Nintendo DSI Take Apart with over 1300 photo stop-motion video created by TechRestore.
All shiny things must be taken apart. TechRestore today posted a stop-motion disassembly video of the new Nintendo DSi handheld gaming device. The video shows all internal parts of the DSi as well as a complete take apart and reassembly by a TechRestore gaming Technician.
Over a half million people have viewed TechRestore's video's that show various consumer electronic devices, laptops, iPhones and iPods being taken apart and worked on by a TechRestore Technician. There has been a tremendous amount of interest in how the stop-motion videos are created, so TechRestore has posted this information on their website at TechRestore.com.
Brian Northway, our resident Video Artist - takes it from here:
Assembled from a thousand seperate photographs (or exactly 1,304 in this case), the animation process starts with the unboxing the device. I can get a little tricky with my photography here, making booklets seem to float by stacking them on unseen supports etc., because it's not very technical.
Once the disassembly segment begins, I soon require the expertise of a technician (basically, so that I don't break anything). Also, remembering the rotation and velocity of each animated part is hard enough without having to keep track of where all the screws and other parts go. (c; Unlike the process of an ordinary repair, during a stop-motion shoot, the technician is constantly interrupted as I ask them to pause so I can snap a frame, or give me a few minutes to animate parts leaving the field of view.
The reassembly scenes are shot in time-lapse style - partly because it's interesting to see but, mostly, because the tech and I are too fried to spend another 8 hours animating the parts coming back together. In fact, some of the earlier videos don't even have a reassembly sequence, for this very reason. However, after being inundated with requests to show the reassembly (in order to prove that the device still works) I decided that showing the skilled hands of the technician at work was the perfect way to finish this type of video.
After all of the frames are shot, I download them and process them all in photoshop to enhance the color and contrast. After that, I combine them into one huge, 1600x1200 pixel video, in Quicktime Pro, at 15 frames per second (an animation standard known as "shooting on twos," since there are 30 frames per second in video). Using a great Italian freeware program called MPEG Streamclip, I crop and resize the video down to widescreen, 720p HD (1280x720). From there, it's off to iMovie HD, where I add the titles, music and sound effects - the latter requiring hours of scrubbing, frame-by-frame to precicely place the sounds.
And that is how the TechRestore videos are made. Once again, I hope you enjoy the show and please let me know if you have any questions, comments or requests!
Brian Northway, Design & Marketing
brian@techrestore.com
TechRestore performs repairs and upgrades on MacBook, MacBook Pro, PowerBook and iBook computers. In addition, our consumer electronics division performs overnight repair on iPhone, iPod Classic, iPod Touch, iPod Video, iPod Nano, Sony PSP and other gaming systems. Our network of over 2000 local pickup locations offers convenient pick up of your product in your neighborhood. TechRestore is certified by and follows the strict guidelines of the Bureau of Electronics Repair and all TechRestore technicians are highly trained and many carry advanced electronics degrees.
Created out of a passion for the products we sell and service, TechRestore brings together an unmatched repair and product expertise team to provide repairs, upgrades & recoveries for mobile devices such as Mac & PC Laptops, iPods, iPhones and PSP's. With more than 20-years of experience providing award winning solutions for our customers, we’ve still kept our sense of wonder about how fortunate we are to work with these fantastic products and people each day. TechRestore customers can rest assured that while their products may fail them, TechRestore never will.
