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Moving Step Mode — Motion Blur in Stop Motion

[BOTH] Moving Step (also called Go-Motion or Blur Motion) is a Flair mode that produces natural motion blur in stop frame animation. Instead of the rig stopping dead at each frame position, it prerolls back, moves through the frame position at speed, and Flair triggers the camera at the centre of the movement. The result is a frame with motion blur — matching the look of live-action cinema.

How Moving Step Works

In standard Stop Motion mode, the rig goes to each frame position and holds still while the camera is exposed. There is no motion blur — the classic "choppy" stop animation look.

In Moving Step mode:

  1. Flair calculates the position of the next frame.
  2. The rig gotos that position and then prerolls back along the path of the move.
  3. The rig then moves through the frame position at speed, ramping up and ramping down.
  4. Flair triggers the camera at the centre of the movement — while the camera is in motion.
  5. The rig ramps down, then gotos the position for the frame after that, and repeats.

The camera receives a trigger impulse while moving, producing motion blur proportional to speed and exposure duration — mimicking the effect of a physical shutter moving at full frame rate.

Critical Requirement: Flair Must Trigger the Camera

Dragonframe cannot trigger the camera in Moving Step mode

Moving Step only works correctly when Flair is the camera trigger source.

If Dragonframe is triggering the camera, the camera fires at the moment Dragonframe decides — not at the moment the rig is at the correct mid-travel position. The result will be either no motion blur, blur at the wrong phase of the motion, or inconsistent results frame to frame.

"This relies on the camera being triggered from Flair, not from Dragonframe. If you ask Dragonframe to trigger your camera, Flair cannot take the frame at the correct point on the Moving Step." — @peter

Solution: Set the camera trigger in Flair's External Camera setup. Do not use Dragonframe's camera trigger when using Moving Step.

Setup Steps

  1. Set the move up in Flair as normal with all frame positions programmed.
  2. In External Camera (or Run mode), switch from Stop Motion to Moving Step.
  3. Configure the trigger timing within the moving step — the trigger should fire at the midpoint of the rig's travel through each frame position. The manual covers the specific timing parameters.
  4. Ensure the camera is directly triggered by Flair (not by Dragonframe).
  5. Verify trigger accuracy — any delay between the Flair trigger pulse and the actual camera shutter opening will shift the blur to an asymmetric position. The trigger chain must be short and reliable.

Camera trigger accuracy is critical

Moving Step is sensitive to trigger delay. Even a few milliseconds of shutter lag will place the blur asymmetrically around the intended position. Test the trigger-to-shutter delay for your specific camera and adjust the trigger timing in Flair accordingly.

When to Use Moving Step vs Stop Motion

Situation Use
Traditional stop animation look (choppy, no blur) Stop Motion mode
Natural motion blur, fluid-looking animation Moving Step
Dragonframe workflow with animator stepping frame-by-frame Stop Motion (Flair triggers, or camera triggers independently)
Handheld feel added to stop animation Convert to mimic, edit pan/tilt graphs, then shoot as Moving Step

Simulating Handheld Feel

To add a handheld feel to a stop motion move:

  1. Programme your move normally.
  2. Convert it to a mimic move.
  3. Edit the graphs — particularly pan and tilt — adding small irregular variations.
  4. Use the Graph Smooth function to control how natural vs jarring the feel is.
  5. Shoot the result as Moving Step or Stop Motion as required.

"Create your move, then convert it to a mimic move and then edit the graphs in particular the pan and tilt and varying the range of the edit to create various kinks in the graph. Lastly use the graph smooth function to remove excessive jolts/kinks." — @assaff

Official Documentation

Flair Classic Manual — External Camera Settings (Moving Step)

Flair 7 Manual — External Camera Settings (Moving Step)

Source: Triggering External Camera — talk.mrmoco.com (Post #4 by @peter)
Source: Flair - Motion Blur — talk.mrmoco.com
Source: Programming Timelapse in Flair — talk.mrmoco.com