General

The easiest possibility of taking the frames for an animation film, is a WebCam. This is simply connected via the USB port. The image quality reaches from easy pictures with low resolution up to pictures with Full HD resolution.

For qStopMotion the WebCam should function of course under Linux, as well as under Windows and MacOS. Concerning the WebCam on the market, always only one of the operating systems is supported according to the print on the packaging.

But, nevertheless, there is one more solution to this problem ...

USB Video Class (UVC)

This is a standard independent from manufacturer and operating system which has existed for a few years.

Beside the transference of the pictures a part of the tax functions in this standard is also defined. Therefore the remote control of the Camera can be opperated with software independent of manufacturer. This functions, e.g., for focus, screen and zoom. However, only the tools of the manufacturers offer the full functionality for certain operating systems.

This standard is implemented in the following operating system versions:

One finds additional information with Wikipedia.

Choice of the webcam

How does one find out now which webcam supports UVC? A rather topical list of the devices, the UVC support, one finds on the web page Linux-UVC-Project.

Quite a new is the HD and Full HD functionality and only available for a few devices.
An example is the "LifeCam" series from Microsoft.

One hardly believes it, a webcam of Microsoft functions not only under Windows, but also under Linux and MacOS, without installing a driver!

The only problem with HD webcam is currently the delimited bandwidth the USB 2 interfaces. Then the required bandwidth delivers only the new USB to 3 interfaces.