Technologically Overwhelmed

[Zombie-F]

If you have your heart set on a scissor lift mechanism, you may need to use pneumatics. The lift itself will have quite a bit of weight to it + the weight of the figure and all the stuff inside of it could make finding a motor to do this very expensive.

In terms of control, everything you're outlining could be done with a Prop-1, Picaxe or Arduino. Prop-1 is nice because you won't need to do much in terms of circuit design since it's an out-of-the-box ready-ready-to-go product.

A Picaxe would be my choice, but it's a little more involved to build if you don't stick with the 18M2 and it's prototype board.

[Dead Things]

The Picaxe has worked well for me, they are inexpensive and with the correct project board, you can switch 12VDC items (solenoids, etc).
http://www.sparkfun.com/products/8330
The big thing with it is programming. If you send me a PM I can send a Word doc I made up from a series of emails between Steve O and myself in which he explains programming. The Picaxe forum has been very helpful as well.

[Zombie-F]

I can also be of help with the programming of the Picaxes. I personally find them easier to work with than the EFX-TEK boards.

[Tokwik]

Originally Posted by fritz42_male

When programming a prop even using a key banger it is sensible to draw a timeline of what you want to happen and when.

Thanks, that's a really good idea. As of right now, everything is still conceptual and I wasn't sure exactly what I was going to do. The graph may help in figuring out what I am going to need the controller to do.

Originally Posted by Zombie-F

If you have your heart set on a scissor lift mechanism, you may need to use pneumatics.

I'm not set on a scissor lift, it's just that's the only thing I have built in the past. Trying to keep weight down as much as possible. The plan right now is an articulated aluminum frame supporting a fiberglass shell. I've got a couple spare Dayton motors so I was going to try to incorporate one(or both) into the lifting mechanism. Going to be a smaller figure, so maybe a two foot throw? I don't know yet. Pretty much from a sitting to a standing position. Not going from prone.

Originally Posted by Zombie-F

In terms of control, everything you're outlining could be done with a Prop-1, Picaxe or Arduino. Prop-1 is nice because you won't need to do much in terms of circuit design since it's an out-of-the-box ready-ready-to-go product..

That's my problem in a nutshell!
Like I stated, this will be my first "controlled" prop and trying to read about each individual option gets overwhelming. It looks like everything will work, but what is best for a beginner programmer? All the boards seem similar, but then I get lost when it gets to the programming parts.

Give me a wiring diagram and I could physically build and solder a board without batting an eye. Wiring the electronics is the easy part for me.
Writing the code to make it work..... well... no experience.

Originally Posted by Dead Things

The big thing with it is programming. If you send me a PM I can send a Word doc I made up from a series of emails between Steve O and myself in which he explains programming. The Picaxe forum has been very helpful as well.

That may be extremely helpful. Consider a PM on its way.



Thanks again for all your inputs. I guess I need to review the Picaxe starter kits again.

[Zombie-F]

For an absolute beginner who wants to actually learn about programming and not just using a controller that records a series of button presses, I'd stick with the Prop-1 from EFX-TEK. It's a great starting off point that you can learn from and move on to more complicated controllers (if you are so interested). You can find tons of help on using it both here as well as help from EFX-TEK's forums. I've even seen them write code for users in the past when they were having extreme difficulty.

[Tokwik]

The programming is definitely going to be the difficult part for me. Thankfully it looks like that there are plenty of people out there willing to help.

If I have to learn programming anyways, would it be more beneficial to get a prop-2 with more I/O lines? Would the code be more difficult to figure out?
I figure I could run individual power to everything, and just use the controller to supply signal voltage.

Still conceptional and in the planning stages...
4-6 servos
1-2 dayton gear motors
1 audio track not synced (moans, grunts, etc)
Few lights (maybe LED, maybe spot)

I may need to split the lights and audio onto a separate controller to make life easier. Or would that make it worse?

The more I visualize it, the more complex it gets.

[Zombie-F]

The prop-2 programming is quite a bit different. The language for both is derived from BASIC programming, but the prop-2 (which is written in PBASIC2) has a lot more commands and in some ways can be easier to work with. Don't underestimate the power of the Parallax help files... they are very helpful in programming as they give great examples.

A prop-1 will not be adequate for all of what you're thinking of unless you offload the servo control to an external servo control board (pololu's micro maestro would be good). I would recommend that anyhow. The Prop-1 also has a tiny memory footprint so you couldn't have a particularly long program.

A Prop-2 would probably be your best bet for this, though I would still consider offloading the servo control to an external board.

[Tokwik]

The more I research, the more I learn how much there is to learn.

To first answer the question about length of program, I'm thinking somewhere around the 30 sec mark. Not sure, but I don't plan on it being too long in duration.

Secondly, I ordered a Picaxe 18M kit and am probably going to order a prop-1 or 2 kit also.
I figure I'll use whichever one I can figure out first. Both controllers seem to have excellent support and recommendations. After making this jump into "controlled" props, I foresee needing more controllers in the future so it's not like they are going to go to waste.

This is by far going to be the most complex prop I have ever attempted. Everyone's insight is greatly appreciated.