Sorenson 3 Curtain Call on
Vimeo(This here is the higher quality Sorenson 3 clip as further converted by Flash. (Mike, fyi this IS the best I can focus the Uni.) At least you can see what I'm doing better.This is/was quite possibly one of the most exciting 15 second experiences of my life.
Uh, Strider dude, you were so right. Mmmmmmm, Tiedowns. I am SOLD. I'm going to drill holes ALL over my beautiful set now, who cares, wood patch--wood patch!
Uh, Sven doodster, you are an artist! This armature is a dream!!! I have rarely had such a thrill. Actually I get excited a lot, but seeing this puppet dance is like my future saying, "This will work, all is well." and THAT doesn't happen everyday.
My only other lesson was to discover that I'll have to use a non-lead tin/silver alloy solder in my version as I am in an awful neurotic, OCD kind of fit over the lead in my new friend. I used the gloves of course, but the whole time, and even now, I feel contaminated. I'm all over my studio and computer while animating and touching my radio which then rests against my bare skin, etc. I feel as though the whole place is dusted with toxic poison. I wiped everything down afterwards with moist wipes but I feel dizzy and weirded out by it nonetheless. It's all in my head, but there's no way around that for me, short of dressing like Karen Silkwood on a rough day.
And taa daa... guess who rang ME today?! Clare. Yep, he saw the post about Sven's armature being here and he asked to come up and see it. And after looking at it for two seconds he knew exactly how we could make one here. He knew where to get the materials. He knew what equipment would be needed and confirmed that it all was already set up down there. He explained in detail the steps and fine points of constructing one. It seems to me to be a daunting amount of work. An huge amount of additional time and learning curve that I hadn't bargained for. However, today's test proved that indeed a ball joint is far superior control and performance potential.
I have two additional things to test before I fully commit to making these myself:
TEST 1: Tiedowns on Mach III (wire and block) armature being finished in the next few days for practice animation. If the wire can give me decent position control I may chicken out of fabricating a ball/joint. (Who am I kidding?--shhhh.)
TEST 2: A Pojo with Tiedowns (capitalized as Divine things are). If I can replicate something close to Sven's creation with my little fiddle bits then that may do for a while?