# Animated Skeleton Fish



## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

In my continuing effort to animate as many of my props as possible, I've gotten my skeleton fish to move as he struggles to get off the line. Here he is in this years Pirate display as a static prop -










Click on the link below to see what he'll look like next year although he still needs some painting -






He has a micro servo attached to the center of his back and it's controlled by Fritz42's designed VLC picaxe controller which I hope to install in the head of the fish.
*
See post 17 for the video of the completed fish!*


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## Otaku (Dec 3, 2004)

Love it! Great effect, Steve - he really looks like he's trying to spit out that hook.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

That's awesome! Great effect and a wonderful prop.

I'm going to have a look at making a mini-VLC using the surface mount stuff - that would get the size right down but for something like this, you don't really even need a board - just program the Picaxe up and solder directly to the legs!

EDIT:
Actually it's probably not worth me building a Surface Mount VLC - The Polulu Micro Maestro is very small and would do more! http://www.pololu.com/catalog/product/1350


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## bobzilla (Nov 13, 2008)

That fish kicking is kick A$$!!! I have a mint in box Billy Bones...hint,hint


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

bobzilla said:


> That fish kicking is kick A$$!!! I have a mint in box Billy Bones...hint,hint


Thanks!
I'm sure we can figure out how to get yours moving too when you have the time!


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## psyko99 (Jan 11, 2008)

That's an awesome effect.


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## kprimm (Mar 14, 2009)

Ha ha Love it, that is a very cool skele fish.


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## SuperCreep31 (Nov 22, 2009)

that's sweet! it looks so real! by the way...where did you get that fish if you don't mind sharing


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Bobzilla found it at the Swap meet and got it for me. It's a great find.
I love it!


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Here's a picture of the head of the fish with the original mechanics removed and the micro controller and it's power supply installed. Now all I will have to do is run the servo power supply wire up the fishing line.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Hmm if you ditched the board and soldered a picaxe chip in, I reckon you could squeeze a 9g jaw movement servo in there as well!


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## Lunatic (Oct 3, 2006)

Nice prop Halstaf! Great effect!


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

fritz42_male said:


> Hmm if you ditched the board and soldered a picaxe chip in, I reckon you could squeeze a 9g jaw movement servo in there as well!


I'm always interested in how to do new things so how would I go about doing this? Although the 08 board is small, there are certainly plenty of applications where it would be great to have an even smaller footprint.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

I bend the chip legs underneath the chip and directly solder to the legs then use heatshrink to cover any resistors and bare wires.

You could use the SMT (surface mount) version of the chip but I don't think it would save you much space.

A slight change to the code would also drive the jaw servo

I'll try and do one over the next week and post some pics.


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

You can also use muscle wire to move the spine instead of having a visible servo. Muscle wire will change its length when you run a current through it. Just another way to do it.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Or fit a servo in the head connected to thick nylon line attached to the tail and threaded through the spine (or rc control sheathed control cable) - simple but effective push/pull action


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Here's a video of the completed kicking fish with the Picaxe and its power supply installed in the head with just two 30 wires for the servo power running up the fishing line. I used a piece of the smallest shrink tube I had to for the lines and it works great in keeping the good side of the fish facing the way I want him to. I had to turn it in the video to show the servo on the back.
Thanks to the great suggestions, I'm on the hunt for another one of these fish for Version2. Although I prefer the motion with the servo in the middle pulling in both directions, it would be great to be able to either move it into the head or try the muscle wire.


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## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

Very nice! Post the wiring info and code when you have time, please!


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

*Controller and code*



JeffHaas said:


> Very nice! Post the wiring info and code when you have time, please!


Here's a picture Jeff of the completed controller. If you compare it to the original VLC controller that Fritz designed you'll see that I only added the pins for one servo since that's all I needed. If you do the partial build, make sure to add in the green ground wire.



Since I'm just learning this, my code is very simplistic however it does just what I want it to do. Here it is -

BEGIN:
SERVO 4,0 
PAUSE 200
SERVO 4,155 
PAUSE 150
SERVO 4,135 
PAUSE 150
SERVO 4,35
PAUSE 200
SERVO 4,115
PAUSE 250
SERVO 4,55 
PAUSE 100
SERVO 4,125
PAUSE 150
SERVO 4,45
PAUSE 200
SERVO 4,135
PAUSE 100
SERVO 4,25 
PAUSE 150
SERVO 4,95 
PAUSE 250
SERVO 4,155
PAUSE 200
SERVO 4,65
PAUSE 150
SERVO 4,160
PAUSE 100
GOTO BEGIN

Hope this helps.


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## JeffHaas (Sep 7, 2010)

Thanks! I've been looking at the VLC controller, I'm thinking of setting it up as a sort of mini-Arduino and am interested in how others are doing it.

Looks like the picture didn't attach to the post properly.


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

I added the image in correctly now.


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Here's the new design of my skeleton fish with the servo and micro-controller both installed in his head.


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Awwwwww so cute! Makes you want to throw him back in the water and feed him some goldfish flakes!


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## Rahnefan (May 1, 2009)

That is great!


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## hpropman (Jul 27, 2008)

Nice job! great design


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## fritz42_male (May 5, 2009)

Still reckon you could get a micro servo or link to the spine servo on the jaw to animate that as well!


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## halstaff (Nov 18, 2009)

Thanks guys for the comments.
Getting the jaw to move as well should be possible but it would need to be redone a bit and it could be pulled by the opposite side of the servo. I cut the mouth piece off just past the pivot point to make everything fit. A spring would also need to be added to the opposite side to get the mouth to return.
Things to think about for the next one.
Joe, see what you started by getting me hooked on the Picaxe. I have a ton of new controllers although the programming for my new seance room controller is driving me nuts!


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