

Are there any areas for improvement? Of course. I have yet to use any piece of software where this hasn’t been the case. But to be fair, these things are often subjective and come down to individual preferences in terms of work-flow. As an example, I would like the ability to set defaults for most variables, or to click and drag media directly from the desktop or other folder into the timeline, rather than using an import function. But these are relatively minor details in the greater scheme of things,

Before making the move to Zu3D, I trialled a number of different pieces of animation software. I have to say that I found nothing that compares to Zu3D in terms of being a flexible and comprehensive, easy to use, all-ages stop-motion package. Let’s add to that the superb customer support and sheer value for money, and Zu3D is a total winner as far as I’m concerned.