Friday, March 18, 2005
Fw: dolly
http://www.microdolly.com/
http://www.general-lift.com/
http://hometown.aol.com/mckarp/
http://www.mrmoco.com/
http://spydercam.com/
http://www.fxwest.com/
http://www.moog.com/electrif/electrifying.htm/
http://www.mo-sys.com/
http://www.lathemaster.com/ROTARYTABLESET.htm
RE: Home-brewed Geared Camera Heads for Stop Mo?
Mon Mar-03-03 01:56 PM
In response to Reply # 15
Hey everybody!
Sorry for the delay but I am happily writing this month from my source of
all mojo in Prague. It's the first time I've been here since 9-11, so I am
stoked, to say the least.
Anyway, to business. The students that use my Bogen head dealio place tape
on the head with marked off increments at the posistion indicator for each
axis. You know, the little round areas with the dot for a "pointer". It is
far from luxurious, but it gets the job done. I know the heads don't allow
for nodal adjustments, but considering the environment they are used in,
it is not an issue. The "keystoning" that occurs with the image is
certainly undesireable, but I had to weigh the cost effectivness of an
off-the-shelf finished and durable pan/tilt head against the desire and
experience of first-time animators. Otherwise, the finished rig would be
difficult to produce for a reasonable price. Anyway, while thinking out
the design of this rig, I came up with a plan to use two rotary tables to
create a pan/tilt head that was more to specs with our needs. A beautiful
4" rotary table is avaiable from Sherline products. It costs $250.00, but
is is a nice solid American made table. For $650.00, you can get it rigged
with a step motor and controller. I use one for table-top commercial jobs
and it's the Bees knees. It would take some imagination to work out eases
with the controller, but it can be done. Sherline now offers a linear
controller as well, but I have yet to get my hands on it. It is a few
notches down on my priority list from drinking beer in Prague, so perhaps
now that I'm getting that settled, I can think about some new toys in the
future. I can't afford a whole motion-control system, but the Sherline
product offers a great solution to simpler set-ups (they can be linked
together) Anyway, the Sherline tables come drilled and tapped for mounting
to thier various acessories, so all you have to do is locate the holes on
some plate stock and bolt or weld it at right angles (or use a monster
chunk of aluminum angle stock if you have it) and you're ready to rock and
roll. You might try making the holes for the table mounts elongated so you
can tune the nodal point by sliding the respective plates back and forth
as needed.
So, I hope that helps. I'll be out and about in my beloved city but I'll
check back when I can. Na stravi!
Cauki!
Tuesday, March 15, 2005
Saturday, March 12, 2005
Fw: dolly
----- Original Message -----
From: "brad something"
To:
Sent: Friday, March 11, 2005 1:50 PM
Subject: dolly
http://www.stopmotionanimation.com/dc/dcboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=11&topic_id=816&mesg_id=816&page=
Edmund Scientific stuff to build your own dolly track,,...
Sun Dec-26-04 08:51 PM
Some cool stuff from Edmund Scientific. You could combine elements
together to make a precision dolly/truck/lift track.
These are lab-jacks. They will give precise vertical camera movement by a
simple turn of the knob:
http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/DisplayProduct.cfm?productid=1517
http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=1791
This is a rack and pinion track:
http://www.edmundoptics.com/onlinecatalog/displayproduct.cfm?productID=2441
The rack and pinion track was popular back in the 70's. it was advertised
extensively in "Super-8 Filmaker" and "Cinemagic".
________________________
My solution was to get a $20 RV levelling jack, used to jack up the
corners of mobile homes. It's just like a scissors jack for a car, but
twice as big (or bigger), and rather than having a funky hook at the top
that's made to fit into a slot in the frame of the car, it's got a flat
plate with some mounting holes... perfect for attaching a camera. The base
also has mounting holes, which were a perfect fit for the T-slot bolts on
my machinist's table for side-to-side and forward/backward motion. The
movement is a lot smoother than the lab jack I bought. For anyone who
hasn't seen this already, I have my camera-jack system documented on my
website: www.darkstrider.net/Camsyst.html
My setup is limited to only 11" travel along one axis, and I think 7" the
other way, but has an incredible 20" of lift. I'd like to step up to a
better slide one day, and was thinkjing about a couple of drawer slides,
but that slide you linked to might be better (Haven't really checked out
the specs yet).
_____________________________________
I know this subject has been covered to death but I would like to add
another solution. I just picked up a Bolex Super Titling Bench from Ebay
with the thought of doing titles the old fasioned way and it occured to me
it could be used for dolley shots. One of its features is to do a moving
camera shot. This is acheived by moving the carriage on the slider posts.
It even has a ruler built in for measurement. Total travel is about 27.5".
The bench can be positioned horizontal or vertical. You would need some
kind of adapter if you want to do vertical moves to keep the camera
horizontal or if that's the camera angle you want, then you're fine. You
would also have to secure it somehow so it doesn't move around when you
are moving the carriage. You could also use the bench to do traditional
cell animation in the vertical position. The bench is really well built.
This system is not as sophisticated like some other home built solutions
presented here but it may provide a cheaper way to do dolley shots. Here
is a good description of it here and it can also be found in the "Bolex
Bible" book:
http://www.bolexequipment.com/SuperTitlingBench.htm
There's a bench on Ebay right now that shows a clear picture of the
platform with the ruler attached. Item number: 3849533801. It is only the
bench and not all the accessories found in the super titler kit.
_______________________
It's probably not the most user friendly description of what I did, but
hopefully it will work.
http://www.gcmp.net/Wwdoing/Dolly/Dolly.html
If you have any specific questions let me know
Brady
http://www.gcmp.net
_____________________________
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