3D ZOETROPE 2010

* * * see the newest 6ft Zoetrope from the 2010 California State Fair * * *

I have been contacted many times since making the first Lego 3D Zoetrope by various groups asking for help on making 3D Zoetropes. It has been very fun to work with these groups and I am happy to help. In the Spring of 2009 I was contacted by Stage Nine Entertainment working on a large (3') Zoetrope for the "It's A Candy Nation" Exhibit at the California State Fair in Sacramento. The owner wanted a 1 button push exhibit that could run for the entier duration of the fair and go on to an additional exhibition. I helped with the electronics and mechanics. There were many challenges but the exhibit worked and was part of a very popular exhibition. I was inspired to build my own "1 button" 3D Zoetrope with sound. Here is a link to a YouTube video of the Sound with the animationso you can see how the whole animation runs - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfS2kGO5lg8. The video synching is good now.

Here is flash version of the animation :

I decided on a 2' diameter wheel in a stand alone case with plexiglas to keep fingers out of the moving parts.

I use a 1/10Hp AC Synchronous motor spinning at exactly 60rpm. The motor is coupled to a 3/8" shaft on double roller bearings. The lexan spinning plate is 1/4" thick and is pinned but not resting on the shaft. It rests on 3 roller skate bearings. These bearings keep it from being wobbly.

top view of lexan plate with timing markings

Full View

Bottom View motor mechanics

Side View of control electronics. I use 20 3W Luxeon LED's to light the animation flashing at 15fps. The flash is times by gluing 15 magnets on the bottom of the lexan plate at evenly spaced marks on a circle. These magnets pass over a Hall Effect switch which "switches" on a 555 timer set for 1/2000 of a second per pulse. The output of the timer goes to high power NPN transistors driving BuckPuck power cubes. In the standby mode I send just enough voltage to light only 4 of the LED's to give a good background light.

Sequence - Push button starts a Vellman timer which triggers a Dream Player with the old TV Batman theme MP3loaded on it. The theme has been cut into 4 pieces so it can trigger the timing. "To the Batmobile lets go" is said by itself. The engine rev sounds trigger a relay to start the synchrounous motor with normal lights on. Everything becomes a blur. The Batman theme song starts the flash and the animation is then seen. Then end of the theme song stops the motor and flash and the illusion is stopped. Here is the video in HiDef. I used a Sony HD camera in the 15fps frame averaging mode. It was able to sync perfectly http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AfS2kGO5lg8.

Gary Aden,

garyaden@aol.com

for more information on Zoetropes visit- http://www.silentmovies.com/zoetrope/zoetropestrips.htm

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