Tripod for Filming Animation

Photo-R Tripod

One of the best ways to get live-action reference for a piece of animation is to film yourself acting it out, capture the footage on your phone, and then import the footage onto an image plane in Maya.

But how you film yourself acting it out, if it's just you? Someone has to operate the camera, after all. The answer is - you need a tripod. We're recommending this excellent (and inexpensive) tripod, made by Phot-R, for mounting your phone/camera, while you do the performance.

It's a great piece of kit; lightweight, easy to use and put away, and at just £13 it won't break the bank.

The full description is:
Phot-R Professional 127cm (50") 4-Section Universal Aluminium Photo Video Tripod Stand with 3-Way 360° Swivel Panhead for Smartphone Mobiles.

To find it, follow this link.

And to see how to use live action reference to make great animation, see this blog post.

Finally, here's a short video (just 6 mins) that explains why shooting live action reference is so useful.


When you shoot live action reference, you will almost always find things you didn't anticipate, little bits of magic that your body will do without you even thinking about it with your conscious brain. Try it out - you'll be amazed by the power of your own acting skills.

  ---Alex