Stop Motion rigging

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I am going to be starting a stop motion short soon, and was wondering if there are any decent tips on rigging bipeds. By rigging I mean pinning the feet, as well as balancing or suspending them in mid-air for run cycles and what not. The skeleton will be about 12 inches high and made from brass and steel more than likely, so there will be some heft to support, more than I have worked with in the past. I have used a setup that utilized a marionette type suspension system, but that was a bit "loose," and have also done a foot pinning system, but the problem there is that it leaves holes in the set, not a big deal really, I guess the main question is what type of materials should be used for the floor, wood, homasote, etc. Any tips on foot design would be welcome as well. Thanks.

Wooh, that's clever, DSB. Thanks for sharing...

That sounds exciting.
These are two popular stop-motion sites. At least one of them has a forum.

http://www.stopmotionanimation.com
http://www.stopmotionworks.com

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The making of documentary on the DVD of the original King Kong talks about the anchoring, and stop motion in general, quite a bit. They just use wingnuts and bolts, and a wooden table with holes drilled in it.

It seems like if you paint your rods to roughly match what's behind them, and make sure they're in a different place every frame, they'd be hard to notice. I'm also really curious about the possibility of just letting them show, then CGing them out in post. I've never done it, though.

Another consideration is just using more close-ups. How would you shoot this movie if it was with live actors? Hanging on wide shots is usually just dull. And it's actually making a lot of work for yourself if you're animating, and have to work continuously until each shot is finished.

The fun is in finding creative ways to do it. Often what may look like a background prop is a support in disguise. It's like being a magician. There are several basic tricks, but you keep alternating them so the audience doesn't get wise.

Thanks for the replies, the links are particularly useful. It is becoming apparent that pre-production is going to have to be at Coen bros. level- everything will have to be meticulously planned out, just like real life animation. :D Time to start grinding.

I went to a stop-motion presentation once where they talked about a low-tech way to fly a puppet and minimize post-production touchup.

The puppet is suspended on monofilament fishing line, and once it's settled into it's new pose, the animator would hold a, um, "woman's personal gratification device" to the line out of the shot as the frame was exposed. The movement was enough to blur the fishing line (effectively making it disappear), but not enough to cause vibration in the puppet.

There it is; the most bizarre animation tip I've ever heard. Use as you see fit...