Thank you so much, your comment is really heartwarming! :3 If you want to do this kind of work, just start doing it... That's the way I started this entire project and I'm not regretting it, even if there are hard times of despair as well... :D

Romans 5:8❤

Oh yes - I'm living in a country which doesn't have feature length stopmotion productions or studios at all 😢 It's a pity, I'd love to work for a bigger production one day...

@@ValentinFelder I’m sorry to hear that.

Thanks a lot, yes I think a thin removable "skin" would behave much better. Back then I was very unsure about how to mold the thin skin in the first place and how to connect it to the skull, so we tried molding everything in place, but I find the result a bit underwhelming too... :D I'm confident with the mechanical aspects, I think nowadays I would be able to create a more organically shaped skull, but the organic aspects of the silicone molding and sculpting are still something I cannot do on that level... I'd love to collaborate with some SFX-Expert on something like this, to learn how it is done professionally... Maybe someday... ;)

@@ValentinFelder Something that I thought of as I was reading your reply. Look into 3D printing. Not for the skin but the mechanics of the skull. I don't think FDM would be best at the sizes you are working but an SLA might be worth thinking about. The prices have come WAY down recently and produce an almost smooth product though choosing the right resin might be a challange. SLA resins can be brittle but with the right design and resin it might be just the ticket. I've only use FDM so I couldn't help with the resin choice. You can choose a very small nozzle and low layer hight to increase resolution and maybe less sanding and the part would be more durable if you use FDM. Just a thought.

@@repalmore Thank you! - We actually have used SLA printing in the meantime for molds and replacement mouth parts, you can see it in many of last years update-Videos, mostly the ones about the boss character. From all 3D-prints I've seen so far this technique seems to give the best results, I was really impressed. ...I also don't own a printer myself, I had it done by someone else with an industrial setup. For me, metal still remains the best material for miniature mechanisms - it's strength, durabiblity and surface quality are just unmatched. However, I see the value of SLA printing for creating organic shapes with high precision and repeatability, and especially when combined with some metal hinges/bushings/gears it can be a really powerful tool!

Thank you so much Mark - Seems you know what you're talking about, those are some great ideas! :) - We tried some of these things, but ultimately we had to stop at some point and start shooting. I'm pretty sure this could have been greatly improved with a bit more time and ressources though... You're totally right, it was more a fun exercise than strictly necessary, but I like challenges and even when things don't work we can learn a lot. Thanks for your encouraging words! :)

Thank you - But there's a lot for me to learn too, and I could improve so many things on a second try... ;)

Romans 5:8❤

Thank you! - Plastics, Rubber bands, Stepper motors - they are all not suitable for this scale. Plastics are too soft and machining is not quicker with softer materials, it's the precision requirements which take the time. 3D-printing is also not suitable for mechanical components of that size (unless you use crazy expensive industrial printing techniques) - Rubbery materials are basically impossible to handle and attach to things in this scale, feel free to try it. All we can do is mold things around rigid components. The Micro-Stepper motors (which are still too large) have no torque at all... It's not that easy, theory and practice are two very different things. I know this armature turned out suboptimal, but it was just an experiment anyway ;) Oh, and my mill is a Wabeco F1200.

Yeah, you're absolutely right, I would do many things different too on a second try :D - But using magnets probably wouldn't work, on small metal parts the traction is very weak and it requires quit a bit of force to move the silicone, even thinner layers...

Romans 5:8❤

Then everything would need to be larger - All sets, all props, etc... Which then would require more material and floor space, and would be harder to reach in for animation. You always have to find a viable compromise. Some movies use multiple scales, but this also has it's downsides, and building everything multiple times doesn't make it easier. ...Also 50% would not be enough, with motors you're more looking at 1:2 scale or something like this, which has a very different look than the miniatures... You really should try making something like this yourself to get a feel for the complexity of the situation. In any way, we have finished all scenes with this character by now.

Romans 5:8❤

Ha, wie cool, ein Spaxx-Fan in freier Wildbahn!

@@ValentinFelder Das war tatsächlich unter einem der Spaxx-Videos verlinkt, also dieser Kanal hier... Vielleicht sind wir selten, aber wir sind nicht tot zu kriegen!

I'm afraid it's not possible to buy such specific parts - But it would be possible to commission them, but that would be very expensive since it's a lot work. (Let me know if you're interested) - You could try 3D-printing with a resin printer, that might work if the scale isn't too small. Or just stick with brass, it's not necessarily required to have a mill and all these specialized tools, I did a lot of work with handfiles, a drill and a jewelers saw a couple of years ago... But that requires some experience and time of course.

@@ValentinFelder oks, thank you!👍

Haha, Wonderful!

Hm, I must admit I didn't read a lot of books about the craft, but there is one which is particularly insightful for miniature metal work: George Daniel's "Watchmaking" - Obviously it's all about watches, but it goes into great detail about tools, materials and general techniques too. Other than that I got a lot of experience from trial and error, just tinkering with the materials for many years :D - And I would also recommend some KZfaq channels, "Clickspring" and "Stefan Gotteswinter" in particular"! :)

Thanks! - It's a kind of silicone, but I don't remember the exact brand as we are still trying to find the best material...

"Just" - Funny. ...And I had different requirements, my characters don't have eyes and don't talk.

Well, I was just thinking about that since the Pinocchio stop motion puppets is a hybrid between corpse bride mechanical stop motion skull and laika puppets eye mechanism​@@ValentinFelder

​@@ValentinFelder and I was wondering why you don't just makes a stop motion skull which is a hybrid between the two different mechanical skulls you make?

Thanks a lot, I hope they do! :D ...I'm actually developing my miniature hand armatures for batch production right now. ;)

I didn't use 3D-Modelling for this mechanism, I only have some 2D-Sketches on Paper and the ones I showed in the Video... Sorry, I mostly invent these things in my mind, I only do 3D-models if I have to produce a larger batch of some parts or if a customer requests it... ;)

@@ValentinFelder First of all, congratulations that in addition to replying to the translated what I wrote in Italian (because I am Italian) but now I make things easier for you by writing in English. Of course I understand you very well (that you invent things in your mind and therefore you need less on paper) plus obviously that was based on the shape of the head and therefore specific to the need. I too, out of habit, draw half or the necessary one, knowing and imagining the finished product in my mind and for the same reason we realize later that we are careful. I will try to replicate the mechanism by following your video, congratulations again !!

alla fine ti è venuto?

Not sure if google translate got this correctly, but I'm using a "Wabeco F1200" as my mill. ;)

Weil ich auch internationale Zuschauer ansprechen will ;) - Was ich mache ist ohnehin eine Nische und der deutschsprachige Raum ist sehr klein. Ich werde aber weiterhin deutsche Untertitel bereit stellen für diejenigen die das Englisch nicht so gut verstehen.

Thank you very much, I will check that out! :) But I have also learned a lot since this video and my new heads work far better now too!

So what?