# Black Agnes (my Cauldron Witch)



## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Progress is slowly being made but progress none the less. I've completed the armature, installed the motors, and wired her up. She's far from ready for wardrobe but I'm fairly satisfied with how she's working so far.

I took some pics of the progress so I could share:





































You'll notice that there's two motors in the armature. One does the usual head side to side turning. The second rocks the inner PVC cage to create a nodding effect. Gives it a nice two-axis effect which I can't take any credit for - was inspired Halloween Propmaster's 2-axis reindeer motor skull design (http://www.halloweenpropmaster.com/u-built_it.htm).

By Tuesday I should have my materials in to start the hack on the Gemmy Skulls which I'll be using for her head (with a mask of course).

I plan on doing the cauldron much later this summer so I can spend more time working on Beatrix (which should be pretty easy except the face).

-TM


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

sweet like to see the movement on a vid


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## Bloodhound (Oct 16, 2007)

Nice job on the frame work. To qoute pyro: "like to see the movement on a vid"


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## midnight_moon (Apr 28, 2008)

very nice job!
gonna look nice when it's done i bet


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

As requested, some video...










-TM


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## slimy (Jul 12, 2006)

Good looking movement.


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## Revenant (Mar 17, 2007)

Ya know, you and HPM have such smooth good-looking movement from this 2-axis setup I think when I finally do an animated head I'm going to just go with that instead of attempting all that complex 3-axis servo stuff. For the money, it looks awesome.

But I was thinking... to get enough excursion room for that base to swing out, you need a lot of front-back depth on the torso. Would it work to shorten the swing and the motor's lever arm and add a weight to the swing to keep the head balanced? Or do ya think it would overpower the reindeer motor?


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Thanks Rev. You're right about the depth of the torso and smaller movements are best. I tried to get mostly back swing going and took advantage of the Witch hunched shoulders to get a little more room. Besides with this sort of prop you wouldn't want to do large movement anyways because it would draw to much attention to it.

As for the motors I don't think the Reindeer would work to well like you were saying without some sort of counterweight (they just don't have that much torque). I used the ones Jabberwocky and Dave the Dead use from this thread (http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=10750) - torque is just not an issue with those little guys.

This solutions (at least for me) is definitely the most bang for the buck. While the 3-axis servos are really great and a lot more flexible. But as you know with more power comes more complexity. So it's really all a matter of what you want to do. I'm not all that crazy about programming all the little details... It's what keeps me in Photoshop versus say 3DStudioMax - why I drive automatic versus standard 

-TM


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## scourge999 (May 4, 2008)

The movment is perfect. Very scary looking. Thanks for the videos.


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

Very nice indeed. I always enjoy alternative ways to animate, and this one in particular. Nice job!


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## Lady Nyxie (Aug 30, 2006)

I don't think my entire house has that much plumbing.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

I'm all about the plumbing - err PVC


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Dr Morbius said:


> Very nice indeed. I always enjoy alternative ways to animate, and this one in particular. Nice job!


Thanks Doc, the work you and HeresJohnny did with the Gemmy Skulls is gonna pay off for me on this prop, can't wait to get her fired up with sound. I'm throwing in a 4066 switch chip in there to see if I can get the eyes to stay solid while she's talking. Should have something working by tomorrow or Wednesday evening with that (albeit on the breadboard). When I do, I'll get a vid up.

-TM


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

Terrormaster said:


> Thanks Doc, the work you and HeresJohnny did with the Gemmy Skulls is gonna pay off for me on this prop, can't wait to get her fired up with sound. I'm throwing in a 4066 switch chip in there to see if I can get the eyes to stay solid while she's talking. Should have something working by tomorrow or Wednesday evening with that (albeit on the breadboard). When I do, I'll get a vid up.
> 
> -TM


Have you thought about using a prop1 to make the eyes come on at selct times? Like when casting a spell? That's what mine will do, only I'll be using VSA.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Trying to keep her simple Doc. Too lazy to program a Prop 1... Maybe next year I'll take her up a notch.

-TM


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## Haunted Wolf (Apr 18, 2007)

Terrormaster said:


> Thanks Doc, the work you and HeresJohnny did with the Gemmy Skulls is gonna pay off for me on this prop
> -TM


OK, I'm catching up on posts and I can't find this one? Anyone have a link?


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## PropMaster (Oct 11, 2006)

*Prop Evolution...nice work!*

Very nice evolution (modification/improvement) on my original design!

I can't wait to see the completed finished prop!

PropMaster


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## Scary Godmother (Oct 13, 2007)

Looking good Terrormaster! I can't wait to see the finished product.:laughvil:


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Haunted Wolf said:


> OK, I'm catching up on posts and I can't find this one? Anyone have a link?


