Stop motion was the animation technique employed in the very first animated films made with the use of motion picture cameras.

It's simple and intuitive principles of "frame by frame" shooting are the base for most of animation techniques developed later. Even today, stop-motion remains one of the most popular and communicative way of making animations. Nowadays, when computers are important tools applied in many areas, it has become possible to build applications to create and manipulate stop-motion animations in digital media, with a connected camera. This has reduced a lot the time and cost of animation productions. Within this context, MUAN is a free stop motion animation system that appears to be a simple, practical and cheap alternative, to beginning and professional animators, to the creation, testing, editing and playing of stop motion animations. It's easiness of use and instantaneity makes it a powerful educational tool, allowing everyone to quickly understand and practice the principles of the animation language. Muan is the name of a firefly in tupi-guarani, the Brazilian ancient indian language.