Tuesday, January 30, 2007

Back to it

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Well, at least I've been doing animation-related things each day! But now it's back to the film. Here's how I remove arms and heads from these guys. First, make a tiny hole with the tip of a nail, then sort of scrub the nail around a little in circles to make sure the hole goes all the way through the foam, and to open it up a little bit. Don't worry, it will close invisibly later. You need to make three holes, one positioned approximately over each set-screw. Now stick your allen key in. This isn't easy.... you need to move it around until it goes in the hex hole in the end of the screw. You won't be able to feel it at all. You just need to keep trying to turn the key until suddenly you'll feel a little resistance (meaning the screw is turning with it). Then you can pull the limb out. I removed Huck's arms and head in order to start making his shirt.
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It's nice when your model is also your pincusion!
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I'm going with this crazy batik print, sort-of-semi Hawaiian style. Just seems to fit his personality. He's pretty tacky.

10 comments:

Hila said...

At the first Pic it Looks like hack is realy enjoyig the prosses - he's a sick guy, is'nt he?

Hila said...

Hee hee, just kidding... my English isn't that bad so stop teasing me, especially you Shel!
So Really, at the first picture it Looks like Huck is really enjoying the process - he's a sick guy, isn't he?

Anonymous said...

AWESOME!!!! What are his shoes made of?
tommy

Darkmatters said...

Hila - I guess that's why he was making those little moaning sounds!

Tommy, so far the feet are just thumb nuts with some J-B Weld over them. After making the pants I'll finish the shoes with epoxy putty or something.

Shelley Noble said...

Hila Bila, I understand every word you say, I get your cute jokes!

Hila said...

Don't call me that in public, Shell :D
and Mike I would never in a million years... that fabric for Huck is Hilarious. I can't wait to see him on the catwalk with that.

Darkmatters said...

Bit of a setback folks.

I suddenly realized that, due to his slim waistline and the tightness of the shirt, it won't be able to slip on and off over his shoulders the way it's supposed to. So a redesign is in order.... he'll end up getting a real honest-to-goodness Hawaiian shirt, worn open of course, over a t-shirt of some type.

Unfortunately the fabric was trimmed too close already (or I could have just made the shirt a bit roomier) so I have to scrap it and start over. Oh well.... minor setback really.

What might be more troublesome is the fact that his neck was jammed tightly into the chest block and refused to come out the way oit was supposed to. I had to use pliers and pull and pry on it for a while, and it suddenly popped weirdly, breaking one of the wires. There are also deep pliers gouges in the remaining wires.

I have a pic of the damage, but my stubborn computer hasn't let me process it in photoshop for posting. I've been re-starting the damn computer for the last 3 hours trying to just get it to work again at all! I'm about ready to do another re-install one of these days.

Anonymous said...

damn! its all looking great man!
Scott

Darkmatters said...

Thanks Scott!

It's cool to be almost done with the first puppet (finally!)

I figure having Huck all dressed out will give me a burst of inspiration that I wasn't getting from seeing them all sitting around in yellow foam.

Anonymous said...

Call me crazy, but why not have the screw access in the back? That way, you could totally do a hatchet job on the back of the puppet, and it wouldn't be visible to the camera.