Zu3D Animation Kit

Unboxing Video

What our customers say


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Florence Valladares
Verified purchase
Reviewed in United States

It is so easy to get started and we were making our own films in no time. Then as we played with it more we had a brilliant time adding sound effects and music from the collection the comes with it. Y...see more

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Simon C. Williams
Verified purchase
Reviewed in United States

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 ...see more

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Tararaa
Verified purchase
Reviewed in United States

Could not be more impressed. Purchased as a gift for my 9-year-old in anticipation of school shutdowns. Seemed like a fun indoor activity. Software installation was easy - does not come with or requi...see more

Testimonials

Full features and specification list

Features

  • Complete stop-motion animation package
  • Automatic green-screening/chroma key
  • Create drawn animations or draw onto captured frames
  • Rig-removal to eliminate hands/strings/lego holding structures
  • Copy, edit, move, reverse, delete your frames or clips
  • Instantly zoom in and out from individual frame view to clip view
  • Onion skinning (overlay the previous frame to making animating easy!)
  • Import sound effects and music, or record your own
  • Powerful video editor - combine imported video files with your animations
  • Import animated gifs/special effects/videos/images
  • Unlimited audio & video tracks
  • Add titles, credits & speech bubbles with exciting preset styles
  • Time-lapse a sequence of frames (document the growth of a beanstalk!)
  • Instantly change the framerate of your whole film or individual clips
  • Add fade transitions between scenes of your film
  • Change the transparency of individual clips or whole video tracks
  • Export as MP4 to save and watch locally
  • Effortlessly upload directly to YouTube or the Zu3D Gallery
  • Capture images from the Zu3D 'HD' Animation-Webcam
  • Use phone or tablet as a wireless camera

Minimum Specification

  • PC: Windows 7 or higher

  • MAC: OSX 10.10 (Yosemite) or higher.

  • iPad: iOS10 or higher

    PC & Mac:

  • 2GB RAM

  • 350MB Disk Space

  • 1.4Ghz or equivalent processor

  • 800x600 resolution screen.

Recommended Specification:

  • 2.6Ghz+ Processor

  • 8GB+ RAM

  • 500GB+ Disk Space

  • 1280 x 720 or greater resolution screen

    If you are using XP or Vista we have an older version of Zu3D available which is compatible, please contact us for more information.

More Benefits of the Zu3D Animation Kit

Already having been the source of excitement and education in tens of thousands of homes & schools around the world for well over a decade, the ever up-to-date Zu3D Animation Kit makes it child's play for anyone to create amazing, animated films with added sound effects, music, titles & credits, green screening, imported effects and much, much more!

Inside the kit are two licences for the mind-blowing animation software Zu3D, plus a remarkably versatile 'HD' Animation-Webcam, allowing you to turn your everyday computer, into a funtastic animation station!

Your Zu3D software suite comes packed to the brim with extensive libraries of music, sound effects, background ambient tracks, intro and outro clip effects, background graphics, foreground graphics, speech bubbles styles - and of course the ability to import your own!

Choose whether you animate with the included USB HD webcam, or use your smartphone or tablet as a wireless camera, streaming HD (1920x1080) images to your PC or Mac!

Also enclosed is a copy of our superb Animation Handbook by Helen Piercy (author of The Animation Studio) to get you off to a running start, 8 colourful strips of industry-quality NewPlast modelling clay, as well as a double-sided printed background and 'green screen' foam setup for use with the self-locking cardboard stage that your original packaging box magically transforms into! (instructions included)

Create films about anything & everything, or nothing in particular at all!

Animate with: Lego, Playmobil, Stikbots, Plasticine, Toys, Junk Modelling(!) - literally whatever you can lay your hands on...

Import live action video straight from your machine, smartphone or tablet to combine with your animation on unlimited videos tracks, and make ludicrously imaginative feature films - with built-in options to upload your finished animations directly onto your YouTube channel or the ever expanding Zu3D Gallery!

Educational, Creative, STEAM, Used in thousands of schools, Zu3D is consistently the educators' choice of animation software to enhance and complement learning

Zu3D has been used to make dragons eat schools and dinosaurs roam along corridors. Children have had face to face conversations with their own clay creations made life sized! Others have ridden unicorns through cloudy skies, and even cleaned the teeth of giants!

Legal notice: No dragons, schools, dinosaurs, children, or unicorns, came to any harm during the production of these films!

This magnificent kit provides everyone all the tools they need to do so much more than any free app or download ever could!

What is Claymation?

Modelling an orange clay head ready for animation

According to Wikipedia, Claymation, or Clay Animation, is 'a form of stop motion where charaters, or background items, are created from a malleable substance, such as plasticine/modelling clay ... which is then then photographed once before being slightly moved by hand to prepare it for the next shot, and so on until the animator has achieved the desired amount of film.'


The above in mind, would you believe us if we told you that the art of plasticine modelling has been around longer than the current oldest living person on earth!


There is some debate surrounding the origins of plasticine, with some suggesting it was invented in the 1880's by German Pharmacist Franz Kolb, while others say his ingredients created a more waxy/oily variant (also know as 'Plastilina'), and the modelling clay we animate with today more resembles the British Artist William Harbutt's version, dating to 1897.


Either way, that's some impressive lineage for a product which is responsible for the likes of Animation greats such as 'Wallace & Gromit', 'The Boxtrolls', and 'The Nightmare Before Christmas' (to name but a few!), some hundred years after its Victorian roots - and that's without even considering the quality and quantity of fun modelling clay still imparts on children and adults alike, to this very day!


So, what is Claymation you ask? In our opinion, Claymation is the most wonderful of art forms, which affords you incredible creativity, and the ability to express yourself as an animator in an all-absorbing environment you're unlikely have experienced before...!

But is Claymation truly accessible, to all ages and abilities?

Two young childrenanimating with Zu3D on a Mac computer

It is our belief that, if you have the minimum knowledge required to load up and use our app, and you can make even just a ball out of modelling clay, then you absolutely can make your very own Claymation movie, whether you're 6, or 106! Just look at what was achieved with 'Morph' back in the 1970's!!

Ok, I'll submit that at either end of that age range, you'll probably want some help with bringing your ideas to life, but that's what makes for such a great, immersive experience when claymating at home or in the classroom!


Creating stop motion animations in general, whether with modelling clay, Lego, or any other medium, encourages a collaborative approach to so many aspects of the process. From storyboarding - where you can come up with original ideas, reenact great historical events, or incorporate ideas from your current term topic in practically any subject - to character creation; or from technical details, such as making the set and staging the lighting, to post-production editing; from start to finish, the entire animation activity stimulates a shared learning adventure where families will bond and engage, or classroom education can be marvellously, and easily, enhanced.