you are here [x]: Scarlet Star Studios > the Scarlet Letters > new armature: the man of steel
<< before
steel armature home stretch
after >>
artist's way guided intent (september)
September 6, 2006
new armature: the man of steel
by sven at 10:56 pm
Done at last! All told, after R&D was done, it took about 60 hours to complete this one. Now being able to avoid certain errors, I might be able to trim that down -- but 50 hours is probably a good estimate for the minimum amount of time that any milled armature is going to take.
What should I call the man of steel? I've considered calling this design "the Clark Kent." I've also considered calling it "the Christopher Reeve," as an homage -- but I have trouble shaking my discomfort with appropriating an actual person's name.
Oooh... The stainless steel balls move so smoothly... But the armature also holds a pose really firmly; no worries about this boy falling over. ...And this armature feels a lot sturdier, more unbreakable than the previous brass design.
Oh, yeah, steel is schweeeet!
With a fine armature in hand, you really want to get imaginative in thinking up poses. There's so much control over articulation -- you're compelled to make good use of the power.
Here's another shot that demonstrates the armature's ability to stand on one foot and lean -- without falling over. That's absolutely crucial in an armature; otherwise you can't even animate a walk. ...Which is why I always make a point of demonstrating a big lean when I debut a new 'ture.
(This shot's just a bit more graceful than the other.)
This armature's built to human proportions. But -- I don't know why -- I keep imagining it doing a creepy crawl, like a person that's turned into an animal.
The blueprint for the "man of steel" is almost identical to the one that I used for my previous brass armature. However, steel is a whole 'nother world: the process for making this 'ture had next-to-nothing in common with the previous one. In fact, almost nothing that I described in my "how to make a brass ball-jointed armature" tutorial turns out to be applicable here.
Even so, this project was far easier for my having worked in brass first.
Hm. Seeing these two side-by-side sort of reminds me of the gold and silver C3PO units that you see at the beginning of "Star Wars: A New Hope" in the blockade runner...
(Sorry. I couldn't resist.)
posted by sven | September 6, 2006 10:56 PM | categories: stopmo