Thread: Animated Spiders?

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Hi, I am wondering if anyone has any ideas on a cheap and easy way to get a fairly large number of various sized spiders to animate (move legs or move around). One of our ideas was to use a projector and create a digital animation of spiders scuttling around, but this will only work on walls/floor. Any way to get ones hanging in the air to do the same?

Is this what you had in mind?:

http://www.thebigzoo.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=14551

I suppose you could have it hanging on a thread.

They also sell this:

http://www.thebigzoo.com/shopping/shopexd.asp?id=12912

It's not animated, but it looks pretty cool. I just ordered the tarantula and two of the black widows.

I had an idea a few years ago to try something like this. There are a number of soft gel like spiders out there that are very limp. I bought some a few years ago from Party City but haven't spent any time yet on the idea; had planned on them coming down and up from a witch's shack roof. Basically I wanted to thread the spiders (you need some sort of an anchor on the bottom of the spider so that the thread doesn't pull out and through the spider) and turn them sort of into a marionette. It would be easier if I drew a picture for you than tried explaining in words.

I'm heading out to breakfast and errands now and will try to post something later today.

BTW I have the RC tarantula and it's pretty large and heavy. I think any support thread you used would have to be so thick that it would be very visible. It's a cool spider though. Also a bit noisy. I liked the idea of using the "gel" spiders because when shook gently the legs moved (with no noise since not mechanical).

BTW I have the RC tarantula and it's pretty large and heavy.

Ghost Of Spooky, how fast does it move?

Originally Posted by Pumpkinhead625

Ghost Of Spooky, how fast does it move?

I thought he moved pretty well. I believe I bought mine during the summer from a TJMaxx store (Toy department) and got a nice price break on him. Picked him up as a halloween prop. I also picked up the scorpion one too. Here's the mfg. website for you. He moves at a pretty good pace. Kind of noisy if you don't have any other background sounds or music playing, which I would say was his only detractor, but very realistic looking for what he is and I liked the leg movement too. After looking at the website again I wonder what Tarantula Planet will be...

As far a judging his speed here's a YouTube video of him in action.




Here's a YouTube Video of a guy being sold by the Natural History Museum. Funny video and nicely done. BTW my tarantula had a logo for the National Geographic Society but was made by Uncle Milton. I figure they all probably are and they slap different logos on them to benefit different group.

So we have been thinking of trying to get a few basic RC spiders that would drop from the ceiling and basically just dangle in the air moving their legs. Along with them, we will have a bunch of small plastic spiders dangling from microfilament around so they are right in front of you (and we will have some other pieces of this filament to make it feel like spider webs that you are walking through). We will have a projector pointing at the walls and floor and I will make an animation of a ****-ton of spiders pouring out of holes around the room and crawling around (just to make people flip out of their minds and give some skittering and crawling movement around). We will have a person dressed as a spider come out and eat one of his human victims and have a wrapped skeleton victim hanging from the ceiling that they have to push past.

This is all for a Haunted House that I have designed for my school with a couple friends.