SMM moco

Wow! Looking good Sam. I have no expertise when it comes to the software side so you are miles ahead of what i do. I'm more on the mechanical side. Are you building to maybe sell or just for your own use? I have a few photos of rigs i built over the years including my little crane, but all use either DragonFrame or Mantis. Is what you are building realtime or more for Stopmotion? Or for both?
When i got into this it was back when i heard DF had a motion control interface included and then i found that they gave you all the scripts for the Arduino! Nice. Then i found Mantis and that is pretty much what i use. It can run on its own as a stopmotion software or it can interface with DF in various ways.
Good luck with your project and if you need any advice on mechanics maybe i can help.
Cheers.
 
Hi guys, Hey Doug, so glad to hear from you, I'll send you a a private e-mail with some details of the latest-greatest I've been working on for your feedback. Glad the Facebook site is back! Doug, your work is inspirational, and I've also gotten lots of ideas from the Kazakhstan group with their Ankl system. Those guys are the master of "next level" DIY...

https://vimeo.com/anklmoco

Sam, fantastic and very cool! That's a lot of effort on the software side for sure.

I've been finishing a new pan/tilt/roll/focus head designed for attaching over or under slung on a moco crane... I've been spending more time on the focus side of the work...

It's currently bolted to my worktable, so I can only shoot what's around the room. I just did a few focus tests I can share, all with a 50mm Nikkor AI-S at f 1.8 on an APS-C sized sensor...

Here it is hitting 11 focus marks over the shot...

http://files.datausa.com/imageshoppe/outgoing/motion/MOCO_50mm_focus_pull_03.mp4

And here is a similar shot, but with multiple passes to allow dissolves...

http://files.datausa.com/imageshoppe/outgoing/motion/MOCO_FOCUS_TEST_01.mp4

I'm trying to make the most of our universally crappy situation and do some things that I enjoy. Top of that list is DIY moco!
 
MDKfilms said:
Are you building to maybe sell or just for your own use?

Is what you are building realtime or more for Stopmotion? .
Click to expand...

I dont think it is robust enough to sell - even though it cost $000s and took a couple of years its very much v1 and I dont understand vibration and backlash enough for this to be saleable. Also the core gearbox was quite a thing on the lathe

Its a commercial venture though as I will shoot iwth it for money.

Its time, not realtime, I can use various motor configurations from an ungeared neema23 (v fast) to a 100:1 neema 17 (v v slow)

So that can be from Phantom through to timelapse (with or without stops) but stop motion would imply a stop of n as you move the puppet, which I cant do with complex moves.
 
Sorry guys, I have to remember to come over here to check on things. Anyway, yeah, the old basement studio/workshop. How i miss that. Even though it was very cold in the winter and probably not to healthy due to lots of dust. Im going to re-upload the vintage motion control pics sometime in the next few days. Right now i am doing a Busking FB page to entertain friends and family. Just me and my geetar. Hope everybody out there is staying healthy and sane!

Cheers guys.
 
How are things coming along with the rig? Would love to see anything new you have shot on it. Recently started working on some motion control rigs during the covid downtime. Was able to turn an old pvc tripod dolly into a motorized setup that could also be put on a dana dolly.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3mRa6lMyH/

and clean up some wiring to get my 6 axis mini arm up and running. Still need to tighten an axis and add some encoders to the motors:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA_i_T3hnsa/
 
Hi
Completion of the software was to some extenet completion of the device.
As for testing and new material ive realised the need for decent af to do tricks I have not done before.
The old tricks are here http://framedogs.com/motion-control-camera-bristol/

As it happens ive now got an af camera coming today (nikon z6) and Im feeling more confident to visit the studio which I have not done since C19 has been in town.
 
ps the 6 axis looks like fun.

the dolly 'needs' to tilt or boom up for the dorrway shot - showing that 1 axis is often not enough. also the dolly shows wobble as the camera is far from the track, a 2mm raise in track gives a 20mm (or so) dutch of camera - this is why my track is up high (ie a slider) to try and keep the camera near the track so deviations in the track are not multiplied by a (large) distance.
 
Hey Austin,
That six axis arm is something a lot of us over at the Timescapes forum have been looking at making, and here you have done it! Has Gerald seen it? Thought I’d ask since you are part of the Mantis crowd. Very cool. Sam is right about the tripod but what I found over the years is weight in the right place is your friend. If your motors and drivers can handle it add some to the base of the rig then maybe play with the key points in Mantis and also the jog settings. I built a huge rig using the same small motors of my mini Volo crane and found that buy adding some weight here and there and adjusting the jog settings and key frames I got it to dolly in and out smoothly and with the HVX200 way out on the end of the boom mounted to the 3 axis head! The hardest thing to over come are those pesky jitter moves.
And if you have ever wondered whether or not the people who made and used the original rigs back in the seventies had these problems, yes they did! One of the rigs used at iLM back in the eighties was called “The Moose” due to the weird noises it made while moving back to start. I would love to see some bts footage from those days. Too bad everyone was busy creating those iconic shots. No one had the time.
Cheers.
Doug K.

