Post 10: Other Early Submarines

    I also discovered the American Fulton's copper hull Nautilus that he  designed and built in France in 1800, but which Napoleon turned down:

as well as the odd looking German 1850 Brandttaucher:

Post 9: Monturiol's Ictineo Wooden Submarines

   I was doing some research on Jules Vernes, the Nautilus, and the history of submarines, and ran across the wonderful story of Monturiol, a Spaniard who built two very sophisticated submarines out of wood in the 1850's, the man powered Ictineo I, and the engine powered Ictineo II. Unfortunately, he went bankrupt, and the project was abandoned. 
   But he machines look great, and are of considerable inspiration to me, especially the Ictineo II:

   I would love to build a half model just like the one above on the scale of my puppets to use as a set. 

Post 8: Figuring Out the Correct Convergence

  Now that I have the 3D rig, I need to test it.
  First, there is the issue of the focal length, then the issue of the convergence. Both depend on the distance between the cameras and the subject. I am working close up, so the third issue of the separation of the cameras is moot, as I have it set to the minimum possible of 3"(one camera is upside down, and the cameras almost touch).
  One advantage of the Canons S110 is that the lens ring can be set to control focal length with preset "clicks" at 24, 28, 35, 50, 85, 100 and 120 mm. That makes it much easier than using the zoom buttons on the G12. I set the Aperture at f8 in Manual mode for maximum depth of field, and only adjust the exposure. 
  In movie mode, I can choose the focal length, and I can correct the exposure of the image(which always seems to be washed out) and lock it. I cannot unfortunately choose aperture and speed manually.   
  I had to fiddle with the convergence to avoid window violation and to keep the left and right images lined up, so they don't have to be moved sideways later causing cropping on both sides.
  After running the video though Premiere to sharpen, increase contrast and color saturation, the results are actually pretty good, as shown in this side by side 3D short clip shot at a focal length of 35mm. I like the way the arm extends out in front of the window as the camera gets closer to the subjects, but it is almost too much, depending on how far one is from the screen. That is one of the problems of 3D: the further away one is from the screen, the more depth the image has.
  I repeated the same test with a 50mm focal length.
  One other problem visible at the beginning of this video is that the further back in the window the subject is, the further apart the two images are, and that requires the eyes to diverge quite a bit. That is more difficult that having them converge, which is the case when objects are in front of the window. Objects on the window plane have almost no separation.
   Therefore, it seems best to keep the main subject fairly close behind the window. Objects that entirely fit in the window can be floating in front of it, as well as protrusions(like an extended arm, a stick, etc...).
   It is also better to dolly out from a close up to a mid shot, with the convergence set for the close up(the main subject images almost line up). That way, it is easier for the eyes to diverge following the images as they separate and the subject recedes deeper into the window.

   Here is another test video dolly shot with the focal length set at a longer 85mm. The camera then goes from 22" to 48" from the subject. The lenses being 3" apart, we are still very far from the 1/30 rule, and the perspective is exaggerated, but it somehow works. 

Post 7: The Improved Adjustable Convergence 3D Camera Rig

    It took a few days to make this thing. I never actually made any drawings or blueprints for it, just got whatever mating gears I could find at the Model Shop(from RC cars), and made it up as I went. It came out pretty nice I think, aluminum with brass screws and acorn nuts. It has a bit of that steampunk look I favor:

     The convergence can be precisely adjusted and locked. On the front, I mounted the web cam that will give me a live feed in Dragon Stop Motion:

Post 6: The 3D Camera Rig

    I have been trying to figure out a reasonably cheap way to shoot both 3D stills and videos with the same camera. My previous 3D rig was pairing a Canon G11 and a G12, which were mostly similar, but didn't match. The color balance was always off, and I couldn't shoot video because the G11 didn't. And the G12 could only shoot 720p anyway.
   I tried the 3D Camileo Z100. It shot decent enough video in good light conditions, but offered no way to control and lock the exposure, and the still photos were bad.
   My G11 has gone bad and cannot shoot manual anymore. If I replaced it with a G15 or G16, I still had a mismatched set. I certainly considered getting a pair of G15's or G16's, but I feel Canon basically stripped the G12 of everything that was good (articulated LCD, manual ISO dial), only to add 1080p video. And that was $1000.
   I considered a pair of Canon Rebel T3's, which have manual video adjustment and live view that would feed directly into my Dragon Animation Software. But they are much bigger, and the larger APS sensor means less depth of field, which is critical to good 3D. Kudo for the G1X.
   So I looked at the Canon S110, which has the same sensor and processor as the G12, a larger touch screen LCD, and shoots 1080p at 24fps. It's a beautiful little camera, very solid, with a much better rear control dial than the G12 and a REALLY nice knurled front control ring with preset f stops . When shooting video, it allows compensating and locking the exposure, which is not ideal, but good enough. 
  I ordered a pair of refurbished ones on sale from Canon for $250 each, with a full 1 year warranty. To feed a live view into Dragon, I got a small Logitech HD Webcam C615(it's still hard to find one for the Mac).
  I modified my G11/12 3D mounting rig slightly to fit the new cameras and aded a bracket for the webcam. It does't fit level with the two camera lenses and is slightly in front of them, but that should be good enough for the purpose of checking the progress of stop motion animation:

  The only problem, and I realized that only after receiving them, is that they they don't have a remote release jack. I will have to shoot stills manually, or use the time release. Or better yet, I can use the touch screen release feature, which works very well, and lets you choose the focus point at the same time. For video, I can just push the buttons simultaneously and clap for synchronization. 
   As a first test, I did a dolly shot using my slide. As I am shooting close up, the adjustment of the convergence of the twin cameras  is very important. That is what makes objects appear in front or behind the window. Ideally, it should increase through the dolly as the cameras get closer to the puppets. 
  So I started building a geared contraption with a graduated dial to achieve that both for video dolly shots and stop motion animation .

