Animatronics

Making Things Move: DIY Mechanisms for Inventors, Hobbyists, and Artists

By Dustyn Roberts

A unique guide that covers the practical principles of mechanical design and how they can be applied

In Making Things Move, you’ll learn how to create moving mechanisms using clear, non-technical explanations, examples, and hands-on projects. These projects range from artistic installations to toys to useful inventions, and include a drawing machine, a mini wind turbine, and a mousetrap powered car. You’ll learn a wide range of skills, from attaching couplers and shafts to motors to converting between rotary and linear motion. The only limit to what you can create is your imagination.

Discover how to:

• Find and select materials
• Fasten and join parts
• Measure force, friction and torque
• Understand mechanical and electrical power, work and energy
• Create and control motion
• Work with bearings, couplers, gears, screws, and springs
• Combine simple machines for work and fun

This book is filled with photographs, drawings, and screenshots of the components and systems you’ll be working with. It focuses on using ready-made components whenever possible, and most projects use common materials like metal, plastic, wood, and cardboard, as well as simple fabrication techniques like laser cutting. Each chapter includes small projects to help you practice what you’ve learned, and later in the book, you’ll tackle more involved projects that incorporate material from multiple chapters.

Making Things Move:

• Focuses on practical applications and results, not abstract engineering theories
• Contains more than a dozen topic-focused projects and three large-scale projects incorporating lessons from the whole book
• Features shopping lists and guides to off-the-shelf components for the projects
• Incorporates discussions of new fabrication techniques such as laser cutting and 3D printing, and how you can gain access
• Includes online component for continuing education with the book’s companion website and blog (makingthingsmove.com)

Hands-on coverage of moving mechanisms
Introduction to Mechanisms and Machines
Materials and Where to Find Them
Screwed or Glued? On Fastening and Joining Parts
Forces, Friction and Torque (Oh My)
Mechanical and Electrical Power, Work, and Energy
Eeny, Meeny, Miny, Motor? – Creating and Controlling Motion
The Guts: Bearings, Bushings. Couplers, and Gears
Rotary vs. Linear Motion
Automatons and Mechanical Toys
Making Things and Getting Them Made
Projects

Animatronics: A Guide to Animated Holiday Displays

By Edwin Wise

Edwin Wise’s book, Animatronics: A Guide to Animated Holiday Displays, is the perfect guide for bringing your holiday decorations to life. This hands-on, project-oriented book covers simple, classic projects and advanced motion animation used in professional mechatronic systems. Along the way, it includes tips and tricks for sculpting and decorating all your self-operated mechanisms.

While other books on the market describe only static displays, this book provides the advanced hobbyist with the tools needed to create a complex animated display. The book is targeted at intermediate and advanced builders and covers four broad categories:
– electrical animations
– pneumatic animations
– servo animations
– control systems
It also includes “background” projects such as stationary systems and how to make water glow under black light.

Animatronics guides you through projects to build and control AC motors and pneumatic systems inside your animated props. It also includes some overlap with Wise’s previous book, Applied Robotics, dealing with sensor and MCU control projects. Whether you’re a seasoned animatronics expert or just getting started, this book has something for everyone.”

The Ultimate Guide To Do It Yourself Animatronics

By Steve Koci

Bring Your Characters to Life with the Ultimate DIY Animatronics Guide

This guide, adapted from the popular SERVO Magazine series “DIY Animatronics” by Steve Koci, is tailored for home hobbyists who want to learn about the exciting field of animated character creation.

It aims to be accessible to anyone with a desire to learn, regardless of their expertise. The guide covers the entire process of creating animatronic characters, from start to finish, and provides clear, easy-to-follow instructions.

Whether you’re working on a holiday decoration, school project, or business project, DIY Animatronics will help you create professional-quality animatronic characters.

