Primitive Motion Control

faultygoblin

faultygoblin

Active member
Has anyone tried putting together a diy motion control system?
I've seen some links on incremental dollys (turn a screw it moves 1/8 inch) and the likes, and there are multiple ways to mount a motor and RC servo to a dolly but as far as software has anyone tried using something like
lego-mindstorms (does it have a distance increment?) which could be used to measure and repeat motor movement?

The early motion control and ILM stuff as I understand it used AA parts, and primitive computers... Since very few of us have Flak Guns for use and programming is not my strong suite I was wondering if any of you had attempted something along these lines...

Or could it be done with a voltage limiter and a electric motor, which seems like it would be overly complex to adjust?

Thoughts, ideas, comments, much appreciated....
 
I am actually looking into doing something similar to that, since my dad is an electronics engineer and I'm a programmer - but I'm nowhere near a product - it's still complete R&D.

Tony
 
You could take a look at http://www.solutionscubed.com/Solutions Cubed/index.htm and see if any of their stuff catches your eye. They've got controllers and computer interfaces. The problem you might run into is the amperage on the motors...the highest one I see is 9A. Then again, it's not rocket science to run that through some SCRs or whatever to step up the capacity.

(I bought some stuff to make a remote focus setup....but it's still in the parts-still-in-the-box stage.)
 
This is awesome -- I wish you guys all the best of luck with a project like this -- go, go, GO!
 
Yeah it be nice if someone could figure out a low cost way to do this and have it look decent... If nothing else its something to work on now, and then build during the summer..
Having a ready interface for programming would be nice, as setting up shots takes long enough without having to take apart devices and program old fashioned boards...

Maybe manual through servos and gears could do the trick....
 
Already There.

Already There.

Hey all. The biggest problem you will find in making your own system is that there is alot of coding required to get a smooth look and natural feel to the shot. Gearing, bearings, and machining are also tricky. We had a heck of a time getting our system down to its current state of being within 6 arc-seconds from shot to shot. If the backlash is too extreme you will have alot of work in post.
Our first system was extremely ghetto with steppers, home fabricated framework and alot of duct tape. It was almost impossible to get anything usable out of it, frames didn't match up, the images weren't aligned and it was basically a $2k POS. I guess what I'm saying is you get out of your system what you put into it.

My brothers and I started a company 4 years ago to make motion control systems that are within the reach of independent filmmakers.
Four prototypes later we have Mirus, a two axis system that is fairly affordable, portable, and extremely easy to use. We are currently finishing up software and getting the cost down (currently it looks like it will be around $15K). If that sounds expensive have a look around and you'll see that other systems are around $150K. We are currently finding distributors to rent our systems and plan to have them available by the fall.

Just my 2 cents and gorilla marketing campaign. BTW, best of luck with the homemade system, I love it when people take it upon themselves to make DIY goodies, thats why we decided to start our business.

-Curt
http://www.viewfactorstudios.com
 
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Yeah, I thought it would probably look horrid but still fun to try,
congrats on your system, good luck the more products on the market the better it is for everyone..

coding would be horrible,
I was thinking maybe even something simplistic enough were its mostly mechanical, I'll post pics if I get around to it during the summer..
but its going to be a build eventually.
 
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