Thread: Wow who did this prop? singing skulls

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Found this on Youtube...amazing: Anyone know who did it?

YouTube - The Bone Tones

omg !!!!!!!! that is awesome!!!!!!!!! :d:d:d:d:d:d:d

I saw the comments on youtube it says the guy used mini pneumatic rods for the jaws. He does lighting and animated stuff for a living.

Very nice- a real prop? I'm impressed!- I coulda sworn it was an animation as I was looking at the mouth movements it just looked too clean to be machine movements

From youtube:
Profile:
Name: Bill
Age: 41

I'm a composer, engineer, and animatronic show designer. My company, Mindshaft Music Inc., is where all the magic happens. I write music for TV, film, radio, etc, and create animatronic shows from the ground up. I've created animatronics for haunted houses, a themed dentist office, churches, and more. I also create the BEST custom background sounds, full soundtracks, and audio loops for haunted attractions, dark rides, themed environments, and the like.

Country: United States
Occupation: Composer, Engineer, Show Designe...
Schools: Hard Knocks
Website: Mindshaft Music audio post



Bill, Did you replace any of the hardware in the skills or did you use what came in them? Are you using Brookshire VSA to run the show? I'm going to make something similar using Gemmy skulls but I'm going to mount them on "bodies" and use a servos or something to make them rock back and forth in unison. I may connect them together and use a windshield wiper motor with a weight to make them rock back and forth together.
THEMINDSHAFT (2 weeks ago) Show Hide Marked as spam Reply Yes I replaced the original jaw motors with tiny pneumatic cylinders as I dont think the original setup would last too long. My controll system is based on MIDI so you can use just about any DAW software. The original eye motors are kind of crappy too. Later ones I've done use a servo for the eye movement. Hope this helps,
Bill.

Weird...sounds like a contradiction.

Cute setup but the song is COMPLETELY annoying!!!!

Wow !

If that is pneumatic, it is incredibly fast.

It is hard to tell, but can anyone tell if there is partial mouth opening? It almost looks like the mouth always opens to the max or at least appears to be heading that way. Like the movement impulse is stopped. I got a cheap skull in candy tray from K-Mart. $7.00. The eye movement is basic and the movement is really simple. Just a motor with a string that winds up on the shaft to open the jaw and a spring to pull it back. I think it is controlled similiar to the circuit Doc shared on his early skull.

Spinman

so was there an answer to which skull or "kit"is used for these anyone one know where these are sold website or photos I'd like to watch for these and maybe pick up some of these things.

Here is a gemmy skull hack I found using MIDI:

AUTOMAT3D Blog Archive Gemmy Skull MIDI Hack