Ask and ye shall receive... http://www.hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=6652

-TM


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

PropMaster said:


> Very nice evolution (modification/improvement) on my original design!
> 
> I can't wait to see the completed finished prop!
> 
> PropMaster


Thanks... Some folks say I'm a hack but I'm always looking for ways to improve or evolve things to the next level.

I think once I get over the issues I'm having with the Scary Terry audio driver circuit I can move forward.

-TM


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## RacerX45 (Apr 13, 2008)

Nothing hack about what you are doing. Your making it less complicated for us newbies to animated props and using readily available materials like pvc. Heck, I for one plan to use your design as a basis for some of the things I'd like to do this year. Thanks!!

Randy


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Updated video coming... Depends on how long it takes me to upload 33mb to youtube.

-TM


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Here's the first draft dress rehearsal, sans makeup of course. The mouth animation needs to be tweaked slightly. I have the circuit wired where the eyes are not in sequence with the audio - so thats intentional. Still got a long ways to go. Gonna change out the color of LEDs in the eyes and need to tweak the eye flash circuit further. I really didn't like the default pulsing in sequence to the sound thing.






Sorry for the shaky cam - Michael Bay would be proud 

-TM


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

OOooo..very nice work! The motion is really good!


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

smooooooooooooooooooooooooth


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

That is really neat..
great job
I c what you mean on the flash circuit but it still looks and sounds great.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Doc, you asked in another thread why I paid so much for PVC - figured I'd follow up here as to not hijack the other thread. $60 was the total for most of what I needed that day at Home Depot which was primarily PVC. Here's a quick summary of what I bought and what I paid to give a rough estimate of what went into this prop so far:

PVC Pipe 1" x 10' $3.08 3 $ 9.24
PVC L Connector 1" $0.48 10 $ 4.80
PVC T Connector 1" $0.57 20 $11.40
PVC X Connector 1" (cross) $2.13 1 $ 2.13
PVC L Connector 1" (45deg) $0.42 2 $ 0.84
PVC 1" to 3/4" Reducer Bushing	$1.65 7 $ 11.55
PVC Pipe 3/4" x 10' $1.99 1 $ 1.99
PVC L Connector 3/4" (10 pack)	$2.40 1 $ 2.40
PVC T Connector 3/4" (10 pack)	$2.88 1 $ 2.88

Looking back it was more like 48 because my original spreadsheet included two reindeer motors (which got replaced with the DC motors from Electronics Goldmine) which at $9 each added $18 to the phase 1 total (which is where I got $65 from).

-TM


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## Sickie Ickie (Jun 20, 2006)

Terror, most of us are familiar with the simple armatures, so I think that's what threw him for a loop. heh


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## Ms. Wicked (Nov 14, 2006)

Wow - the motion really is fantastic! I really like this!


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## beelce (Jul 21, 2007)

Yep ....Nice work...Looking great so far


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## Lotus (Nov 12, 2004)

Wow nice work


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## Lotus (Nov 12, 2004)

I want you to bring this prop to a make and take for show and tell


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## Silent Requiem (Feb 17, 2008)

cool! it looks like a really sturdy frame.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Started sculpting the face over the skull. Made an interesting discovery about the Gemmy skulls in the process of prepping. Evidently you can adjust the tension of the jaw spring quite easily. The spring is pinned in the last loosest hole and covered with hot glue. If you pop off the hot glue the tension can be tightened to two other settings. I'll get pics of the tension holes up later. But here are progress pics of the sculpt - it's just the first layer of Celluclay without much detail work. I'll go over it again with Paperclay to sculpt the details like wrinkles and warts, etc. This is my first sculpting attempt so be kind 




























-TM


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## dynoflyer (Oct 8, 2006)

She's looking good, TM!


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## bourno (Jan 21, 2006)

catching up on some posts.

Excellent work there Terrormaster. I like it a lot.


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## Spid3r3lla (Jul 3, 2008)

Indeed one of the best movement I've seen, and ya gotta love that its not insanely expensive.


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## pyro (Oct 7, 2006)

o ya this is coming out sweet....


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Update - added details with Paperclay: eyelids, creases, some wrinkles, extended the nose a bit, lips, and moles.




























-TM


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## Dr Morbius (Sep 21, 2004)

Lookin sweet! I have a question I forgot to ask before, with your armature PVC...What bushings are you using to fit the smaller diameter pipes in the 1"?


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Dr Morbius said:


> Lookin sweet! I have a question I forgot to ask before, with your armature PVC...What bushings are you using to fit the smaller diameter pipes in the 1"?


Doc, I used the 1" to 3/4" bushing from the electrical department.

-TM


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Sculpt Update - she's all painted up.



















