Thread: animatronic input needed

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Hi gang,

I want to get my hands dirty doing an animatronic. I have done the Dougie hack and it was ok...worked fine...just looking for better. I have MAD tech skills, strong programming skills just haven't used the language to program servos with but I'll pick it up and can fab up no problem.

What do you guys recommend.

• programming and burning my own chips but $$$$$
• mini SSC
• build my own boards
• VSA software I think it was only $50
• roboware

You guys see what I'm getting at. I know some is personal preference but since I have no experience I don't want to buy something so-so to upgrade later $$$$$ is at a premium like for all of us. If needed I would rather save up to get the more pricey better components then hate what I have. BUT I don't want to go over board either.

Any suggestions or input would be great. I have a little left over B-Day money, mine is just before Halloween

Thanks
-PB

I have no tech skills and using VSA and DMX worked very well for me. There were a few gotchas here and there but I popped onto this forum and got them answered right away. So, I would really say I used VSA, DMX and this forum.

Now, you could just go with VSA and a simple controller and you would be good to go. For the future, you could eye upgrading to DMX. Right now, the flaw with DMX is that there isn't a cheap/easy way to activate your prop. I've been told that the best/easiest way is to buy the $300 eXorcist box so that it what I'm aiming for for next year. The upside to DMX is the ability to use DMX lights and fog machine controls using one daisy-chained DMX cable. I used two DMX LED RGB lights and a simple trouble light that allowed me to create a light show unto itself that took an ordinary coffin-opening animatronic and make it much more exciting. Here's a vid:

YouTube - Final DMX Coffin Set-up

I second Terra's comments. VSA is a pretty powerful package for only $50 and there are tons of people using it now so getting help is easy. The only servo controller board I have used is the SSC-32 from Lynxmotion which I have had no problems with and would recommend. The VSA people also sell this RAPU board (about $300 - so the eXorcist box may be a better choice overall) which allows you to develop your routines on your computer and then download them to the RAPU board and it acts as a "stand-alone" controller (including interfacing to DMX if necessary)...but<heavy sigh> it still does not directly provide the means for automatic triggering. To solve this problem I created my own sensor/controller board that looks for a trigger and then tells the RAPU board (via RS-232) to randomly select a routine and play it - and it worked great.

you could have done all of that with a $150 Gilderfluke minibrick...either 4 or 8 channels...free software to program and download onto the brick. No need for relays if you're switching 24v DC or less. Use relays to switch higher voltage. That seems like an aweful lot of work and $$$$ for simple on/off routines. If you're dimming lights and whatnot, then DMX is the way to go...Just my 2 cents. Their 8 channel minibrick is about $250.

Actually I had looked at the boards that Gilderfluke offers but they did not have the ability to control enough servos for my application (about 10) and you had to buy another board for audio.

This is true...

My personal preference is VSA which I will soon upgrade to the new version with 128 channels. I use it to control 3 relay boards (24 relays total) and various servo controllers. The Lynxmotion SSC-32 seems to be the latest controller of choice.

VSA sounds the way to go then.

If I go SSC or Lynxmotion ( link anyone? ) after I upload the program are these then stand alone? I don't want the prop connected to a computer. I may be able to build a trigger.

If I connect this to a pneumatic prop, can I add an ice cube relay as my solenoids are all 110v?

Can I add sound to the SSC or do I need a chip recorder?

Any good projects/how-to's that you can recommend to review and study?

Thanks for the input on this. Looking forward to adding something bigger, better to the haunt
-PB

I, too recommend VSA. (Brookshire Software - Visual Show Automation (VSA) - The Solution for Show Control Software)

VSA allows you to load audio files and sync up your servo actions to the sound.

I have used the Lynxmotion SSC32 card (SSC-32 Servo Controller).

I am using VSA version 4 with the 128 channels. If you use a kit74 relay board, you can switch a couple hundred watts right from the relays on the board. You can add heavy duty relays for bigger jobs or motors.

Kit 74 board: PC Relay Driver Board Kit 74 and Parallel Port Relay Board

Take a few minutes and review this thread:

My 3 axis skull...in progress

I made these guys and started that thread as a "How-To".

YouTube - Sindy Skinless & the Decomposers do "Skeletons in my Closet"

YEP I saw that thread but not sure I wanted to read 147 pages

I want to start small. Lets just get a head working

If I recall from a long time ago this is a stand alone, correct? Once programmed I can trigger it and run it off the puter.

Those are way cool, and my whole thing started by wanting to do a "Killer Clown Band" kinda like what you have but with clowns.

I'm gonna order the VSA combo: Software V1 & V2 on cd, SSC and cable

-PB