Animate "Tweety" ?

3475 Views 28 Replies 9 Participants Last post by Deadview, Apr 17, 2015

Deadview

Discussion Starter · Apr 2, 2015

This is new little find that I just got in the mail. He stands 8" tall and is 8" across with his wings open. Then I got an idea. Can he be animated to move his head from side to side and move his wings up and down ? OK fellow haunters, how about direct me to a site for this, if it can be done, or tell me to fly away ?

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Pumpkin5

· #2 · Apr 2, 2015

Not sure if he can be animated....but a forum friend Bobzilla and Halstaff managed to make one of the Tweety's kind of extraordinary as a gift for me.

Bobzilla took it all apart, added a head and texturized him....Halstaff gutted his little skull and added teeny-tiny LED's.

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Deadview

Discussion Starter · #3 · Apr 2, 2015

I like that Pumpkin5 looks wild. Yea I'm not sure if there is servo out there that can be utilized to move this little bird.

Cloe

· #4 · Apr 2, 2015

Pumpkin5 said:
Not sure if he can be animated....but a forum friend Bobzilla and Halstaff managed to make one of the Tweety's kind of extraordinary as a gift for me.

Bobzilla took it all apart, added a head and texturized him....Halstaff gutted his little skull and added teeny-tiny LED's.

I love that little guy(s). I'm sure it was much appreciated!

CDW

· #5 · Apr 3, 2015

Hmm - it's a tricky proposition to animate something that skeletal, but your best bet would probably be to do it with wires going to remote servos. Real mounted bird skeletons often have a metal support pole running from the base up into the breast:

Pelican Skeleton Seabird Bird Pelecaniformes

You could put servos (or just motors if you want simpler) into a wooden base plate, run flexible wires from the servos up through the rod and among/through the bones, and have the servos pull the wires to move the wings and head.

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Deadview

Discussion Starter · #6 · Apr 3, 2015

Not a bad idea CDW. I've been looking at BG Micros web site to get ideas on motors and other parts. I think it can be done but plan will have to be right and everything will need to be hidden.

Crazy Bonez

· #7 · Apr 9, 2015

Maybe you could use the new Skeleton Vulture which has thicker bones? That may work better.

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Deadview

Discussion Starter · #8 · Apr 9, 2015

Yea, Crazy Bones, the vulture could work. At least to have his head and neck sway side to side by running a rod up through the body and maybe using a vent motor as a power source. My little Tweety is a huge challenge and I hope I can find something from BG Mirco or Electronic Goldmine that will be small enough and running at low RPM's and handle the torque or the motion. Not looking good right now but only 212 days til Halloween, we'll see.

TheFletch

· #9 · Apr 9, 2015

Hi,

I have this same bird mounted on a skeleton pirate..
For head movement I used a rod up the spine attached to a servo with this. https://www.servocity.com/html/servo_rotary_driver.html#.VSZCgE0cScw

take off the head and beak and pass the rod threw the spine.
replace the beak and bend the rod shaft 45 degrees to fit the beak... hot glue in place and reattach the top part of head.

the rod passes threw the pirate shoulder and the servo hides nice.... there is some exposed rod below the neck but after some paint it is hard to spot.

I added led eyes and use a SSC-32 servo board and vsa to run the complete show..

for a single bird you may want to find a cheaper servo controller with random movements.

best of luck.

Fletch

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bobzilla

· #10 · Apr 9, 2015

Good luck.
I'm curious to see what you come up with.

Deadview

Discussion Starter · #11 · Apr 9, 2015

This is what I'm looking for, especially with the shaft and how to run it through the bird to the head. Got any video ? I am curious about the speed of the head but what a great find. Thanks for the information and will begin to look into it right away.

Gym Whourlfeld

· #12 · Apr 9, 2015

Hinge the feet with cloth glued down to a base,run a fishline up attach it. Have a smallbell-crank under it that slightly yanks the fishline shorter as it rotates.
Often very small amounts of any movement will set people off... if the rest of your show builds up any anticipation at all.

TheFletch

· #13 · Apr 10, 2015

Hi,
sorry it took time to get back to you. big mess in the loft and had to dig.

