The family in-joke
Everyone in the group chat rendered as characters from a film that does not exist. It survives being sent round far longer than a normal filter.
One portrait in · A puppet out · No sign-up
Photo to Claymation
Tool marks in the forehead, a seam where the jaw would open, cloth that is actually cloth — a frame from a film that was never shot.
Built like a puppetThe animator's fingerprintsLit like a miniature set
Before / after
A man, then a puppet
A real run on this page's model. Drag the divider and look at the shirt rather than the face: the plaid survives as woven cloth while the head becomes clay, and that mismatch of materials is exactly what your eye is reading as stop-motion. Results vary run to run, so treat this as the range rather than a guaranteed output.
Drag to compare before and after
AI photo tool
What does the claymation pass actually do?
It rebuilds a person as a stop-motion puppet: a modelled clay head with visible making marks, expressive oversized eyes, and real miniature clothing, photographed on a lit set rather than rendered on a background.
Image tool
Nearly everyone who searches for this is chasing a memory rather than an aesthetic. Stop-motion is the animation people watched as children and can still feel the texture of, and seeing your own face in that world lands differently from any other restyle. It runs in the browser on the free image editor, image-to-image, with credits to start and no account needed for a first look.
One honest limit: expression range. Real puppets have a small vocabulary of faces because each one has to be sculpted, so a broad grin or a complex expression will be simplified toward something a puppet could actually hold.
Creative engine
What the puppet pass does
Upload a portrait, choose how exaggerated the sculpt should be, and check the estimate before generating.
1 portrait
Photo in
Mixed media
Clay + cloth
Free retries
Failed runs
The tells are material contrasts
A stop-motion puppet is never one substance — clay face, fabric shirt, wire inside, sometimes glass for the eyes — and it is the boundaries between those materials that make the brain accept it as a real object. Clothing comes back as miniature fabric with its own weave and folds.
Set lighting, not studio lighting
Warm directional key and a shallow plane of focus, so the scale reads as small before you even register what the material is. That sense of a tabletop set is what separates a puppet from a sculpture on a white sweep.
If you want the smooth art-object version rather than a film character, that is the AI clay filter; for a rendered animated look try the Pixar filter, and for flat vector output the AI sticker generator.
How to use
Getting a puppet that looks handmade
Three steps, and the expression you bring decides the character.
1
Bring a strong expression
Puppets have big, readable faces. A wide grin, raised brows or a proper scowl all translate; a neutral passport look comes back neutral and lifeless.
2
Ask for the making marks
Name the thumbprints, the jaw seam and the fabric clothing explicitly. Those are the details that separate a stop-motion puppet from a smooth clay sculpture.
3
Push the scale, then generate
A larger head and shorter limbs read more like a puppet; realistic proportions read like a statue. Say which you want, check the estimate and run it.
Who it's for
Who wants to be a puppet
Three reasons, and none of them is a flattering photo.
The animation student
Seeing what a character design would look like as a physical build — head proportions, costume materials — before touching any clay.
The nostalgic gift
For the person who grew up on stop-motion and would frame a picture of themselves living in it.
Answers
Claymation FAQ
How the puppet look is built, and what it does with your face.
Usually because everything came back as one material. A puppet is clay *plus* cloth plus glass eyes, and it is the join between them that sells it. Ask explicitly for real fabric clothing and eyes with a glass highlight, and the result stops looking carved and starts looking built.
No — this produces a still frame that looks like it came from a stop-motion film. If you want the character to actually move, take the result and run it through a video tool; a clay puppet animates well because a viewer expects slightly jerky, weighty motion from one anyway.
Because puppet faces have a small expressive vocabulary — each expression is a sculpted state rather than a continuous range — and the model leans toward the readable ones. Subtle expressions tend to resolve to neutral or to a full grin. Bring the expression you want in the source photo.
The shape yes, the strands no. Hair becomes sculpted clay masses or a wool-like material with the same silhouette and colour, because that is how a physical puppet's hair is made. Very fine or very intricate styles simplify the most.
Yes, and pairs often work better than singles because the scene starts reading as a shot from a film rather than a portrait. Both faces need to be clear in the source; a second person half out of frame usually comes back rebuilt into someone else.
It stays, but it takes on the set treatment — shallower focus and warmer light, so it reads as a miniature build behind the character. If you want a specific set instead, describe it, and expect the character to change slightly when the model has two things to invent at once.
No. It runs on the free image editor in the browser with credits to start, so you can put one portrait through and judge the result before deciding anything else.
The estimate is shown before you generate and moves with the resolution you choose. Failed generations are refunded automatically unless they broke the content policy, so testing a second expression costs nothing when it fails.
Kavel pricing — pay only for what you generate
Credits are shared across everything Kavel runs. You see the cost before each run, and a failed job is never charged.
50% OFFYour first purchase is half price
No sign-upIncl. taxStart generating
Free
Start generating before you pay anything, and keep earning credits every day you come back. No card, no account needed.
$0
What's included
- 15 credits before you sign up
- +50 a week from daily check-ins
- = 232 a month — 46 images or 5 videos
- No card, no account
- Unlimited free engineGrok Imagine
- Photo editingNano Banana 2 Lite
Secure checkout by Stripe. Card details never touch our servers.
Start hereIncl. tax
Starter
A monthly balance that keeps a steady run of clips and images going — on every model Kavel carries.
$59.80
The whole shelf is open from day one.$29.90 / month
Quantity1x · $29.90
Total: 3,150 credits
What's included
- 3,150 credits per month
- Up to 630 images or 78 videosGrok ImagineNano Banana
- Clean downloads, no watermark
- Every model unlockedVeo 3.1SeedanceNano Banana
- Cost shown before you generate
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PopularPopular
Creator
For regularly making Kavel drafts, final clips, and the image assets that go with them.
$119.80
The best pick if you create on a regular basis.$59.90 / month
Quantity1x · $59.90
Total: 7,200 credits
What's included
- 7,200 credits per month
- Up to 1,440 images or 180 videosGrok ImagineNano Banana
- Clean downloads, no watermark
- Every model unlockedVeo 3.1Seedance 2Nano Banana 2
- No shared queue
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ScaleIncl. tax
Studio
For more output, high-resolution testing, and larger batches.
$199.80
Ideal when several campaigns share one pool.$99.90 / month
Quantity1x · $99.90
Total: 13,200 credits
What's included
- 13,200 credits per month
- Up to 2,640 images or 330 videosGrok ImagineNano Banana
- Clean downloads, no watermark
- Every model unlockedSeedance 2.5Kling 3.0Veo 3.1
- No shared queue
Secure checkout by Stripe. Card details never touch our servers.
Not sure which to choose? Contact us
Charges appear as “KAVEL AI” on your card statement. You can cancel any time from Settings → Billing; cancellation takes effect at the end of the period you already paid for. Operator details, the full model list, and the refund window are on the about page.
More tools
Other ways to leave the photograph
Same face, different craft — sculpted, rendered or drawn.
Become a stop-motion character
Thumbprints in the clay, cloth that behaves like cloth, and a set light falling across a face that is still recognisably yours.