[ explorations in audio and moving imagery ]
I viewed a work in progress video by Justin Rasch and Shel Wagner Rasch recently. The support rig is still visible, which is fascinating to see. What appears to be a free weight is being used for the base. I had previously been drilling holes in the floor of my sets to hold wire support…
Update. I took another pair of carved shoes to try a modified design of the wire and brass nut. This time I wrapped the wire around the groove on the outside of the brass nut (see original posting below for context). I then placed the nut in a hole at the toe (instead of in…
I did another test tonight. I am thinking that this armature is a bit unstable and has some spring to it compared to a wire armature secured with epoxy putty. I may have to make an epoxy version of the same proportions and try similar tests to confirm which is more stable for movement. WATCH…
I filmed a quick test tonight using my recent armature design. Here is the result: WATCH MOVIE
There is a thread on stopmotionanimation.com about walk cycles. Here is a test that I did many months ago. I used the trial version of Stop Motion Pro and my web cam.
I am in the process of relocating my studio over the next month or two. I plan to hold off on further filming of the Vitruvius project until I have the studio and lighting re-assembled. I have some compositing elements that I can work on in the mean time and I’m also exploring a new…
The Sword of Damocles is a short stop motion animation that was made in response to the StopMoShorts December 2006 contest. The contest provided three words (sword, cave, and fear) to inspire animators. I focused on the sword with the idea of doing something related to the legend of the Sword of Damocles. I would…
May 2006 was character development month complete with armatures, mask-making, and clothing. The puppets for the Vitruvius project are made of aluminum wire and epoxy putty for âbonesâ? in the arms, torso, pelvis, legs, and feet. Iâm using the Nick Hilligoss T-shaped tie down method for the feet. The head construction starts with balsa wood…
View Quicktime MOV (approx 4MB) Prior to 2003 I had been working with Lightwave and 3D computer graphics as my medium for independent film projects. As it turns out those projects never left the pre-production phase because in 2003 I made a wooden ball-and-socket joint to see if it would simulate the function of a…
Here is some more production information about the Durer project which is complete and being submitted to various film festivals. The armatures and puppets are made out of bass wood, wooden beads, and threaded rods. The smallest bolts I could find are used to clamp the wood plates around the wooden beads that make up…
These are the anatomy pattern sheets that I have been using for my wire armature development. I looked through some “anatomy for artists” books and made the figure design based on 1″ units for the male pattern and 15/16″ units for the female pattern. The nice thing is that I can just pick any size…
I’ve been working on my armature development for the current project. The picture above ( click to enlarge) is of my latest armature tests. I’ve been using the aluminum wire and epoxy putty to make the skeleton of the armature then I use Sculpey Super Flex Bake & Bend to add muscles and body mass.…
I have been working with wire, Sculpey, and liquid latex to test armatures for my main character. I’ve also begun to try some animation tests to see how my armature will behave during production. Here is the first picture of my prototype character with costume. Vitruvius Project History (draft version while I revisit my notes…