Here is a video of the movement. eyes can be programed to flash

The neck I drilled and the rod bends into a hole drilled at back of beak.... here are some pics.
the wires run down the legs and do not show..

Head Skeleton Art Jaw Skull

Head Snout Jaw Dinosaur Canidae

good luck
Fletch

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Crazy Bonez

· #14 · Apr 10, 2015

Very impressive. That is really awesome!

Deadview

Discussion Starter · #15 · Apr 10, 2015

That is exactly what I'm looking for Fletch. Is that the SR500 rotary driver you are using in the bird ? If so,more questions, what length rod and diameter of the rod ? Great job you should have done a tutorial on this. Last question, what kind of power supply runs the driver ? Thanks and again great job.

bobzilla

· #16 · Apr 10, 2015

Awesome!
Great work on animating the bird!

TheFletch

· #17 · Apr 10, 2015

Deadview said:
That is exactly what I'm looking for Fletch. Is that the SR500 rotary driver you are using in the bird ? If so,more questions, what length rod and diameter of the rod ? Great job you should have done a tutorial on this. Last question, what kind of power supply runs the driver ? Thanks and again great job.

(98847A003) 2-56x12 inch Stainless $1.85
(SR500) (04.01.04) Servo Rotary Driver $5.95
(31425S00) HS-425BB Servo $12.99

The ssc-32 servo board runs up to 32 servos / led light combo. with VSA running on a computer. ( the bird is part of a pirate show using 20 servos and 8 led light sets. )

This would be overkill and expensive for a single bird. you need a programmable servo controller that will randomly turn the birds head right and left. This depends if you want to trigger it or what your needs are...

cheapest way of left right movement is to get the 2-56 rods.
Set up threw the spine as pictured... the bottom part of the rod gets passed threw the shoulder... board.... what ever you plan on having the bird sit on. now bend the bottom 45 degress and connect it to a linkage to a slow rpm motor.. this would give you left to right motion for 10 bucks

Pictured below is the concept but it is not to scale and I am using parts from other projects to demonstrate what the linkage could look like.

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Hope this helps.

Fletch

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BobbyA

· #18 · Apr 10, 2015

The rod from below is where I was headed too. Except I'd suggest using a small box or perch to hide the servo.
Unless you happen to have a pirate handy.

Deadview

Discussion Starter · #19 · Apr 10, 2015

TheFletch said:
(98847A003) 2-56x12 inch Stainless $1.85
(SR500) (04.01.04) Servo Rotary Driver $5.95
(31425S00) HS-425BB Servo $12.99

The ssc-32 servo board runs up to 32 servos / led light combo. with VSA running on a computer. ( the bird is part of a pirate show using 20 servos and 8 led light sets. )

This would be overkill and expensive for a single bird. you need a programmable servo controller that will randomly turn the birds head right and left. This depends if you want to trigger it or what your needs are...

cheapest way of left right movement is to get the 2-56 rods.
Set up threw the spine as pictured... the bottom part of the rod gets passed threw the shoulder... board.... what ever you plan on having the bird sit on. now bend the bottom 45 degress and connect it to a linkage to a slow rpm motor.. this would give you left to right motion for 10 bucks

Pictured below is the concept but it is not to scale and I am using parts from other projects to demonstrate what the linkage could look like.

View attachment 239455

Hope this helps.

Fletch

Yes the bird will be sitting on top of the cemetery archway along with other feathered birds. I want it to swing it's head side to side so the servo does not have to be I guess what you would call multi-function. I will put LEDS inside the eye sockets. I also want to set-up mp player next to it so it will squawk as people walk through the entry-way. Great info Fletch and thanks for the pictures.

Deadview

Discussion Starter · #20 · Apr 12, 2015 (Edited)

Placed my order today Fletch. Looking forward to delivery. I already have the LED eyes in place and have tested them. They look good. Here are some shots of the eyes. Two 5mm Red LED 12VDC 20m A1.5 mcd with integraded resistor for the eyes. One 330 Ohm 1/4 watt carbon film resistor to connect positive and negative sides of the LEDS and a 9 volt battery.

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