Rotj At-at

Go motion would be very complex on the AT-AT, with all the mechanical gizmos
on the legs. It could have been done, but they wouldn't have bothered for those
two short shots. The platform with the slits was most likely used to tie down the
feet during stop motion. Stop motion sets had holes drilled all over them to secure
the puppets, clay was often used to fill the holes. The feet usually had a nut inside,
which was fastened by a bolt from below.
From reading in Cinefex, go motion was first attempted in TESB for the tauntauns.
Not to move the legs, just to move the still puppet forward during exposure. This
gave it a bit of motion blur, but the lack of blur in the legs was still apparent, so
they didn't use it.
The fully articulated go motion rig was developed for DRAGONSLAYER.

Rob
 
Way cool info Rob... sounds like you know what your talking about! I see the feet drawings on the table.. funny thing is it was not used for ESB or the pull back shot where its walking on the ground... the close up shot is shot against a matte painting.

After looking at the production shots of Phil working with the ROTJ AT-ST puppet I think your right in that even they were stop motion. Tthe rods that were attached to the feet have a bracket with allen head screws that allows up and down adjustment ans well as pegs to allow the AT-ST leg to move forward.. No huge mech device to move them as seen in the behind the scene of DragonSlayer go motion device. ** new info inserted see last post** the gear drives and go motion device is on the floor. The ATST's were mounted on rods up away from the device.** The moving ATST's were all shot against a blue screen and you can see the device they were mounted to.. must research more behind the scene info!

185708054.jpg


Hey Tox I think the large picture of the ATAT on the right (in the Sculpting a Galaxy) pull out is the ROTJ ATAT prior to repaint. It has the correct guns and it is missing the second layer of detail as talked about earlier.

Steve
 
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rider said:
Sorry to interrupt, but I'd kick myself I did not ask :angel...

Don Sir,

What is Mr. Amand up to these days, still in the buisiness?
While I'm at it, is Ira Keeler still about?

Thank you so much.

We now return you to your regular broadcast :)
Click to expand...

Ira retired several years ago, and is quite happy and healthy.

Tom moved into CG animation many years ago, and was let go from ILM a few years back. Last I heard, he was living in LA, still working in the business as an animator.

On a side note, though still stop motion related...Ironically, I happened to have lunch with Jon Berg, Tom St. Amand, Randy Dutra and Dennis Muren (if you don't recognize those names, shame on you) the day that Fay Wray died. While a sad occasion, it allowed me an insight to hear these guys discuss the influence King Kong had on them and their careers...a fascinating discussion.

--Don
 
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Here is a shot clearly showing the ROTJ ATST mounted on the go motion table. It seems the chain drive for the ATSTs were near the ground and the ATST were on rods that were mounted to the device.

284031606.jpg


At least this shows it being used in ROTJ. This was shot at ILM's motion control stage. Phil Tippett can be seen white shirt adjusting one of the gear drives.

Steve
 
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Great job swpropmaker a lot of these pics are new to me (y)thumbsup:thumbsup


Don, thank you so very much for the answers.

I realize how crude -still about- may have read, and I apologize about the way I composed that. Please know I meant, in the industry. But glad to hear he is enjoying a happy retirement. :)

Our thanks for sharing your private dinner with us. What a group of unified talent together upon another significant chapter of an eternal piece of work.
It shall continue to influence, just as you guys have given back through it and influenced us all as witnessed here. Thank you sir. :thumbsup
 
That's a cool shot Steve, I haven't seen that one.
The trees were garbage matted out, they were just there to cast shadows on the walker.

Rob
 
Hey folks,

As mentionned byt Steve, there was a couple of castings of the AT-AT's. Here's one of them :

atatcasting.jpg


The neck was replaced at some point because it was melted.

Maybe Don you could answer my question : why and when those castings were made ? Only for touring purpose ? Or were they used in the background ? (I doubt of that) The paintjob is totally amazing and that's a perfect replication of the original ! Is the original still at the archives ?

Thanks for your help guys !
 
Not to hijack, but I hate the pose on that tour AT-AT. Looks like the center of gravity is way off and it's going to keel over any second.
 
AT-AT Luvah said:
Not to hijack, but I hate the pose on that tour AT-AT. Looks like the center of gravity is way off and it's going to keel over any second.
Click to expand...


it's not the worst - I think the picture taker was on a tilt not the at-at. look at the base of the at-at - it's on a slant too - so if you tilt your head the "center of gravity" is pretty okay
 
AT-AT Luvah said:
Not to hijack, but I hate the pose on that tour AT-AT. Looks like the center of gravity is way off and it's going to keel over any second.
Click to expand...


Well this one is one of the castings they made (some were offered to fans as the prize of a contest) so they cant do anything about the pose...

I found a cool pic which is the proof that more than 4 AT-ATs with metal armature were done :

atatarmatureunderconstructi.jpg


There are at least 8 AT-ATs with metal armature...
 
There were several stop-motion At-Ats made to my recollection and a couple extra large scale that were pyro models and they also made large scale feet for *crushing* the snow speeder.
 
I may be wrong but I believe that's a mirror at the end of the bench and you are seeing 4 with 4 reflections. Anyone else see what I am seeing? The two in the middle are perfect mirror images of one another. etc.....

Dave
 
vaderdarth said:
I may be wrong but I believe that's a mirror at the end of the bench and you are seeing 4 with 4 reflections. Anyone else see what I am seeing? The two in the middle are perfect mirror images of one another. etc.....

Dave
Click to expand...

Well spotted Dave, the you can see the plane of field change along the top of the table, it curves away past the 4th ATAT.
 
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