Date: Thu, 08 Jan 2009 14:16:49 -0600
To: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Subject: Re: [Puptcrit] Eye mechs: easier than we think


Hey Mathieu,

Thanks for the kind words. Yes, most vent figure or puppet mechanics are 
simple in principle. Shell winkers (or blinkers: both eye lids blink at 
the same time) are a relatively simple concept, but in actuality the 
precision required will surely test your mechanical abilities!   For 
quality work, the winker shells need to be very close to the eyeball and 
yet not touch the eye at all when when the winkers open and close. A 
taller order than it seems at first glance.  All depend on the shells 
being the exact correct size and the winker pivots being 'dead-on' 
center! Even if you are off the slightest amount, it can give you big 
headaches. The other sign of a good installation is the winker shells 
having a close tolerance between the shell and the upper part of the eye 
opening. In this photo, I think you can see both aspects that I 
mentioned.......

http://www.puppetsandprops.com/Images/DustyAlmostDone.jpg

One thing that can help, is doing most of the work outside the head, and 
building the eye and winker mechanism on a singular platform or eye 
tray. Here's a picture of that same set of eyes before they were 
installed in that head........

http://www.puppetsandprops.com/Images/JacksonWinkerAssembly.jpg

Going this route, you then only have to deal with fitting around the eye 
socket in the head itself. So that works great if you are installing the 
eyes with winkers in tandem. But you can also do this same idea 
individually.  Take your 'U' shaped brass winker frame (normally 
attached to the eye tray as in the above photo) and solder this to your 
vertical brass pivot rod (leave it long on the bottom which gives you 
some to attach to inside the head). Then the eye and shell winker 
assembly keep their close tolerances and can be assembled outside the 
head, and then you can install the eyeball and winker as a unit, ready 
to go.

Hope that's helpful.

Cheers,

Mike Brose
http://www.puppetsandprops.com

Mathieu René wrote:
> Hobey wrote:
>   
>> That warrants a look into how vent figures achieve that, for eye
>>     
> controls are among the hardest to make, personally.   Marionette eyes
> are intriguing as well.   Bil Baird's eye controls blew my mind, the
> legs and knee joints as well but they aren't nearly as baffling as
> eyes.  There are at least four unfinished eye mechanisms sitting next
> to my work bench.
> ------------------------
>
> I needed much better insight about eye mechanisms last summer, for a short 
> film puppet.
> So I got Mike Brose's book "Figure Making Can be Fun?!?".
>
> For the short film, we ended up using a much more simplified system than 
> first planned, but we definitely got inspired by Mike's book. The 
> instructions in it are very clear. I'm glad to have that book in my library, 
> I know I can count on it for the next time I get a mechanical movement in a 
> puppet head.
>
> Inner head mechanics are more complex than simple elbows or knees, but given 
> proper time, patience and precision, they are not as complicated as they 
> seem at first.
>
> For me, the hardest aspects so far have been to insert such mechanics inside 
> very small heads, and to fit the moving eyes seamlessly with the eyelids, 
> especially articulated eyelids ("blinkers", in the vent lingo).
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
> Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
> Archives: http://www.driftline.org
>
>
>   

_______________________________________________
List address: puptcrit-AT-puptcrit.org
Admin interface: http://lists.puptcrit.org/mailman/listinfo/puptcrit
Archives: http://www.driftline.org