My Animated Props

[Superman]

Hi all,
This is still a work in progress but I’m happy with the results and would like to share some of what I’ve been playing with.
Some of you would have seen these items at the Brisbane Mini but unfortunately I was unable to attend due to my little fall and they weren’t operational.

I have 2 animated props on the go at the moment, One for Halloween and one for Christmas. The first one is a Skull that is mounted on a body. He is a completely stand alone motion activated prop. Here’s what I come up with.

I purchased the skull from anatomy warehouse for about $25 for a forth quality one. BARGAIN.
The instructions for installing the servos into this exact skull are here.
Bucky video alternate download


http://youtu.be/hNnRHLZB0iE


The electronics for him consisted of 3 boards. The first 2 were to produce the audio and mouth movement and the 3rd one is to control his neck movement.

Board 1
Audio Board.

This Board from Cowlacious_Designs is basically a flash mp3 Player which can be triggered to play a single mp3 file once every time it’s triggered OR it can even play a different mp3 file each time it’s triggered which is the way I use it. When anyone walks past him he comes alive and sings a different song or tells a joke. I find it a bit better then just saying the same thing over and over again.

Board 2
Servo Driver Board

This Board also from Cowlacious_Designs is the second one in the group it takes Audio from any source (I’m using the 1st board for my input) and converts it to signal to drive a RC servo to create the mouth movement on the skull.

Board 3
LOR servo dog

This Board from LOR is used to move his neck servos. It’s capable of controlling up to 8 servos. My Servo dog board has a programmed 30 second sequence loaded into its memory and is triggered by a motion sensor to start its operation. It is currently only connected to 2 servos which control his head nod and tilt action a third servo will be installed to also get him to look left and right.

Whats this got to do with CHRISTMAS?​

Well eventually this guy will get a neck and his own song.​

Alternate video Link

http://youtu.be/rS6egxxc-pg

 

[kel]

Nice work, Steve

 

[Beacy]

They are great just got to learn how to do them lol maybe next year

 

[budude]

I'm curious how it "knows" to sing the main vocal versus the chorus (talking about the reindeer) - is there something you need to do on your part to differentiate them?

 

[Superman]

I'm curious how it "knows" to sing the main vocal versus the chorus (talking about the reindeer) - is there something you need to do on your part to differentiate them?

Hi Brian,

While the skull is fully automated and gets his jaw movement from the output of the mp3 board. The Reindeer isn't at that stage yet, He was driven by the servodog controller and a LOR sequence for demo purpose.

However to answer your question in a different way, Board 2 does have settings that it can either use left ,right or Both audio channels to drive the servo as part of its settings.

 

[David_AVD]

I like the audio to jaw movement servo board. Well priced too. Have been wanting to make a similar board for a while. (the never ending list of projects!)

 

[David_AVD]

This Board from Cowlacious_Designs is basically a flash mp3 Player which can be triggered to play a single mp3 file once every time it’s triggered OR it can even play a different mp3 file each time it’s triggered which is the way I use it.

Just a minor correction (sorry Steve!) about the audio storage. This board uses an ISD "chipcorder" IC that stores the audio file(s) in a funky analog cell array. You can only record onto it via an analog input. The is no actual (mp3) file or way to digitally transfer an audio file onto the chip. You need to use a line level input. The playback quality is not hi-fi, but quite good enough for a simple talking effect like this.

 

[Superman]

True about the audio board. i recorded to it from a file on my phone into it. Don't know if anyone saw it while on scary terry's site. but this was the DIY basic version of the audio to servo board that the cowalisious board was derived from

http://www.scary-terry.com/audioservo/audioservo.htm

 

[DanoNJ]

I think I'll stop chasing the pixel push and move more into this area for next year. I already have a number of 'movers' mostly all powered by wiper motors. I like the use of a trigger for the walkers. I know the kids will get a kick out of them!!!
Great posts here. Keep them coming!

 

[Superman]

I think I'll stop chasing the pixel push and move more into this area for next year. I already have a number of 'movers' mostly all powered by wiper motors. I like the use of a trigger for the walkers. I know the kids will get a kick out of them!!!
Great posts here. Keep them coming!

Thanks Dano. My Reindeer will hopefully be button activated for the kids. they really enjoy pressing things that are interactive. Keep an eye on this Thread. I can't wait for this to get the go ahead.

http://auschristmaslighting.com/forums/index.php/topic,1234.0.html

 

[Greg Young]

Steve, what a great marriage of electronics and mechanical animation! Very nice work!
I am sure all of your visitors ("big kids" and little kids alike) will really enjoy it!
Greg

 

[Superman]

2011 Bucky Trial

Here's a quick video of Bucky all dressed up for his Halloween party.

 

[kel]

Yikes!

Other than that, nice work!

 

[Beacy]

Great stuff - our new resident animation expert

 

[Jason 74]

SUPERMAN you are a bloody legend they are fantastic love both of them especially the reindeer head can't wait to see the finished product. Are you taking orders for next christmas yet hahaha.