bobschm Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 I think I can build an animatronic figure, but how does that synchonize with LOR? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
paulanator Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 You can use a DC controller if you are using pneumatics or you can use a ServoDog board if you want to use servos.I used both in my show this year. I like the pnuematics better for the action, but it is a lot more work, and a lot of deatails to figure out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beeiilll Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 Dress small children in costume and have them move in time with the music.Bonus for them if they stay in sync!I just can't see why you folks say that this hobby is so complex? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Champion Sound Entertainment Posted December 19, 2011 Share Posted December 19, 2011 beeiilll wrote:Dress small children in costume and have them move in time with the music.Bonus for them if they stay in sync!I just can't see why you folks say that this hobby is so complex?Hahahaha I know I can get day laborers at the home depot - but I wonder if I can rent their children and dress them up as alien elf droids for my outer space zanta cloz display...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ToddH Posted December 20, 2011 Share Posted December 20, 2011 I think a few of our members are big on that, If I remember correctly TJ does wonders on his for halloween stuff, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Young Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 bobschm wrote: I think I can build an animatronic figure, but how does that synchonize with LOR?Check out some of the Halloween forums.They are audio to DC pulse boards available that will allow you to operate the servos driving your animations based on audio input, with needing any programming. Just feed in the audio and the mouth will move appropriately, often with a second servo (ie for eye movement).You can se this inaction with some of my figures at www.vimeo.com/33806268This way when you change what the character says there is no programming to have to readdress!Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J_Plak Posted December 21, 2011 Share Posted December 21, 2011 greg,What are you using as a play-back unit.Jerry Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KHenry1319 Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Greg,Pretty cool video. How did you get the snow effect (in the first part of the video)?Thanks. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Hvasta Posted December 27, 2011 Share Posted December 27, 2011 Thanks Todd I use a Lynxmotion SSC-32 servo controller (http://www.lynxmotion.com/p-395-ssc-32-servo-controller.aspx) with VisualSoftwareAnimation (VSA) from BrookshireSoftware.com (http://www.brookshiresoftware.com/vsa_overview.htm).. But neither run thru LOR.. I will be trying a ServoDog or DIO32 board this Spring/Summer.. just hoping I can still run 32 servos like I can with the Lynx board. I had 14 talking, singing skulls on th' Black Pearl run by 2 Lynx boards.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Young Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 J_Plak wrote: greg,What are you using as a play-back unit.JerryHi Jerry:Just got back on the forum today...I am using LOR audio output to drive the hosts (deer and snowman). Santa uses a $30 digital audio board from a security system I scavenged.Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Greg Young Posted January 4, 2012 Share Posted January 4, 2012 KHenry1319 wrote: Greg,Pretty cool video. How did you get the snow effect (in the first part of the video)?Thanks.Living a little South of Buffalo helps when you want real snow! If you mean the snow in Santa's shed, that is just the artificial snow available from any craft store.Greg Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Rayburn Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 I have been researching for information on controlling animatronics. Am I understanding this correctly, that there is software that can sync mouth movements to audio tracks without a lot of sequenceing? If so are you referring to VSA or something else? Thanks for any information anyone is willing to share. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bernie Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 Joe Rayburn wrote: I have been researching for information on controlling animatronics. Am I understanding this correctly,Yes, Joe you can use VSA but it also requires a little tuning to operate correctly and it also requires a separate computer to run. You can check out the audio servo controller boards at scary Terry's they run by using audio from a little portable MP3 player or you can connect to the audio of your computer.. I think they run about 45-50 dollars.Bernie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfrd22 Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I will be using VSA also along with MonkeyBasic addon's. I was really wanting to stay all LOR, But MonkeyBasic software just makes life so much easier.Now if LOR would release some Code to the Folks At MonkeyBasic no one would have any reason to go with VSA.Just Saying Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TJ Hvasta Posted January 31, 2012 Share Posted January 31, 2012 I've been using VSA for a bunch of years with my 3-axis skulls, and while it works great and it's pretty easy to learn, it does not work with LOR.. there just isnt any way to get them to play nicely together.. Both LOR and VSA will play on the same computer, at the same time (they use different ports), but you cant (at least I havent found a way to) get them to play the same song without triggering the two programs at the same time.I will be trying a DIO or ServoDog board this summer, but as I need to run approx 48 servos (14 3-axis + jaw), I'm not very hopeful.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsbrodie Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 bfrd22 wrote:I will be using VSA also along with MonkeyBasic addon's. I was really wanting to stay all LOR, But MonkeyBasic software just makes life so much easier.Now if LOR would release some Code to the Folks At MonkeyBasic no one would have any reason to go with VSA.Just SayingI'm converting from VSA to LOR for this Halloween and am adding skeletons using kits from Triaxial Labs for the skull movement (still working on how I'm doing the arms). I've written a program that will convert the output file from TrackSkull to a LOR animation sequence. So far it looks pretty good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfrd22 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 TJ Hvasta wrote:I've been using VSA for a bunch of years with my 3-axis skulls, and while it works great and it's pretty easy to learn, it does not work with LOR.. there just isnt any way to get them to play nicely together.. Both LOR and VSA will play on the same computer, at the same time (they use different ports), but you cant (at least I havent found a way to) get them to play the same song without triggering the two programs at the same time.I will be trying a DIO or ServoDog board this summer, but as I need to run approx 48 servos (14 3-axis + jaw), I'm not very hopeful..If its all in VSA now, (looks amazing btw) why not use LOR to trigger VSA,We were discussing this at one of the halloween forums.http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=29860 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsbrodie Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 bfrd22 wrote: If its all in VSA now, (looks amazing btw) why not use LOR to trigger VSA,That would make sense if I was keeping my existing show. For Halloween I had only been using 20 channels of light. I was using VSA with 1 LOR controller and a DMX dimmer pack. For Christmas last year, I started a synchronized display with 96 channels (this year it will be over 256).I plan to expand the number of channels for Halloween as well by quite a few with both LOR controllers and DMX with RGB lights. Additionally, I am planning on at least 4-6 skeletons with 24 or so servos. That's in addition to my pneumatic and other animated props. The audio was part of a few songs and now I plan on using 3 or 4 whole songs. Since it's all being created from scratch, I think it would be easier to create it using the LOR software. And with TrackSkull, setting up the triaxial skulls is pretty easy. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bfrd22 Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 I'm pretty sure that TrackSkull will not work with LOR. Heck even the LOR partners say it would be a pain to do Skelly's with LOR.For that reason I went VSA. I will also run about 90 channels off LOR. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rsbrodie Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 bfrd22 wrote:I'm pretty sure that TrackSkull will not work with LOR. Heck even the LOR partners say it would be a pain to do Skelly's with LOR.For that reason I went VSA. I will also run about 90 channels off LOR.I've seen a display using only LOR for lights and skeletons and I think it looks pretty good. I've also checked out their sequences and it's very straightforward. I've converted (via a program I wrote) the TrackSkull output (VSA import) to a LOR sequence and I'm pleased with it so far. I'm still getting used to TrackSkull, but I think it will work great.I'll post updates when I have more info. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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