Affordable Animatronics – A Visual Overview

By Robert Van Deest and Harry Lapping

Affordable Animatronics provides all the elements for an individual to build their own animated models (i.e. people, animals, aliens, etc.) for personal and professional use. Introductions to controllers, electrical, mechanical, lighting, and sound techniques provides all the basics that a novice or professional needs to get started. The book provides pictures, drawings and instructions for creating realistic and affordable projects, so the reader can apply these techniques by making their own animatronic solutions. This book is a must for creators of holiday displays, robotic and animatronic courses, and current and future sci-fi movie producers.

Harry’s Affordable Animatronics – How to Guide – Volume 2

By Robert Van Deest, Harry Lapping and Jim Litchko

Harry’s Affordable Animatronics, How to Guide, Volume 2, is the follow-on to Volume 1, which provides all the elements for an individual to build their own animated models. Volume 2 show the application of these elements in constructing realistic animatronics from boxes and puppets to produce and animated quill, owl, talking hat, and dragon. This book will take you to the next level of creating your own animated creations.

Halloween Animatronics – Build a Possessed Doll

Volume 1
By Wolfram Donat

We’ve all seen them: horror movies starring a creepy doll that tries to kill everyone in the house, usually because it’s been possessed by a vengeful ghost or a demon. It always starts small, though: little movements, like the head turning, that let you know that something’s not quite right about little Samantha’s favorite toy. Then, by the end of the movie, the doll is in fully-possessed-mode, flying through the air and slaughtering everyone.

Meet Amanda. Amanda is a possessed doll that, with the help of a smattering of code, randomly turns her head left, right, and sometimes all the way around. It’s not much, but it’s enough to make your favorite horror fan run screaming from the room.

Illustrated with full-color photographs, this volume of Halloween Animatronics takes you step-by-step through the process of creating her, from cutting open her head to swap out her eyes, to mounting the servo that turns her head, to the few lines of code to make the servo work its magic.

If you already have an Arduino, she can be built for under $40 in parts, and an Arduino can be gotten very cheaply if you need one. For those wanting to create spooky Halloween props and get introduced to animatronics, the Arduino, and robotics in general, this book is a must-have!

Halloween Animatronics – Build a Zombie Crawler

Volume 2
By Wolfram Donat

Have you ever wanted to make a crawling zombie to chase your friends and scare people on Halloween? Halloween Animatronics: Build a Zombie Crawler can help you do that!

This guide shows you how to build a radio-controlled zombie named Bartok with lots of pictures to help you. It tells you what parts you need and how to put them together step by step. You’ll learn how to make Bartok’s body, his arms, and how to make him crawl when you want him to.

There’s also information for people who are new to this hobby and tips for fixing problems. If you love Halloween and want to make your own creepy prop, you don’t want to miss this guide!

Halloween Zombies

Build A Fully Functional Radio-Controlled Zombie Crawler 
By Chuck Sekel

Learn how to make a radio controlled zombie crawler. Great for Halloween.

Make: Volume 90

By Dale Dougherty (Editor)

It’s aliiiiive! Bring characters to life for Halloween, movie making, and live shows with the mechanical wonders of animatronics!

In this issue of Make: follow along as FX designer Jesse Velez builds a custom haunted deer animatronic based on the Evil Dead series. Next, we show you how to make a set of 3D-printed ghosts dance to music using Bottango’s free animatronic software. Then add some personality to your next creature build with a pair of simple, lifelike mechatronic eyes, and take it a step further with a mechanism to simulate realistic breathing patterns.

Plus, 33+ projects:

• Use projection mapping to make any building a screen for multimedia shows, at Halloween or anytime
• Build a sunlight sensing plant rotator so your leafy friends always get the best light
• Learn to make perfectly aligned vector images from skewed photographs
• Explore hidden frequencies with an EMF audio amplifier
• Make a traditional tortilla press for the freshest tacos
• Hack a monster toy with a simple LED circuit for a whimsical desktop status light
• Solve 3D design problems using ChatGPT
• And much more!

