Category: Armatures

Happy New Year...and shit...

1/10/2018

It has been a few weeks so I thought I would do a post. I don't have a lot to post, except that it is now 2018, and I feel more behind in my life than ever. Jan 1 I went out photogging at the creek down the road. I really did not get anything spectacular, but some of them are ok. I enjoyed it, and I Periscoped it. Had 2.6k viewers, which is higher than any other broadcast I have done. Then when I got home, within an hour my throat closed up, my fever shot up and I started feeling sick. Then I was flat out for a week. I am still sick, but not as bad as that first week. My voice still comes and goes. I get tired really fast. Drainage is still happening. And then there are the hives and the angioedema. I be tired and annoyed and itchy and drainy. And nightmarey. I took benedryl for the hives and angioedema a few days ago. Then I had the worst nightmares of my life. I mean, flow blown terror freak out nightmares. Last night I did not take any benedryl, thinking I would avoid it, but every time I turned the light out I freaked out. I am so tired.

I am trying to motivate myself to get some more stop mo done. I found a lighting set online that includes 2 white diffusing umbrellas, 2 black/silver reflecting umbrellas, 4 stands, 4 light attachments with holes for the umbrellas, a background frame, 4 clamps and a case. It was $40 off, so I decided to go for it. I think that will help with 2 things. I will be able to light the sets better. Then I can put the adjustable background frame over the table and use it for the backdrop. It is made for full sized photo and video shoots, but I think I can adapt it. We'll see. If it ever gets here. According to UPS it was supposed to be here yesterday. then it was supposed to be here today. Thier site says residential service ends at 3pm, so I doubt it will be here today as it is after 5pm now. Though the site has not changed the information to reflect that. They must be having issues. It is annoying to me, who is impatient to get going with things.I have a couple of things in the works that I want to try getting going. A couple of competitions I want to try for. Maybe. I don't know. It depends on if my insecurity gets a hold of me.

I got myself some armature wire and have ordered square brass tubing, and I have air hardening clay. I intend to build some new puppets. When I do I will post pics. May even do some Periscoping of it.

So, there ya go. My elaborate plans, which may or may not happen.

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Steampunk, moldmaking, etc

12/11/2013

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So time has marched forward, and so has my progress....a little anyway. I now have my storyline for the steampunk video all lined out. I have my characters developed. I have designed the world in which they will live. I am kind of excited about it. This is going to be fun, once I get past the hard parts.

I decided I want the exterior of the houses to all be stone, with stone garden walls, etc. I envision this place to be like one the planned garden cities in England of the late 19th and early 20th century. If I am going to do this I need to find a good way to replicate a lot of walls. I do not sculpt well. I am not going to rely on someone with sculpting skills to have time available for this. So I took a trip to the Eugene Toy & Hobby to see waht they had. I found these retaining wall sections for model train sets. They will work wonderfully. I just can't afford to buy all I need. They were $11 for a set of 3. I have liquid latex. I have lots and lots of cheap plaster. I thought hey, why not make my own molds of these wall sections and then I can make all I need cheaply.

Latex mold making is not as easy as they make it look. they didn't turn out very well. I got sick from all the latex fumes. And the ones that did work didn't actually produce a working model. Even though the molds really did not shrink (I can fit the original in without stretching it), the casting is a good inch smaller than the original. I need to figure out why. I also had a hard time getting that first layer to dry properly. The side touching the original wall piece never dried properly no matter how long I left it before I did the second layer. The thing is, when you do a second layer, you can't wait too long or the layers don't adhere to each other properly. Then there were the issues with making the mother molds. Latex is thin and does not hold it's shape. This is ideal for peeling it off the original...not so for holding the casting material in the right shape. So you make a mother mold out of plaster. After the last layer has dried you cover it in plaster. Let it sit until set and voila you have a good solid base for the latex mold that will still allow for you to peel the latex off the casting without breaking it. my issue...the plaster kept crumbling. I followed the directions on how to mix it. I let it sit for hours. the ambient room temp was 70. The stupid things just kept crumbling. I finally got a few that will work, though I really need to figure out how to solve the mysterious shrinking casting issue.

