Animatronic Dinosaur head
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Post by Animatronic Dinosaur head on Jul 28, 2016 7:22:42 GMT
So, I recently came up with an idea, that my father (because he has more experience with animatronics then I do) and I might want to work on together. I would like to create a fully realized dinosaur costume. Complete with blinking eyes, a mouth that opens, closes and has the ability to produce noises, and a wagging tail. The only problem is, that neither of us has enough experience to know how to do this... PLEASE HELP!
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Post by Honus on Jul 29, 2016 18:40:22 GMT
Hi there! Sounds like an awesome project! So I think the best way for you to accomplish this is to break it down into smaller tasks. I would first think about how you want to go about making the main body and ask waht kind of dinosaur you want and how big it will be. For this I'd probably go for foam construction, maybe using PVC pipe as a sort of skeleton to help hold things together if it's a large dino. Have you seen the dinosaur costumes where the performer's legs are attached to the inside of the dinosaur legs, so the dinosaur legs mimic the wearer's movements? That could be one route to take if the dinosaur is to be much larger than the performer. For a smaller dino you could do something like this- www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/do-it-yourself-raptors-in-honor-of-jurassic-world#The tail can be cable controlled, either by a strong motor or by having the cables attached to your arms so when you move your arms the tail swings right and left. Stan Winston School has a really good video on making cable controlled tails and tentacles by Richard Landon. For making the mouth open and close have a look at this video that shows how to make a foam head with an opening mouth. It's a pretty straight forward process using simple materials- Sounds are easily done using an Adafruit FX Sound Board (they have a tutorial there too that shows how to use it)- www.adafruit.com/products/2220Blinking eyes are a bit trickier as you have to build the eye mechanism. There are LOTS of different way you can do this. You could blink the eyes with servos or maybe have them attached to the jaw so they blink when yo open the mouth, if you want something simple. IF you want them to be servo driven have a look at this mechanism as it would allow you to have one eye mech for each side of the head- www.thingiverse.com/thing:319978If you have any other questions just ask! |
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Animatronic Dinosaur head
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Post by Animatronic Dinosaur head on Jul 30, 2016 20:29:33 GMT
Hi there! Sounds like an awesome project! So I think the best way for you to accomplish this is to break it down into smaller tasks. I would first think about how you want to go about making the main body and ask waht kind of dinosaur you want and how big it will be. For this I'd probably go for foam construction, maybe using PVC pipe as a sort of skeleton to help hold things together if it's a large dino. Have you seen the dinosaur costumes where the performer's legs are attached to the inside of the dinosaur legs, so the dinosaur legs mimic the wearer's movements? That could be one route to take if the dinosaur is to be much larger than the performer. For a smaller dino you could do something like this- www.stanwinstonschool.com/blog/do-it-yourself-raptors-in-honor-of-jurassic-world#The tail can be cable controlled, either by a strong motor or by having the cables attached to your arms so when you move your arms the tail swings right and left. Stan Winston School has a really good video on making cable controlled tails and tentacles by Richard Landon. For making the mouth open and close have a look at this video that shows how to make a foam head with an opening mouth. It's a pretty straight forward process using simple materials- Sounds are easily done using an Adafruit FX Sound Board (they have a tutorial there too that shows how to use it)- www.adafruit.com/products/2220Blinking eyes are a bit trickier as you have to build the eye mechanism. There are LOTS of different way you can do this. You could blink the eyes with servos or maybe have them attached to the jaw so they blink when yo open the mouth, if you want something simple. IF you want them to be servo driven have a look at this mechanism as it would allow you to have one eye mech for each side of the head- www.thingiverse.com/thing:319978If you have any other questions just ask! I was actually probably going to do something along the lines of a Hadrosaurus (which is a VERY large dinosaur!). My head would probably be right around the hip area. This is why I'm asking, because if I wasn't planning on doing such a large Dino, I would most likely forgo all the animatronics all together, and just go with foam carving. |
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Post by Honus on Aug 2, 2016 0:20:19 GMT
In that case you could still do a foam body but you'll want to make some kind of frame to support it and provide anchor points for the mechanics. Small diameter PVC pipe would probably be the way to go. Then you would just need to add a hinged jaw and drive it with a servo to make the mouth move.
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