Stop Motion Camera Rig

(2016) Recently, there has been a surge in stop-motion videos, with their quality and detail reaching impressive new heights. Studios like Laika are leading the way in this art form. However, if you look closely, not everything is as it appears. While the main characters are authentic stop-motion puppets, many background characters are created using CGI, which can detract from the purity of a true stop-motion experience.

With this in mind, I set out to build a rig, unlike anything that had been attempted before. The idea was to block out all the animation in CG first, then use this data to help stop-motion animators precisely control hundreds of characters without missing a beat. The animation created in Maya is overlaid onto the Dragonframe interface, giving animators a clear guide for what to animate in each frame. This approach could allow filmmakers to create a truly epic stop-motion movie without relying on CGI characters, as is often the case today.

I presented the rig to Phil Tippett’s Studio and Laika Studio. Unfortunately, they didn’t fully grasp the concept. They focused only on the simple test rig I had created for transport to the U.S., overlooking the rig’s potential to revolutionize stop-motion animation.

One incredible outcome of my visit was the time I spent at Phil Tippett’s studio and staying at his home. Phil has always been a hero of mine—his iconic animation sequences in Star Wars were a childhood dream brought to life. Being surrounded by the very artefacts and creations that once amazed me was a surreal and inspiring experience.

A special bonus was Phil inviting me to review his team’s work on a new VR project. It was an absolute blast exploring cutting-edge technology in his legendary studio—a space filled with creativity and history.

The rig was always intended to be a three-axis system, but for the test, I built a simpler one-axis rig to reduce the weight. Its length was limited to 2 meters, as that’s the maximum size allowed on a flight. Below, you can see the rig on my balcony in Brno, Czech Republic, before I took it to America to showcase its capabilities.

In the images below, you can see the set and the puppet rig positioned against a green screen background. Additionally, the Maya 3D rig is overlaid onto the real stop-motion character rig, as viewed through the Dragonframe software interface. This setup demonstrates the integration of CG and stop-motion elements, showcasing how the two work together seamlessly.

In the images below, you can see the 3D character rig in MAYA, alongside a visualization of the 3D Maya character overlaid onto the actual physical set. The alignment is precise, creating the illusion that the 3D rig is standing directly on the real set. This seamless integration highlights the potential of combining digital pre-visualization with traditional stop-motion techniques.

The image below showcases the rig along with the camera control interface.

The image below displays the set of letters used by the animator to make the character talk. Each time a letter changes, the puppet animator swaps out the character’s head to match the correct mouth pose. This innovative system is entirely new to stop-motion animation and represents a fresh approach to synchronizing dialogue with physical puppets.

The video below showcases a simple move test using the rig. Look closely at the box my computer is resting on—its side reads Phil Tippett. That’s because we conducted these tests in Phil Tippett’s studio in San Francisco, at the very spot where Phil and his team recreated the stop-motion Space Chess game for Star Wars: The Force Awakens.

In the background, work was underway on Phil’s personal animation project, Mad God. Watching Phil craft the sets for this movie was a truly inspiring experience. His focus, speed, and clear vision were unmatched—he knew exactly what he wanted and worked with a drive I’ve never seen before.