Here be the picture evidence. The yellow one on the left is the first one that worked. the one at the top is the second one, though you can tell it stuck to the original and destroyed some of the detail. The one in the middle is the original, and to the right is the casting. Sad, sad, sad.

I guess I am failing in whole new ways. That is ok. I am learning, and each one gets better. I just don't have a lot of time. I wanted to get the video done in time to submit it to the Pacific Northwest Animation festival as well, but that is not going to happen. The deadline for that is Dec 31. It is already the 11th. I will be lucky if I can get the sets built by then.
I also had a brilliant idea to use those poseable wooden artists manquins as the armatures for the puppets. I figured out how to get the hands to work, I just got to figure out how to build up the head and face. The advantage is there are more natural articulation points, and they are already built up to natural human proportions. I will still work on learning how to make my own, but to try to facilitate this video that is what I am trying.

Because I don't have a lot of good clamping tools for delicate cutting, I used a Dremmel with the sanding wheel to grind the hands down to where they are more normal shape. The dots are the places I will be gluing twisted florist wire. I will then wrap them all in paper sports tape and paint them. Then I need to decide how I am going to anchor them. Do I want to continue the magnet method, or do I want to drill holes and destroy my set table to try screw anchors? I am leaning toward the magnets. Less permanent damage. And I don't have to go buy sturdier foam for the base. I don't think I could get that locally. Disadvantage of living in a small town.

And that is as far as I have gotten. The molds alone took 3 days. This is a long slow process. I am impatient. I want to be animating. However, this time I want better puppets and sets. I want this one to be really cool.

I am also looking into renting office space. As long as I keep it under $300 and utilities included I may be able to do it. I would be sacrificing saving any money for deposits for my own place to live, but it would be easier for everyone else to help out if I had a place other than just a bedroom for us to work. It feels weird, and frankly no one really wants to do that, as much as they want to work on this. Sigh. It always comes down to money, doesn't it. Well, if I can get to a place where my animations look more professional maybe I can get a few commissions, maybe start at least having it pay for itself. that would make it tons easier.

Anyway, if you are reading this and have an inkling of why my molds are giving me grief, feel free to either comment or email me. I was planning on having people over to help make castings, but I have to have enough molds for more than just one person to use.

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Animation puppet building update

11/24/2013

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For a while now I have been promising an update on my animation puppet building, so here it is. It is photo heavy. I apologize, but that is the best way to show you what is going on.

I have been experimenting with how to build puppets so I can improve my animations. As fun and cute they are as is, I am limited on what I can do by the materials I am using. Previously I talked about my first puppet. I wasn't happy with the hands, so I also rebuilt the hands with a different technique.

I was not really happy with the eyes, nor was I happy with the way the hair turned out. I used the same body, and rebuilt the head to do some experimenting. I found some googly eye tacks at the local Hiron's drug store. Here is how the new head looked with the googly eyes:

Looks kind of silly, but a bit cute. Didn't turn out too badly. Next problem to solve was hair. I had a heck of a time figuring that out. Here is the hilarious first try:

That did not work for me. Also had issues getting more than just the top of the head covered. So I headed to the local Joann Fabrics to find fuzzy fabric. I found a couple of types. My first attempt was aweful. I couldn't get it to sit right, so I decided to cut a piece for the crown, then strips to fill the rest out. Here is just the corwn and the rest of it:

That worked much, much better. Interesting swirling going on because of the way the fur was attached to the base.

Next project was to build up the chest and cloth him. I built the chest up with cushion foam. Then I cut and sewed felt for a shirt. It was harder than I thought, though I shouldn't have been surprised, given how much I suck at sewing. I then cut the bottom off the legs of a pair of jeans and sewed them into tubes for pants. Pics:

Just getting the clothes on made the whole thing fall apart, so next I gotta figure out how to keep that from happening. I love this guy. I think it is going to work fine.

Next project I need to work on is the video for the steampunk film festival. I think that if I can get a good enough animation I may be able to also submit it to the Northwest Film Festival.

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Armatures, Orycon and Stuff

10/5/2013

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So...been a while, time for the ol update.