How to Make Animatronic Characters – Organic Mechanics Part 1 (DVD)

With Rick Lazzarini and Stan Winston School of Character Arts

In PART ONE of this animatronics odyssey, master Creature FX mechanic Rick Lazzarini (ALIENS, SNAKES ON A PLANE, DR. DOLITTLE 2) gets you started on your journey of creating an organic animatronic creature puppet. From lifeless vacuform shell to moving, expressive character puppet, Lazzarini shares tons of budget-friendly tips and techniques that will help you animate your mechanical characters.

WEBCOURSE HIGHLIGHTS

• How to use taxidermy sources for materials & reference
• Overview of push-pull cable mechanics
• Creation of the vacuform underskull
• Discussion of different types of cables & how they re used
• An overview of servos & transmitters and more!

How to Make Animatronic Characters – Organic Mechanics Part 2 (DVD)

With Rick Lazzarini and Stan Winston School of Character Arts

In PART TWO of this incredible journey through the world of animatronics, the master of The Character Shop, Rick Lazzarini, not only builds upon the lessons he introduced in Part One, but also shares a host of additional mechanical techniques, as he continues with the construction of his lifelike puma.

Here, Rick creates expressiveness in his animatronic creature by focusing on the movement of the jaw and the snarl of the lips. By the end, the range of emotion on display by the sum of these parts is truly amazing.

WEBCOURSE HIGHLIGHTS

• Prepping & setting teeth into the vacuform skull
• Overview of cables, liners & housings
• Mounting & moving the jaw
• Snarl of both the upper & lower lips
• Programming & troubleshooting ranges of motion and more!

Robot Brains – Animatronic Character Servo Control (DVD)

With Rick Galinson and Stan Winston School of Character Arts 

Animatronic effects supervisor, inventor and Stan Winston Studio veteran, Rick Galinson, shares tips and techniques to help you utilize basic LED and SERVO controls to create stunning on-screen effects.

From the art of motherboard design and circuit board schematics to best practices with soldering equipment & programming code, Galinson’s expert knowledge will guide you as you delve into the fascinating world of robots, creatures and code.

WEBCOURSE HIGHLIGHTS

• Finding & ordering circuit boards
• Programming BASIC code
• The art & science of motherboard design
• Controlling an animatronic character and more!

How to Build an Animatronic Head Part 1 – Creating the Mechanical Underskull (DVD)

With Craig Caton-Largent

Learn how to build an animatronic head with master creature effects mechanic Craig Caton-Largent (Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Predator 2). In Part 1 of his 4-part webcourse series on DIY mechanical characters, Caton-Largent teaches you how to create an epoxy & fiberglass underskull, the critical first step in building facial animatronics for your character creations.

WEBCOURSE HIGHLIGHTS

• Tips for Controlling Skin Thickness
• Laying-Up Clay Inside the Mold for Core Creation
• Creating a “Throw Away” Core Mold
• Laying Up the Epoxy/Fiberglass Underskull
• Joining the Underskull Halves and more!

How to Build an Animatronic Head Part 2 – Eye Mechanism Construction & Installation (DVD)

With Craig Caton-Largent and Stan Winston School of Character Arts

Take the first steps toward mechanizing an animatronic head with master creature effects mechanic Craig Caton-Largent (Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Predator 2). In Part 2 of his 4-part webcourse series on DIY animatronics, Caton-Largent teaches you how to design, construct, and mount eye mechanisms inside your character’s fiberglass underskull.

WEBCOURSE HIGHLIGHTS

• De-Molding & Trimming the Underskull
• Cutting Out Mechanical Eye Sockets
• Eye Mechanism Design Overview
• Assembling & Mounting the Eyes
• Skin Test
• Creating an Eye Mechanism Base Plate and more!

How to Build an Animatronic Head Part 3 – Eyebrow & Jaw Mechanisms (DVD)

With Craig Caton-Largent

Learn to add expression to an animatronic head using eyebrow and jaw mechanisms with master creature effects mechanic Craig Caton-Largent (Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Predator 2). In Part 3 of his 4-part webcourse series on DIY animatronics, Caton-Largent shows you how simple servo-driven eyebrows and a mechanical jaw can help you bring your character animatronics to life.

