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Basic Animation Mechanisms

Here's an overview of several different types of animation mechanisms that are useful for haunted prop use. This is not all the possible mechanisms, not by a long shot - but its a start!

The Basic Piston	The Simple Lever	The Four Bar Lever
The Sissors Lever	Prop Bodies	Adapting the Four Bar
Reliability	Tips on Building Props	Sources

REMEMBER
ALWAYS BE SAFE DESIGNING, BUILDING, AND USING ANIMATED PROPS
They have the potential to cause harm to yourself, family, pets, and anyone nearby.
Seriously, be very, very careful when building any animated prop!

NEVER place a prop where it could touch anyone when its moving. Its just not worth it.

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Basic Piston

Often called the 'monster on a stick', this is the simplest application of pneumatics, and is effective for both distractions and scares.

Advantage:
Simple to build and maintain
Sturdy, reliable operation
Straight up/down, or in/out motion

Disadvantage:
Limited range of motion

Limits:
Set by length of piston movement

Considerations:
Careful construction with reliability in mind is recommended

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Simple Lever

The easiest lever mechanism to build, the simple lever design gives fast, reliable movememt around a single pivot point.

Advantage:
The end arm moves towards the 'victim'
Fast motion, low air pressure
Simple construction

Disadvantage:
Moves around a pivot, not straight up and down

Limits:
Set by the placement of the pivot, the piston attachment point, the length of the arm, and the length of piston movement

Considerations:
Careful construction with reliability in mind is recommended

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Basic Parallelogram, or "Four Bar" Mechanism

This is probably the most popular popup mechanism. Its very flexible, and offers a great range of motion. Even though its based on the geometric parallelogram, most folks call it a 'four bar' mechanism.

Advantage:
Moves the prop almost straight up and down,
so with long enough arms, a complete body can be popped.

Disadvantage:
More complex than simple lever designs.
Requires more air pressure to activate.

Limits:
Set by the placement of the pivot, the piston attachment point, the length of the arm, the length of piston movement, and the mechanical limits of the arm connections

Considerations:
Careful attention to pivot points is a must.
Watch prop action at ends of motion. May need to make changes in arm lengths to accomdate prop.

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Adapting the Four Bar Mechanism

Making changes to the arm lengths and the pivot positions cause some interesting changes in the dynamics of the prop movement.

Changing the arm length tilts the prop without changing the pivot distances (A and B). The tilt remains (more or less) constant throughout the movement.

Keeping the arm lengths the same and varying the lengths of the front (A) and rear (B) pivots affects the angle and movement of the prop. Making A larger than B makes the prop lean forward as moves. Making A smaller than B makes the prop lean back as it moves.

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The Scissors Lever

The scissors lever gives the greatest range of motion of any of the lever arrangements, and is the most complex to build.

Advantage:
Moves the prop straight up and down.
Very large range of motion.

Disadvantage:
Far more complex than simple lever designs.
Requires more air pressure to activate than simpler mechanisms.
Difficult to design for reliability.

Limits:
Arm lengths and piston arm set the maximum extension.

Considerations:
Careful attention to pivot points is a must. High strength bearings recommended.

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Sources

Scare Factory
Unique pneumatic props - very professionally constructed, possibly the best price/performance out there!
www.scarefactory.com

Distortions
Maker of some of the largest and effective animated props. Good stuff!
www.distortionsonline.com

Little Spider Productions
Effective, simple popups that will work anywhere
www.littlespider.net

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