Balancing act: Magnets Vs. Tie Downs

-
If there has been one problem ANY stopmotion puppet fabricator or animator has to endured over the past 100 years is how to keep your puppet secured to the floor and stopping them from falling over.
I remember Ray Harryhausen telling me how on Mighty Joe Young, Willis O'Brien tested a new tie down system where a hook would be inserted into the foot and attached to a steel bar which it would lock the foot into place, sadly it was discovered the foot wasn't truly locked to the floor and would shuffle around on the animation rushes so this technique was quickly abandoned.

What is the purpose of a tie down though? A tie down is basically a engineered way to cheat gravity while acting as gravity. In term of sculpture, a model requires certain key points designed to take the strain of gravity pulling the object back to the floor, tie downs do exactly the same thing. 

There are two forms of tie down, the threaded rod and the magnetic (which tend to use the rare earth version of magnets)

Magswitch Magnets

In recent years I happened across a company called Magswitch which enable you to switch the magnetic field on and off. The larger you go the stronger the magnetic pull. I did try one of these on my Xenotyrannus Rex armature but found the magnetic pull was diffused through the perforated steel sheet and also pulled all my jointed toes inwards due to the steel from said joints being attracted to the magnet. but these would work really well with plated feet, such as hooves or shoe shaped feet.

Rare Earth Magnets
Image result for rare earth magnet
These are strong magnets that unlike the Magswitch have a constant magnetic field, when two of these magnets come into contact with each other they can sometimes shatter one another and these can also cause serious injury if you happen to get your skin caught in the middle. These magnets come in a wide range of sizes, but specialized versions with a handle are either found in specialist shops.

Threaded Tie Downs
Image result for threaded tie-down
Threaded tie downs are fairly traditional and are basically a nut and screw and can take the shape of anything as long as your screw matches your nut thread (normally M3). These can also be custom made and fairly cheap depending on how you want them to be. The benefit of a threaded tie down is that once your puppet is tied in place it won't move. however you do end up destroying your set with holes. these can be edited out of course or covered with plasticine mixed to match your set colour. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Armatures.. the things to know and what to avoid!

-
Image
I've been studying stop motion armatures now for over 10 years, 3 of those years has been actually fabricating them with Animation Toolkit on Chuck Steel: Night of the Trampires , and at Telegael studios on  Morten and the Spider Queen and Project 390 . What I have learned, both historically and technically would be of great interest to future students in stop-motion. I know what your thinking, you take one look at a ball & socket armature and think "this is way to hard to do, its so complicated", well, I once thought exactly the same when I started my animation path back in 2002. The trick is learning how to use it right, ball & socket armature kits are like a steel equivalent to Lego construction kits, you have many tiny pieces that when assembled create a final item, in this case a armature, so understanding the mechanics of biological joints and translating that movement into a engineering solution. Wire is simply understanding how the wire and which wir...
Read more

Mould making...Here's one way the industry do it.

-
Image
Until recently, my only knowledge on mould making was basic, rules such as not having undercuts to allow easy removal of a casting and using mold release. I also only had material experience with plaster and silicone, I was aware of fibreglass mould's, but I had never used it on any job or hobby project to date. I have recently discovered a material that the industry also use whilst I was employed at Telegael in Ireland, which is called Aluminium Resin (I refer to it as Alucast for short). It's stronger than plaster, but just as light as polyresin, it's virtually odorless, it can be sanded with a file or a belt sander, each casting cures in about 30-60 minutes and it can be used for silicone and foam latex casting. If you're working at home making your own stop-motion film, you can make your mold's in whatever fashion and material feels comfortable for you; However, if you are looking to work in the industry, they expect a level of skill that demonstrates...
Read more

The build-up method, or foam fabrication to you new puppet makers!

-
Image
For years I have wanted to have a second stab at the build-up method for making my stop-motion puppets, back in 2012, Ray Harryhausen told me my build up technique was wonderfully done, but I could see the flaws in my work even back them, the second time round, I wanted to be a little more careful with it, but not take to long in making it. One big help to me was a book by my friend Richard Svensson "My Stop-Motion Monster Puppet Menagerie" which the opening of the book tells readers how he make build-up puppets. His level of puppet making is a true skill to behold, you can find his work, along with how to videos on his YouTube channel Bluworm . This was a better insight for me into making my newer puppets, where as previously I was making my puppets on pure guess work. Though I did not have time to make my puppets as detailed as his, it was nice to see what could be achieved from his photos had I the time to learn how to make them. I started with the Xenotyranuus ...
Read more