I have been busy. I watched a video by Doctor Puppet on You tube about how she made her Doctor Who stop motion show Doctor Puppet. I have been very jealous of her, cause 1. she got a Doctor Who stop mo in before I did and 2. She is REALLY really good at it. Much better than me. Of course, she is a professional, has has formal training, and knows what she is doing, but hey, that is where I want to be SO badly.

Anyway, she posted a video on how she constructed the Doctor puppet. I have watched many, many armature construction videos, but hers made the most sense to me. So I decided to give it a whirl. I really want some more videos done before I attend and do panels at Orycon. As my iPad camera does not do macro well, I need bigger puppets if I am going to use it as my camera until I can afford a new one. So I guess the worse that can happen is I fail miserably. And I didn't. Kind of.

Her construction technique involved epoxy putty, wire, square brass tubing of 2 sizes that nest into each other, extra firm Sculpy, and foam.

So she made her head out of an aluminum foil ball covered in Sculpy, with a piece of the larger square brass tubing in the bottom to allow for the neck to be placed in it. This is my version here. She did not put any "bones" on her armature, but I know my limitations. I think I need them to help keep the joints bending at a natural place. I made them out of Sculpy too.
While those were baking I made the chest and torso. She made those out of epoxy putty with pieces of the larger square brass tubing for the neck, arms, waist and legs. I ran out of epoxy putty after the torso, so I used the extra firm Sculpy. Probably not a good idea, but I plan on getting more for the next one, so I will do it all out of epoxy putty then. I just couldn't find more within walking distance, and didn't feel up to traipsing around town on the bus for it.

Next I painted the head. I did not realize I got enamel paint. It is a bit shiny. But it looked good after I was done. I got some matte acrylic paint to use for the next one. If I really want to try animating with this one I can use face powder to cut down on the shine.

So....here she is partially done. The chest is on backwards, but you get the idea. I put pices of the smaller square brass tubing on the ends of the arms and legs, and I took a piece of twisted wire and glued more brass to it to use as a waist. I want her to be able to bend in a realistic way.

Next step was to glue hair on the head. I went down to the local Hirons and bought a $5 fake mullet wig. Very cheesy, not easy to work with. I couldn't find rubber cement like she suggested, so I decided to use contact cement. For the record, these are not the same thing. For one thing, contact cement melts enamel paint. It melts it fast and almost back to a liquid state. This was a problem when gluing on the hair. A big one.

The hair came with some pieces serged on the ends. I decided to work with it and use the serged parts as the glue points. I also thought about how doll's hair is attached. It is usually attached in circles. I thought I would just glue a larger outer circle, then another inner smaller circle, then a smaller one until it filled the space. Along with fighting the melting enamel paint to get the hair to stay, I also had to fight the direction of the hair. It is fakey fake nylon threads. It does not want to move in a direction other than straight. I planned on gluing the stitching on inwards, then flip the hair back over it to cover it. Might have worked better if it were real hair.

Here is the gluing in progress. If you look closely at the bottom you can see it pulling up and the paint melting. I ended up letting it dry, repainting spots and touching up the loose ends with rubber cement. It turned out ok.

Here it is completed. As you can see, there are lumps in the hair cause it didn't want to bend. In my haste to fix the melting glue I also missed some coverage. But I found if I put it back in a pony tail and fiddled with it I could cover the bare spots believably. I did end up cutting about an inch off the length of the hair. I figured it would make it less heavy....pull less on those possibly weak glue points.

So next was to make hands and feet. I decided I wanted to stick with magnets for my anchor method. She uses bolts, which are fine but leave holes in the set that I haven't figured out how to get rid of. Also, I only have a flat table. It isn't practical to try to drill through the whole table. I have a couple pieces of sheet metal I intend to use for the base of my set. So when I was making the feet, I molded them out of the extra firm Scuply and made a notch in the bottom to fit the magnets. I also added a bit of brass tubing to attach it to the leg.

The hands were more difficult. I think I will try another method for the hands. It was clumsy and hard to do, and looks pretty bad. There is a tutorial on the intertubes for making stop motion puppet hands out of florist wire and liquid latex. I am going to try that next. Cause look here....this is just bad....

