# Better than Madame Leota: A New Adventure in Projection Effects



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

UPDATE 8/5/2013: It's done!





Some of you may have heard rumblings of a replacement in the works for the DIY Madame Leota projection effect I helped popularize a few years ago. Well, it's very close to complete, so I thought I'd share the progress.

I had two main issues with the Madame Leota effect. 1) It's Disney's, so it would never be truly "mine," no matter how well I replicated it. 2) It's practically impossible to replicate it perfectly, since, though the video is easy to find, projecting Leota's face onto anything but her actual head will result in some funky distortion.

The solution: build my own version from the ground up.

*It starts with the head.*

The head form that I project onto needs to actually be the head of the actress in the projection video. So I made a plaster lifecast of her head, which comes out like this:









And then I modified it to suit a projected face, reducing detail to what needs to be there to register the face properly, and removing what would get in the way.









But I don't want to project on a heavy plaster head form. I want a lightweight copy of it.

So it was time to build a vacuum forming table.

.


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

I don't know about you, but I've always wanted a vacuum forming machine. You take a sheet of plastic, heat it up, and shrink-wrap it over an object you want to copy. If I had a dollar for every time I could have simplified a project by running off a thin plastic shell of something...well, I would have saved up enough to build one. So I figured, that's a silly statistic, and I built one anyway.










I'll be using the kitchen oven to heat the plastic, so I only needed to make the vacuum table. The table is actually a box that hooks up to my shop vac, so it sucks the softened plastic down. It's 2' square, with a pegboard top, 1x2 sides, and plywood for the bottom. The legs are 2' 2x4s.









I found a PVC fitting that fits my shop vac hose perfectly. It's some kind of reducer that I just adhered with caulk over a hole in the middle of the plywood.









It hooks up like this.









These are the frames that will hold the plastic. Aluminum window screen frame stock made into 12 x 16" frames with L brackets and Gorilla Glue for good measure. They'll get clamped on either side of the plastic sheet.









Like that.


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

If you've been watching the numbers, you'll have noticed that my frames are smaller than my table. I'm taping off the holes in the extra area of the table. I wanted to make it bigger than I needed for future projects.

*So, here's how I put it to use.
*
Put the head form (called a "buck" in vacuum forming) on the table. The paint sticks are guides so I can put the frame into the right place.









Then take the heated plastic out of the oven, press the frame down until the vacuum suction engages, and bam! A split second later, I have a lightweight, plastic head form to project onto.









*Next time: prepping the video.*


----------



## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

Well it is looking great so far. Will be glad to see the finished product.


----------



## sharpobject (May 7, 2008)

Wow - I had no idea how easy it seems to make your own vacuum forming table. I'm looking forward to seeing the video. Great job!!


----------



## studiokraft (Feb 7, 2012)

I saw a much smaller homemade vacuum forming rig in a video about making animatronics, it was being used to form eyelids, and he used a BBQ grill to heat the smaller pieces of plastic. Nice to see that it can be scaled up as well! Awesome job!


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

You are one talented creative guy, Mr C!


----------



## DoomBuddy (Mar 1, 2009)

Excellent great idea can't wait to see how it turns out. I will have to put this on my long list of must do.


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

I've seen this done on Face-Off but never thought it would be something you could do at home. Leave it to you! Where do you get sheets of thin white plastic like that?


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks guys.

I get the plastic sheets from an industrial plastic supplier near me. I recommend setting aside a few hours to research on Instructables if you're considering building a vacuum former yourself. There are a lot of different designs out there. Mine is an amalgam of some of the ones that made the most sense to me, and there was a lot of trial and error before getting a useable casting.


----------



## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Very cool Mr C!


----------



## Spooky1 (Aug 25, 2008)

Mr. Chicken, is there anything you can't do?


----------



## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

uh... wow.. I have no idea what is going on here, but I am seriously impressed.  Seriously.


----------



## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Nice inexpensive rig you put together Mr.Chicken.
That works pretty darn good!
Real nice job!


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

A little teaser from the shoot today...









This isn't how the actual video will be edited, but it'll give you an idea...


----------



## [email protected] (Aug 25, 2012)

This is going to be good...


----------



## The Watcher (Sep 13, 2008)

Looks really good


----------



## BioHazardCustoms (Aug 5, 2009)

Awesome work on the Vacu-form table, Mr. C! Can't wait to see the finished projection effect!


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

So that photo is of the model's face projected onto the casting?


----------



## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

Looking good Mr. C. Can't wait for video of the actual projection!


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

THanks, guys!


RoxyBlue said:


> So that photo is of the model's face projected onto the casting?


Not yet. That's just a still frame of the video itself.


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Editing, Compositing, and Sound Design

Lots to do, but it's getting closer!

Here, have a screenshot.









Whaa?? What's she doing way down there in the bottom of the frame?? Hmm....


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Gravity - that's why she's at the bottom of the frame


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Bahaha!


----------



## heresjohnny (Feb 15, 2006)

Okay, you have my full attention. I hope you don't mind some questions.

What software are you using? Is that just for editing, or does it also warp the final image so it appears correctly on the armature? 

When you adjust the image to fit the armature, how closely do you model the actual armature?

Is your goal to produce a high quality madame leota effect by recreating the armature and video from the same model, or are you planning an enhancement to the effect?

Regardless, this is a fascinating project, and I am looking forward to more progress. Thanks for sharing!


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

1. What you're looking at there is After Effects. That's what I do all the visual effects and adjustments in. Final Cut Pro (7) is my video editor, and it does a fine job of sound design for something like this, too.

2. I'm not sure what you mean?

3. You'll just have to wait and see.


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Ran some tests last night. There's tweaking to be done, but it's very close.









You didn't think I'd post a picture with the projector on yet, did you?


----------



## RoxyBlue (Oct 6, 2008)

Ya tease!:jol:


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

It's done!





There's a thread in the Sponsor and Vendor forum about the kits, so lets keep that part of the discussion over there.


----------



## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

Amazing! You hit it out of the park Mr C!!!


----------



## Death Master (Jul 1, 2007)

A outstanding job!


----------



## CreeepyCathy (Mar 28, 2009)

WOW! WOW! WOW! love that!!


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

Thanks guys! It took a lot of trial and error, but I'm really pleased with how it turned out.


----------



## Mr_Chicken (Nov 26, 2008)

I did a quick demo last night on thinking outside the box with this effect by embedding the face in a tombstone. Plus, a demo with a $40 projector:


----------



## Sawtooth Jack (Apr 9, 2011)

Mr. C, that is just awesome. Truly professional haunt effect...kudos!


----------



## Wyatt Furr (Jun 5, 2006)

Very nice work. What the folks on this forum can come up with are truly amazing.


----------