She just needs to be sealed. The final coats were water based acrylics. I know it needs to be sealed else when she gets wet it'll be worse than mascara. I'm open to suggestion for sealing agents - preferably something I can spray on. Also, should I cover the eyes and teeth while sealing or just spray her down?

After sealing I plan to cut some hair off the wig and glue on some big bushy eyebrows.

-TM


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## NickG (Sep 12, 2006)

the nod is a nice touch!


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## Mr Unpleasant (May 24, 2006)

Great job! It's interesting to see the evolution of this prop as different people add on to it. I definately like the added motion of the head.


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## Silent Requiem (Feb 17, 2008)

That's your first sculpt? WOW!


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

I remembered seeing that video with the two motors and thought it would be perfect for a witch. It looks great and you did a terrific job on the sculpt!

Can't wait to see the completed prop!


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Did a quick dress rehearsal yesterday just to see how it would look. Sorry, no vid as I don't have the skull rewired yet after sculpting.



















Also, here's some audio I put together with pretty shweet little app called MorphVox. I had only to do some minor cleaning in post with SoundForge. Added a little reverb and some background sfx for the cauldron. It's essentially the MacBeth witches with a little creative license at the beginning 

http://digitalnecropolis.com/audio/tm-macbeth-witches.mp3

-TM


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## Lilly (Jun 13, 2006)

wow I like that version of the MacBeth..great job
she looks great..


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## Bloodhound (Oct 16, 2007)

She is looking very good and the audio, you did an excellent job on too...


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## midnight_moon (Apr 28, 2008)

SSShhhhweet! Although, I'm not sure what to use to seal her.


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Here's another audio clip I did using the lyrics from Nox Arcana's track Conjuration from the CD Grimm Tales. The voice I'm using is the same but her tone is a bit more sinister with this one.

http://digitalnecropolis.com/audio/tm-conjuration.mp3

-TM


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

She looks/sounds awesome. 

Wow, you have made so much progress and all I've done is prime my cauldron! It looks like the only difference from what I was planning is I'm using a Dougie for the eyes/mouth. 

I saw the link where reindeer ones were used awhile back and had planned to go that direction as well. They appeared to work OK in the video. Did you use reindeer motors and it didn't work well or did you go straight to the other motors? Not sure I follow what caused you to go with different motors. I've only slaughtered one Christmas deer thus far so if the other motors are better, I'm use them instead.

Thanks and again, she looks wonderful!


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Thanks Daphne - I still haven't even started on my cauldron yet so sounds like we're coming at it from opposite directions. I originally wanted to use a Dougie myself sheerly for the eyes alone. But because I already had the skulls and it wasn't very cost economical to acquire (if at all) a Dougie these days I went with the skulls.

I've used reindeer motors in other props. But went with these for 3 reasons really: cost, torque, and DC powered making them easier to program later down the line. They do require a little more work connecting up the shaft compared to the reindeer motors but it's worth it.

Also, you don't need to slaughter your reindeer for their motors. Those neat little buggers can be picked up here: http://www.cwebdirect.com/andeermot.html or with the CAM kit here: http://www.cwebdirect.com/pivetarm.html

-TM


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

I bought the Dougie on ebay last year and if my husband ever finds out how much I spent, both the tree and I will end up in my display! Since, I am confident that I have no prayer of finishing my witch this year either, my oldest daughter has asked if she can do it this year! She had a blast as an actor last year. That should mess people up when the stirring witch takes off after them this year and just stands there next year!

I didn't know you could buy reindeer motors separately until after I bought and dressed a deer last year. Thanks for the links.

Where did you get your motors? Sounds like you have found a better alternative. I have the Bride of Power with wiper motor from Monster guts but that seems like overkill for this.

Thanks Terrormaster!


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

These are the motors I used: http://www.goldmine-elec-products.com/prodinfo.asp?number=G16034

There's a thread here on them too someplace - I'll locate it and post a link.

EDIT: Found it: http://hauntforum.com/showthread.php?t=10750

-TM


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## Daphne (Oct 18, 2006)

Thank you so much for both links Terrormaster! I really appreciate it!


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## cerinad (Jun 23, 2008)

Wow! That's wonderfull.. Great Work..


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## consultlkr (Sep 9, 2008)

Terrormaster - My hat's off to you. This is a really cool work and the sculpting is definately not "amateurish". I can't wait to see the final video!


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Finally, with two weeks to go, I got to work on the cauldron. I built a small PVC frame that sits at the bottom which supports the mini-strobes, the stirring motor, and some other fx lighting.

Here's a quick preview of the frame:


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## Terrormaster (Sep 27, 2007)

Cauldron almost done - just some minor painting touch ups - first forray into using Great Stuff, glad I used gloves.










Open to suggestion on any additional ornamenting on it.


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