The rest turned out fine, but the hands are just...not ok. I also had issue with my liquid latex. It went rancid between the time I bought it and the time I wanted to use it. It smelled really really bad and had chunks in it. I tried to use it anyway. The downside was I dropped some on my sandal. I washed it off right away, but now that sandal smells like rancid latex. I had to toss it. Could not get rid of the reek. I also bought more liquid latex.

Also...something creepy happened while I was baking the chest part. See that red thing? It looks like a heart. I did not put that there. That side was up when I baked it. It kind of showed up there. I suppose it is fine, but weird. When you burn Sculpy it turns red. But that part wasn't any higher then the rest of it. I don't know why it did it.
So next step is to find some foam and make a chest and tummy, then sew some clothes for her. I plan on cutting felt mouths that will stick on with handitak. I learned a lot from making this puppet. I will make a few more then experiment with animating them.

I plan on going to get more epoxy putty and seeing if that makes a difference. I also plan on getting real hair hair extensions to use for the hair on the next one, see if it helps.

And last but not least, this is my new toy. It is a cabasa. For our Orycon concert we are doing a filk to In the Summertime, a Mungo Jerry song. I was having issues getting a good rhythm with the skull shakers for that one, so when I found this online for cheap I snatched it up. We have a rehearsal tomorrow. I will see how well it works then.
:)

Okey dokey, that was my little experiment. Still working on it. Feel free to throw suggestions my way for how to make this puppet work better. I think I am well on my way finally to doing real stop mo.

Now I just need a camera....

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Next phase?

3/11/2012

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Now that I have the script done, I need voice actors to record the dialog. I was going to try to do at least one of the voices, but I am still not up for it yet. When I talk too much I lose the ability to use my upper lip. Which is slightly disturbing, but still close enough to the actual injury I don't think it is permanent. Yet. But I need to get to animating, and I need to have the audio to go off of first. I have no idea where to find voice actors. I made an appeal to friends first. Tomorrow I think I am going to talk to my acting coach at the college. He is a nice guy. He may be able to help me find people. Unfortunately I can't afford to pay anyone, so that may limit my poole a bit.

So...while I am waiting for responses, I have been playing with making my own puppets. Here is what I have so far....

The bare wire armature....sans head. I used 18 gauge wire doubled on itself and twisted. I used a hand crank drill to twist it.

And the armature with "bones" added. I used epoxy putty for this. I also added a neck. I plan to sculpt a head out of an old wine cork.

I am just waiting for the epoxy putty to harden. I have decided I hate the stuff. It was suggested on several sites and blogs, so I thought I would try it. For one thing, it stops being workable after 2 minutes. Which means you have to work quickly. This wasn't close to what I wanted it to look like, but I didn't have time to sculpt it. It also feels a bit heavy. I worry that the wire joints might bow under the weight. It is also stinky and expensive. And sticky. I have it all over my hands. I couldn't get it all off. Well, we'll see how this goes. I am thinking of trying balsa and gorilla glue for bones next time. I also have pine fancy craft sticks. I might see what I can do with those. Though I would still have to figure out the torso and hips.

Ok...off to find foam build up instructions. I have some old cushions I am tearing apart for this. I also have some flat foam sheets that came inside other stuff I bought.....a long time ago. Again, I am not a craft hoarder. :P

EDIT: That....went horribly, horribly wrong. Mainly because I have NO idea what I am doing. The foam refused to stick, and then it refused to sculpt, which did not help my already piss-poor sculpting skills. So now I have a boned armature with a half sculpted cork head attached to my desk lamp by magnets in it's very very very undersized feet.

I suppose I could have made another post about this, but frankly I just want to hide under the bed. I need to whine, and I don't want to be obvious. So there is the evidence of my fail. Well, partial. I removed the fail foam. I am currently thinking of alternatives. It may be that I will never be able to create my own characters. Or maybe I need to find a design and/or medium that I can work with. I don't think I will ever find a person who will just teach me. I have no money, and there are no Stop Motion schools. In fact, very few schools teach stop motion at all, and that is usually in the context of drawn animation. SOB

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Happy New Year...and shit...

Steampunk, moldmaking, etc

Animation puppet building update

Armatures, Orycon and Stuff

Next phase?

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