Go-Motion device for the ROTJ AT-ST ?

[MonsieurTox]

Hey guys,

I'm wondering how the go motion setup did work with the AT-ST in ROTJ ?
We all know the pic of St-Amand and Tipett close to the ATST pupett but Im still dont know how the whole thing was working... I can figure for the legs (body were on a mount), the head (I dont know if it was animated by hand through a pupett rod or by computer) but I cant figure how the gun were firing or moving up and down...
How the body did tilt (like a chicken ) and how they were able to recreate so different movement with only the body hold by a mount and the feet animated by 2 rods... when you got the pupett in the hand you can see you can put the legs, hips etc in several configuration which is impossible only with a rod on each foot...

Any specialist on that ? Any new pic ?

Thanks for the help !

 

[dragnink]

You have some plans? :love

My guess is that they used a combination of techniques. For one, each stop-motion movement is recorded by a computer hooked up to the go-motion device. So up until the main movements are programmed, the process is similar to stop-motion while the computer is recording each frame of what is going to be played back.

Then, to the best of my understanding, the movements of the walkers can be played back either in real-time while hooked up to the device, or can be played back by the machine frame by frame by the stepper motors.

Using a combination of these techniques, it would allow some traditional stop-motion animation to be manually thrown in between frames/steps (blaster barrels recoiling, etc). We know the barrels were not automated, so this is how I think it was done.

On the back of the head of the ST, there's a little hole at the bottom underneath the Porsche parts. I always imagined a rod manually (maybe with a curved end) manipulating the movements of the head.. I'm not sure on this, but it was just an idea. I heard that the top railings broke off a lot during filming.

It's still a mystery, and the engineering for this would probably be really complex. The best way I figured you could simulate something like this would be a system of rods, pulleys and gears all being puppeted by a 3 or 4 people each independently operating different movements.

It does make you wonder in some ways how it was done because to play back in real-time and only have the rods connected to the feet, they must have locked down some of the allen screws and kept others loose allowing free movement at certain joints/axis.

Here's some pics of the go-motion machine used for Dragonslayer.
http://www.stopmotionworks.com/mischtml/gomotion.htm

And some vids of Tippett in action:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PW0YOYvTB8k
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=30NNjFRlR1s

Hey guys,

I'm wondering how the go motion setup did work with the AT-ST in ROTJ ?
We all know the pic of St-Amand and Tipett close to the ATST pupett but Im still dont know how the whole thing was working... I can figure for the legs (body were on a mount), the head (I dont know if it was animated by hand through a pupett rod or by computer) but I cant figure how the gun were firing or moving up and down...
How the body did tilt (like a chicken ) and how they were able to recreate so different movement with only the body hold by a mount and the feet animated by 2 rods... when you got the pupett in the hand you can see you can put the legs, hips etc in several configuration which is impossible only with a rod on each foot...

Any specialist on that ? Any new pic ?

Thanks for the help !

 

[dragnink]

Some scans from my ILM book. I like the shot of the old computer monitor, you can see how the program allowed for individual operation of the rods (free movement, play, lock, fps).

Complex stuff and revolutionary for its time!

 

[MonsieurTox]

Haha Matt, yeah I had some plans but you killed it with the pics of the go-motion device ! :lol Well I think it was a bit more simple for the AT-ST though !

Thanks for the pics and the vids they are great !

Your explanations make sense and I too think the head of the ST could be animated by hand with a rod and I guess you're right about the hole between the tranny parts ! I cant see any other way to mount it from the head.

I remember a while back you told me about a cycle-like system for the legs, I think that's a good thing to try !

TBH I would like to display my ST on its go-motion device (a working one if possible ). Wouldnt be nice ? love Well I guess I will go with the wooden stand. LOL :lol

 

[DarkHelmet]

I remember pictures like these intimidated the crap out of me. I was a terrible student in school (daydreamer/artist) so seeing that you would need a degree in Engineering, mathematics and robotics to compete completely turned me off from pursuing my love for SFX and animation. :unsure