Post 5: The Cast

   I don't know yet the characters my puppets are going to play, but I know that I have four old ones and a new one. They all have magnets glued to their feet, so they can hang upside down from the tin ceiling. Here they are:

   From left to right, the strong man, or the bad guy, or the bishop:

   The pretty girl, or damsel in distress:

The geek, or the pilot, the only one capable of sitting down:

    The fool, or the sidekick, or Robin Hood:

   Finally, the new one made of resin with her long legs shortened, the sad girl:

Post 4: What Kind of Set ?

  I actually don't have a specific story right now. I will have to see what I can do with the limited movements of the puppets, and the props I already have... I have been wanting to do something Steampunk for a while, and the structure of the set being steel, it could be sandblasted, etched with acid washes and rusted nicely. 
   I collected a bunch of steampunk pictures of control rooms and such for visual inspiration. I would like to make it some kind of mad scientist lab:

   or an old control room for a submarine, a ship, like the Queen Mary's deck":

 or the control room of a spaceship or a nuclear plant: 

as well as this Steampunk creation with clocks and astrolabes :

 LED's and LED picture frames could be used:

  I will cut out a couple of 6"x 12" doors in the walls, and mount them back with big rusted hinges attached with bolts or rivets. Steels strips of different width can be also riveted or bolted on both vertically and horizontally to break up the surface of the walls, like in a ship.
  Steel columns could be used also, either square or round. Portholes could be applied to the wall with a chroma green inset so video of water, skies or landscape can be added later in After Effects:

  I see a console with pipes, levers, wheels, gauges:

switches, meters, oscilloscopes, control lights, chroma green "computer screens", speaker horns, a swivel stool for my one puppet that can sit... 
  I see wiring running up and down the walls, as well as pipes, cooling coils, electrical bobbins, Caution and Danger signs, faded yellow and red stripes, similar to the prop I used in "Yellow Mama":

    I see steel trusses supporting the ceiling with zig zag bracing:

 The columns could be the same style. A corrugated roof with skylights could be laid on for up shots.
   I am thinking of Captain Nemo and the state rooms of the Nautilus, and of the organ he played:

 The small keyboard could possibly be built into the control console, and I could use the one I already made for close ups:

Post 3: Magnetically attached moving props

   I started going though my drawers and boxes full of stuff to pick objects I could use as props and animate:

 I mounted some on magnets too:

    Keep in mind that the walls being steel as well as the floor, nothing keeps stuff(or puppets) from climbing up the walls and hanging sideways or hanging upside down from the ceiling. Even larger prop units( tables, chairs, control panels, shelves, stairs, clocks, lights, pictures, etc...) can be attached with magnets to change the room into another room. 
   The objects can be easily and precisely animated in stop motion, without risk of them falling over. 
   Some long drawers will be built into the walls. A "trapdoor cage elevator" could be built into the floor to lift the puppets into a room above or below.  
  Framed chroma green or blue panels inset in the walls can be used to add video or images later in After Effects.

Post 2: A Steampunk Rusted Steel Stage Set

   The Santos came with their feet glued to woodblocks, so the first thing I did was to take them off. But then they could barely stand up. 
   I bough very strong tiny magnets, and glued three to each puppet foot, so they would stay put when placed on a sheet of steel. After toying with several set ideas(bare room with peeling paint on the walls, De Vries pen and ink set), I decided to build a whole modular steel set.
   Not only the is floor is steel, but also the four walls of the room. I used wooden "squares" left over from building the airplane fuselage to hold them in place with black duct tape on my 4ft round turntable. Any of the walls can be removed to accommodate camera position and angle, do reverse shots, etc...
   The steel "walls" and "floor" could be covered with paper, painted, draped with fabric. Or they could be left bare, sandblasted, and acid washed to a real rusted finish.
   Each wall panel will be completely assembled with applied steel strips attached with screws or rivets and "decorative" portholes before sandblasting. Steel trusses can be built to fit just over the walls and support the corrugate ceiling panel. Functional doors can be cut out and reattached with steel hinges. LCD picture panels, light fixtures, voltmeters, switches, and steampunk "control panels" could be inset in the walls. Brass and copper tubing, wiring can be added after the basic steel wall is finished. There could be steel stairs coming from" the room below" and going up to the "room above". The walls can be rearranged and modified to make a different room(the one above, or below, or next to it.
   A large clock will be built into the back wall, with some exposed gear mechanism and a pendulum.

Post 1: Another Day, Another Blog!

   Yes, believe it or not, I am starting yet a new blog dedicated to a new special project, a Steampunk Animated Short Film shot in 3D, partly video and partly stop motion animation, using the same 3D camera setup.
   It has been 3 or 4 years since I seriously played with animation. The puppets I build didn't turn out very workable, and were too large to create tabletop sets. Also, they didn't look old. As part of our obsessive collecting, we have bought over the years a lot of antique Santos from Guatemala, Mexico, Spain, and the Philippines.
  The Philippino Santos are the smallest, the more primitive and the roughest looking, and there lies their charm. Also, they are more basic, and I have a set of four about 9 to 10 inches tall, with wire arms wrapped in fabric, that I want to try to use in a short animated film.

  I don't have a scenario yet, but they look like two bad guys, a damsel in distress, and an androgynous skinny jointed character. I found a  reproduction female figure on eBay which I ordered.  
   The trick is, whatever they do will be shot in full 3D...