Motion-Controlled Razor Crest: An ILM Inspired Project

[Carter C]

I recently received funding for this project so I will be making it into a senior thesis! I'd like to make two miniatures:
1. Ahsoka's T6 Jedi Shuttle
2. X-Wing or a different IP

Does anyone know of a 1/24 X-Wing kit that has a built in armature? (Like a Salzo or captain cardboard)?

Max Repli over on the FB group "Scifi Studio Scale Modellers" has STL files for a 1/24 X-Wing, although I'm not sure about how its mounted. I haven't purchased it from him so I don't have any experience on that front either. It would certainly be the cheapest if you have a printer but I would OPT for a Salzo if you get the chance. (And if you do manage to get a hookup on one of those count me in as well lol).

Good luck with your search and can't wait to see what you can do!

 

[MattWinchell]

Max Repli over on the FB group "Scifi Studio Scale Modellers" has STL files for a 1/24 X-Wing, although I'm not sure about how its mounted. I haven't purchased it from him so I don't have any experience on that front either. It would certainly be the cheapest if you have a printer but I would OPT for a Salzo if you get the chance. (And if you do manage to get a hookup on one of those count me in as well lol).

Good luck with your search and can't wait to see what you can do!

I'll look into that option. Thank you!

 

[MattWinchell]

Slight discovery while making revisions to my pan-tilt mount. I initially thought that the camera's sensor plane should be aligned with the tilt axis.

There is a nodal point called the entrance pupil which is the optically appropriate part of the lens that should be the point of rotation for the tilt axis. It's also known as the no-parallax point. Here's a better explanation of what I am talking about: How to find Entrance pupil in panoramic photography

The best way to find the entrance pupil of a lens is to actually take photographs and move the camera forward/back fixed on a PT mount until two stitched images marry perfectly. You then can mark the position on the PT mount where that physically is.

For now, I found a crude method of taking a piece of paper and drawing splayed vanishing point lines and translating it closer and closer to my lens. In the live view of my eos 5d mark 3, I observe this until the lines become parallel. I then align the vanishing point with where the approximate entrance pupil is. Here is a video demonstrating that:

This is good enough for now. I added a slot along the approximate mount hole for my quick release clamp so I can slightly adjust it forward/back if need be:

 

[MattWinchell]

I may have spoken too soon. It appears that this article ( https://cookeoptics.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Cooke-Camera-Lens-Definitions-for-VFX-210723.pdf) suggests that the entrance pupil is more of an approximation for the location of the pinhole. Rather, it's the pinhole and its associative focal length (distance between it and the image/sensor plane) that is used for matchmoving and CG software.

However, given that the entrance pupil is defined as an "approximate location of the pinhole," i'll let that nuance slide for now.