WEBCOURSE HIGHLIGHTS

• Constructing Animatronic Eyebrow Mechanisms
• Mounting RC Servos to a “Servo Tray”
• Connecting Servos and Linkages
• Attaching the Mechanical Jaw and more!

How to Build an Animatronic Head Part 4 – Lip Mechanisms, Skin Testing & Programming (DVD)

With Craig Caton-Largent

Learn how to finish, test, and program an animatronic head with master creature effects mechanic Craig Caton-Largent (Jurassic Park, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Predator 2). Concluding his 4-part webcourse series on DIY animatronics, Caton-Largent guides you through the final steps of your mechanical character build, including an in-depth demonstration on creating servo-controlled lip mechanisms, followed by skin testing, and basic animatronics programming.

WEBCOURSE HIGHLIGHTS

• Attaching the Jaw Assembly
• Installing Lip Cables & Tabs
• Connecting the Lip Servos
• Trimming & Gluing Down the Test Skin
• Animatronics Programming Basics – The Pololu Board
• Using Visual Show Automation (VSA) Software and more!

Animatronics Design Basics (DVD)

With Richard Landon

In this introductory “animatronic how to” lesson, Stan Winston Studio “Lifer,” and Legacy Effects animatronic special character effects designer, Richard Landon, gives a comprehensive overview of the character mechanic’s profession.
(Related skills: mold making & puppetry)

LESSON HIGHLIGHTS

• The character mechanical effects designer’s toolkit
• Animatronics – how to begin designing character mechanisms
• Controlling character performance – the machines that move the monsters
• Introduction to eye mechanisms & tentacle mechanisms

Lab Work For Animatronic Characters Part 1: Making A Mechanical Core (DVD)

With Cory Czekaj

Learn lab work for animatronic characters with master FX technician Cory Czekaj (Avatar, RoboCop, Captain America: The Winter Soldier). In Part 1 of his 2-part course series, Czekaj teaches you how to modify an existing core, remold it, and create a fiberglass core for a mechanical character. If you dream of creating lifelike animatronics, this master class from one of the industry’s most highly respected lab technicians will help you get it right from the inside out.

LESSON HIGHLIGHTS

• Running Alginate Test Skins
• How to Modify a Epoxy Mold Core
• Remolding a Modified Core
• Creating a Fiberglass Mechanical Core

Lab Work for Animatronic Characters Part 2: Running a Silicone Skin & Casting Teeth (DVD)

With Cory Czekaj

Learn lab work for animatronic characters with pro FX technician Cory Czekaj (Avatar, RoboCop, Captain America: The Winter Soldier). In Part 2 of his 2-part course series, Czekaj shares his tried-and-true methods for running a pliable platinum silicone skin and casting dental acrylic teeth for a mechanical puppet. When creating an animatronic character, quality lab work is critical to your success. This in-depth course offers you the opportunity to learn the craft from an FX industry leader.

LESSON HIGHLIGHTS

• Cleaning and Releasing Molds
• Tinting and Mixing Platinum Silicone
• How to Reinforce Silicone Skin
• Running and Demolding the Skin
• Casting Dental Acrylic Teeth

Cable Mechanism Basics – Tentacles (DVD)

With Cory Czekaj

In this essential “animatronics how to” lesson, Stan Winston Studio “Lifer” & Legacy Effects animatronic special character effects designer, Richard Landon (ALIENS, THE TERMINATOR, PREDATOR, JURASSIC PARK) reveals various approaches to creating highly versatile cable-controlled tentacle mechanisms for your character creation projects.

LESSON HIGHLIGHTS

• Two-Way Tentacle Mechanism – Spring Steel “Tail”
• Four-Way Tentacle Mechanism – Cat’s Tail, Elephant’s Trunk, Alien Tentacle, Etc.
• Hollow-Core Tentacle Mechanism – Breaking All The Rules and more!