Animoko presented at ibc2009

kommer animoko

by Kommer Kleijn

animoko motion control rig was presented at ibc 2009

In 2006 I designed a concept for a low cost and light-wight Motion Control rig specifically for stop frame animation. It was first ordered by the “La Cambre” animation film school in Brussels and build by Marc Roberts Motion control in the U.K. It was presented in Brussels on december 11th, 2008 and I called it the ANIMOKO. It is a MRMC development based on a rig concept from me.

The rig can move cameras of up to 1 (one) kilogram so no 35mm Mitchells here but perfect for digital cameras like SLR Digital still cameras and digital “cube” cameras. The rig has very high precision (comparable to that of a Milo!) but is cheap, small and slow. It is not fit for live action shooting and lacks the speed, stiffness, hight and accellaration capabilities of the Milo, but for most Stop Motion Animation shots those features are not actually needed :-). The result is a rig that has much lower cost, is easy to move and install and can be also be used very safely. Besides for puppet and clay animation, the rig can be very useful for movements on models as well as product shots.

The goals of the design are these:

– Targetting performance to what is needed in animation only, in order to better adapt to animation production and loose cost and weight and gain securety.
– Small enough to fit into tight animation studios. Passes a standard doorway without dismantling.
– Lower cost making Motion Control a more economicly viable option for animation projects given the sometimes moderate budgets and the fact that the equipment is ideally needed for long periods.
– Lightweight and on wheels: can be easily installed and used by a single person!
– All motors are slow and/or weak enough to be unable to hurt someone. This is important because it allows us to leave it working alone with an animator without the need for the continuous presence of a qualified motion control technician and this without fear for damage or injuries. The continuous need for a qualified operator has sometimes caused an economic problem for animation shoots. This rig is unable to hurt someone and can be left alone even with film students without additional supervision.
– The rig can operate without track, the function being performed by the extend axis. This greatly simplifies installation of the rig and also helps to avoid limiting the working space for the animatiors. No need to level a track, no track or carriage in the way. Just level the feet of the rig and you are ready to program your move and shoot. A track can be added though as an option if needed for long shots. But for a majority of shots the rig can be installed very quickly just on its feet. The motorized extendable arm also allows to enter sets more easily with the small cameras allowing for compelling shots that are easy to set up and avoid the need of expesive and cumbersome periscope/boroscope lens systems that were needed for this in the 35mm days.
– Even without a track and in spite of the small size and cost this is a full 3D target tracking rig with 6 axis (plus optional axis that can be added). Target tracking is a big help to simplify movement setup. The rig provides all the neccessary axis for FLAIR to be able to perform full target tracking and carthesian XYZ functions. Other smaller solutions like a-head-on-a-track generally do not allow for 3D target tracking. The rig concept allows the full use of the facilities of the MRMC FLAIR program, FLAIR being one of the most user friendly and most performant Motion Control control systems on the market today. The 3D capabilities of the rig also allow to use the FLAIR XYZ CGI integration facilities to its full extend. Moves can be exported too and imported from CGI packages to ease integration of puppet animation or models and CGI. The Animoko is proposed as a complete system including a complete and pre-configured FLAIR system.
– Scaling compatibility with f.e. in combination with a Milo: A life action shot made on a Milo can be imported into the Animoko computer and then be scaled down to shoot a perfectly corresponding shot on a miniature set, perfectly matching the Milo life action shoot in compositing.
– Competitive price. By targeting the performances to what is needed on contemporary animation shoots, you can have quite a few of these for the price of one Milo :-).

The goal of this undertaking is to make complex camera moves more easily accessable in actual animation production. Many animated movies in Belgium and surrounding countries could not afford to use Motion Control at all because most rigs need the precence of a qualified operator, are often too expensive to rent for prolonged periods, and sometimes simply could not fit in the confined studio spaces at all ….. My wish and motivation for this is the hope to see animated movies to have their cameras move more often and more freely 🙂 (I am a BIG fan of animated movies, both those I shot and those I didn’t :-))

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