HUE Animation Studio wins GOLD Award from Parents’ Choice

To see the full review click here or read below.

Established in 1978, Parents’ Choice Foundation is the nation’s oldest nonprofit consumer guide to quality children’s media.

The Parents’ Choice Award judges are experts in areas of industry and interest, from dinosaurs to digital media and from mathematics to making mayhem. The product evaluation process is lengthy and comprehensive. It’s a multi-tiered process with its roots in a four page questionnaire that queries developmentally appropriate content and challenges, the product’s design and function, the educational value, long-term play value, and the benefits to a child’s social and emotional growth and well-being.

HUE Animation Studio contains everything that a budding animator needs to create stop motion animation videos. For use at home or for school projects, this is a creative and educational pastime that can be enjoyed by the whole family.

This perfect gift for kids encourages creativity and imagination. Whether you are making a LEGO® brick film; animating in claymation or capturing a flower bloom using time-lapse photography, you can bring anything to life in minutes with the easy-to-use software.

The kit includes:

• The HUE HD camera, a flexible plug and play USB camera with built-in microphone. HUE’s innovative design is perfect for animation.
• The fully-featured HUE Animation software designed for children by teachers. A single license is included.
• The HUE Book of Animation has step-by-step instructions for creating 20 hilarious stop motion videos and ideas for even more. You can view these videos here. The videos, sound effects and backdrops are also included on the CD that comes with the kit.

For more information, please contact us.

HUE Animation Studio
Spring 2015 Toys
Ages: 5 & Up
Manufacturer: HUE
Price: $69.95

Website: HUE Animation Studio

Review:

Most children grasp the idea of stop-motion animation the first time they get their hands on a digital camera. They take two pictures of a favorite toy, and in flipping back and forth between the images on the tiny viewscreen, they realize they have set their toy in motion! HUE Animation Studio taps into this discovery and creativity by making it easy to take a sequence of photos and turn them into a full-fledged animated video.

The kit features a USB-connected HD camera on a flexible but highly stable stand, keeping the frame still while the subject is positioned and adjusted. The included software (on a CD, with download available) snaps the pictures, either on demand or on a time-lapse frequency; the preview on the screen includes shadows (“onion skins”) of previous images, if desired, to aid in placement of the subject. The accompanying guidebook explains how to use the camera and software to turn the still images into an animated sequence complete with sounds and effects, all the way up (for a very patient animator) to hand-rotoscoping (drawing images to overlay the stop-motion and make it appear more like traditional animation). The book also includes many story ideas and prompts, and the software includes video samples of completed projects.

This package makes it easy for kids to take their ideas (epic LEGO Hero battles, toy car races, dancing fruit) and bring them to life. The first animated video can be produced within minutes of installing the software, and the creativity only takes off from there. For everyone from young children just beginning with the concept to experienced teen animators developing much more complicated projects and looking for a better camera and tools, this studio is a real hit.

– Emily Crawford, ©2015 Parents’ Choice

Emily holds a BSE in electrical engineering and computer science from Duke University and a Master’s in computer engineering from Georgia Tech. She is a homeschooling parent and lives with her husband, three children, five cats, and thousands of LEGOs in Blacksburg, Virginia.