Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 12:30:17 -0800
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Eye mechs: easier than we think


Love your book Mike!

Ax


At 12:16 PM 1/8/2009, you wrote:
>Hey Mathieu,
>
>Thanks for the kind words. Yes, most vent figure or puppet mechanics are
>simple in principle. Shell winkers (or blinkers: both eye lids blink at
>the same time) are a relatively simple concept, but in actuality the
>precision required will surely test your mechanical abilities!   For
>quality work, the winker shells need to be very close to the eyeball and
>yet not touch the eye at all when when the winkers open and close. A
>taller order than it seems at first glance.  All depend on the shells
>being the exact correct size and the winker pivots being 'dead-on'
>center! Even if you are off the slightest amount, it can give you big
>headaches. The other sign of a good installation is the winker shells
>having a close tolerance between the shell and the upper part of the eye
>opening. In this photo, I think you can see both aspects that I
>mentioned.......
>
>http://www.puppetsandprops.com/Images/DustyAlmostDone.jpg
>
>One thing that can help, is doing most of the work outside the head, and
>building the eye and winker mechanism on a singular platform or eye
>tray. Here's a picture of that same set of eyes before they were
>installed in that head........
>
>http://www.puppetsandprops.com/Images/JacksonWinkerAssembly.jpg
>
>Going this route, you then only have to deal with fitting around the eye
>socket in the head itself. So that works great if you are installing the
>eyes with winkers in tandem. But you can also do this same idea
>individually.  Take your 'U' shaped brass winker frame (normally
>attached to the eye tray as in the above photo) and solder this to your
>vertical brass pivot rod (leave it long on the bottom which gives you
>some to attach to inside the head). Then the eye and shell winker
>assembly keep their close tolerances and can be assembled outside the
>head, and then you can install the eyeball and winker as a unit, ready
>to go.
>
>Hope that's helpful.
>
>Cheers,
>
>Mike Brose
>http://www.puppetsandprops.com
>
>Mathieu René wrote:
> > Hobey wrote:
> >
> >> That warrants a look into how vent figures achieve that, for eye
> >>
> > controls are among the hardest to make, personally.   Marionette eyes
> > are intriguing as well.   Bil Baird's eye controls blew my mind, the
> > legs and knee joints as well but they aren't nearly as baffling as
> > eyes.  There are at least four unfinished eye mechanisms sitting next
> > to my work bench.
> > ------------------------
> >
> > I needed much better insight about eye mechanisms last summer, for a short
> > film puppet.
> > So I got Mike Brose's book "Figure Making Can be Fun?!?".
> >
> > For the short film, we ended up using a much more simplified system than
> > first planned, but we definitely got inspired by Mike's book. The
> > instructions in it are very clear. I'm glad 
> to have that book in my library,
> > I know I can count on it for the next time I 
> get a mechanical movement in a
> > puppet head.
> >
> > Inner head mechanics are more complex than 
> simple elbows or knees, but given
> > proper time, patience and precision, they are not as complicated as they
> > seem at first.
> >
> > For me, the hardest aspects so far have been 
> to insert such mechanics inside
> > very small heads, and to fit the moving eyes seamlessly with the eyelids,
> > especially articulated eyelids ("blinkers", in the vent lingo).
> >
> >
> > _______________________________________________
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> >
> >
> >
>
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Steve Axtell
Axtell Expressions, Inc.
  http://www.axtell.com
****************************************
Amazing Puppets & Magic


The original content of this email or attachment is =A9 Axtell Expressions, Inc.
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