Animatronics Experimenters Kit- Part 2- How to Program

[er10b]

Gary sounds exactly like Mr Mackey, and that 'drugs are bad' reminded me exactly of him.

Made my day.

[teentitansfan2011]

it would be cool if you can make this with a rock a fire mask like Billy bob or fatz

[hypstarr]

How could you control more than one motion? For example, make the mouth open and signal another activator to make the head move. Can different tones make a difference?

[hypstarr]

Could this be set up to run a short program when a switch is activated? It seems that the cassette needs to be rewound, or would need to play through entirely. Is there a way to run a short segment, like one minute, then re-set itself and be ready to go again?

[fanprograms]

@hypstarr Yes indeed. You could run this off of many possible playback devices as long as it is stereo. You could play it from an mp3 player, a pc, etc. You might choose to use a playback device that is switch activated and able to store a small clip rather that is setup to run from an external trigger. This is the sort of thing I help my experimenters with personally when they buy the kit.

Aaron

[RabbitDance]

HMMM looks neato... :o)

[PHILANTHAS]

arron want song are you playing in is video

[zeppidy]

I wonder if you could use midi signals for multiple movements...if you had many more actions I spose that could work quite well

[fanprograms]

Yes, you probably could make that work. I hope this kit inspires you to experiment with all of your own ideas like this. That's why it's called the "Experimenter's Kit" You may figure out how to do something all by yourself when you have the kit to start with.

[starrfisher]

Looks like fun.

[Flashkidgotsuspended]

Answer: Servos wear out easily and are really only good for small movements such as eyelids. Besides, for as quick of movements as that mouth makes, servos wouldn't be able to be fast enough. I hope that helps!

FK

[tears4forfears]

How do you buy this kit...how much for the kit?

[fanprograms]

animatronics101

[fanprograms]

dot com

[GeraldWatercrest]

A question for you, Mr. Fechter:

Could you give us some more specifications on the PC software included with the AEK? Is it a tutorial? Tech demos? A program to help sync up sound? I'm very curious.

[fanprograms]

Yes..I will answer this in one of the chapters I am videotaping as well. No software for the PC comes with the kit. None is needed. If you want to use the PC to improve the quality of your shows, either in the audio production itself or the programming accuracy you can use any audio capture and mixing program of your choice. I recommend and use Mixcraft. It costs about $50 and does amazing things that even my $100,000 studio equipment didn't do in the 80's.

Aaron

[GeraldWatercrest]

The 2nd part of the AEK FAQ on your website mentions some kind of software...maybe I misread it.

Thanks for your response. I'll look into some of that audio software.

[fanprograms]

Thanks for catching that error! It should have said that enhanced programming of the head could be accomplished with audio editing software that is NOT included with the kit, but that I would include a demonstrate of how to use audio editing software in conjunction with the kit, yads yada yada...

I strongly urge everyone to use Mixcraft so that I can give detailed instructions to you. Plus, it's dirt cheap and works great!

HOwever, any audio editor will work if you know how to use it.

[fanprograms]

A little more info on this:

You use the software to create your show audio track and then you can edit your tones in the same program to precisely control the mouth movements. If and when you expand beyond one control signal to control other things, you can mix the tones required to control multilple movements with the same ausio mixing software and actually see the control signal waveforms in Mixcraft adjacent to the audio track.

Aaron

[Flashkidgotsuspended]

My audio editor (Audacity) can generate tones when you enter the Hertz. What are the hertz for the tone?

FK

[KateisGrate]

ROFLMFAO!!!! THIS IS AMAZING!!! You are SO funny AARON!!!! Using Zep in the beginning is SO AWESOME!!! YOU ROCK!!!

[surfingthechaos]

Oh my god! I didn't know that you were actually going to address my question and reference me in your next video. That was so awesome! I literally jumped out of my chair. Thank you. That made my day. By the way Aaron, did you get the message I sent you?

[fanprograms]

Yes!! Good question at the right time! If anyone else has questions, go ahead and send them to me. I still have about 5 chapters left to make for the DVD, and I may overlook the best questions. Yes..I got your message and will get to answer you personally ASAP!

Aaron

[surfingthechaos]

Thanks. You are awesome.

[GeraldWatercrest]

Wow, awesome work again. Thanks for explaining how the tone signal works...I was wondering the same thing.

These demo videos are making me very, very tempted to buy this kit.

[cyrax619]

where do you get the kit

[fanprograms]

There's a link in the text description to the web site. YouTube won't let me put a link in these comments, I guess.

[Flashkidgotsuspended]

In about 2006 or 2007 they stopped allowing URLs in the comments because of the constant spam, viral, and shock websites that were being linked. If that answers your problem. :)

FK