MonkeyJam is an excellent animation program that was originally designed to give motion to drawings made with pencil and paper. The latest version includes many new features such as the Stop Motion and Capturing modes. Basically, it allows you to create animations from drawings or images captured from a video, with a lot of options to configure in order to obtain the desired animation.
You can capture images from a webcam, camera or scanner and obtain images as separate frames. Also, you are allowed to import images and sound files located on your computer, preview currently selected drawings, adjust FPS rate, build drawings by layers, etc. The animations are exported in AVI format, and the program supports NTSC and PAL standards. The work is saved in a project file so you can continue working later from the point you left.
Among the new features you will find automated number generation for frames (or sequential numbering), adjustable duration at the time of capture, audio support for WAV, and keyboard shortcuts.
Unfortunately, there is no support for video, and the cameras are used only for working with still images. Also, the program is not available for Windows Vista or Mac. But still, it is a great free application that contains many features to create an animation.