ReelFilmGeek said:
How are things coming along with the rig? Would love to see anything new you have shot on it. Recently started working on some motion control rigs during the covid downtime. Was able to turn an old pvc tripod dolly into a motorized setup that could also be put on a dana dolly.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA3mRa6lMyH/

and clean up some wiring to get my 6 axis mini arm up and running. Still need to tighten an axis and add some encoders to the motors:

https://www.instagram.com/p/CA_i_T3hnsa/
Click to expand...
 
morgan_moore said:
ps the 6 axis looks like fun.

the dolly 'needs' to tilt or boom up for the dorrway shot - showing that 1 axis is often not enough. also the dolly shows wobble as the camera is far from the track, a 2mm raise in track gives a 20mm (or so) dutch of camera - this is why my track is up high (ie a slider) to try and keep the camera near the track so deviations in the track are not multiplied by a (large) distance.
Click to expand...


Deviations in the track! Ah! Sorry Sam, thought you wrote something else. Me old eyes.
Hey Austin, a very usable and pre-built track can be made from extension ladders you can get at HD or Lowe’s or just about any hardware store. These things are pretty accurate along their length with mine being out by 1 to 2 millimetres from end to end. But wait you say, that is a lot. Well there are ways around that.
By using the ladder as a base then getting some aluminum U channel, 1/2” maybe 3/4” cut to the same length, then on top of that you get 1.5 or maybe less, round alu tube, which lays perfectly in that trough. By using this method you can adjust the rails all the way down the track so that they are perfect. Oh and you are mounting them as you go down the track with the most accurate ruler you can find. One with metric works best.
Drilling holes in the U channel and through the ladder. I found the ladders to be about 1/2” to 3/4” wide. Perfect for the U channel. If you drill an oversized hole, say 5/16th, and then use a 1/4” bolt, you have the wiggle room needed to adjust things as you go.
After that you lay the aluminum tube on top and you can use heavy duty construction adhesive to hold it in place OR, by carefully drilling small holes along the side of the tube that won’t interfere with the dolly wheel, you can use Zip ties. That’s what I used. Worked a charm. And cheap!
Ya notice a motif here? Save money where you can! Spend it when there is no alternative.
A 12’ foot track is enough for a lot of shots. And if you buy two ladders you can make 24 feet of moco goodness. Best of all the materials are cheap ish and readily available. I looked into real bearing and rails sets like the pros use and man oh man that stuff is pricey.
Cheers again.
Doug K
 
Last edited:
MDKfilms said:
Hey Austin,
That six axis arm is something a lot of us over at the Timescapes forum have been looking at making, and here you have done it! Has Gerald seen it? Thought I’d ask since you are part of the Mantis crowd. Very cool. Sam is right about the tripod but what I found over the years is weight in the right place is your friend. If your motors and drivers can handle it add some to the base of the rig then maybe play with the key points in Mantis and also the jog settings. I built a huge rig using the same small motors of my mini Volo crane and found that buy adding some weight here and there and adjusting the jog settings and key frames I got it to dolly in and out smoothly and with the HVX200 way out on the end of the boom mounted to the 3 axis head! The hardest thing to over come are those pesky jitter moves.
And if you have ever wondered whether or not the people who made and used the original rigs back in the seventies had these problems, yes they did! One of the rigs used at iLM back in the eighties was called “The Moose” due to the weird noises it made while moving back to start. I would love to see some bts footage from those days. Too bad everyone was busy creating those iconic shots. No one had the time.
Cheers.
Doug K.
Click to expand...

Gerald has seen it and mentioned about the possibilty of adding inverse kinetics for a 6 axis arm. In fact I saw he waiting on one to arrive to start playing with it. He also told me to check out the maya plugin mimic which may help a bit. Hoping to get back to the project soon, though started working on some pan tilt head and pneumatic rigs for some other projects first .
 
Very dull. Particularly dull due to the white background.

Nikon AF, pan amount is generated by subject distance from rails and camera distance along rails .. which is pretty hardcore maths :)

 
morgan_moore said:
Very dull. Particularly dull due to the white background.

Nikon AF, pan amount is generated by subject distance from rails and camera distance along rails .. which is pretty hardcore maths :)

Click to expand...

Thanks for sharing! I love seeing all shots and progress.

So you're saying the focus pull is Nikon auto focus?

Regards,

Jim Arthurs
 
So finally got around to some tweaks and testing out the 6 axis arm. Shot this quick little piece before i had to pack up gear for a shoot. All shot static on a tripod with the arm doing all the movements.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CFXjehXBXWK/

Next up will be learning how to add encoders properly to the motors and relaying the info to manits.
 
Cant remember if I ever posted this - watching it back it is quite a move and I would struggle without the robot..
(manual focus remote tilta, GH4)

 
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