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Tuesday, August 02, 2011

Sneak peek video of Dug North's latest automaton

I'm still in the design phase of my current automaton, so wasn't planning on sharing it until much later. Well, something happened last weekend to change that. The Lowell Folk Festival was held last weekend. The smallish city where I lived completely filled with people coming to hear all kinds of folk music. I was asked to help out for a little while at a tent providing information about the Arts League of Lowell of which I am a member. On a whim, I grabbed my piece-in-progress as I was heading out to do my two hour volunteer stint.

I turned the crank on this piece for two straight hours in the middle of downtown Lowell. It was beta and stress testing at the same time! I got to see the reaction of a broad range of people, which was both interesting and informative. The mechanism held up quite well.

I am flattered that so many people stopped to take a look while on their way from one performance to another. This video was taken by one of those people.

The video is short, I know. It is just a sneak peek. The piece doesn't even have a title and won't be done for a while yet. I do hope you enjoy trying to figure out what the heck is going on in the automaton's scene!

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UPDATE: I was thrilled and honored to have this video posted on BoingBoing.net on August 2nd, 2011 under the title Crazed giant beast hand-cranked automaton protoype. Thank you!

[ Thanks Ann! ]

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14 comments:

  1. DorianAugust 2, 2011 at 6:40 AM

    Woohoo!
    Fantastic job, I love the idea!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Falk KeutenAugust 2, 2011 at 8:03 AM

    Bravo ! What a fine work !

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  3. Dug NorthAugust 2, 2011 at 9:11 AM

    Thank you Dorian!

    -Dug

    ReplyDelete
  4. Dug NorthAugust 2, 2011 at 9:11 AM

    My thanks to you Falk!

    -Dug

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  5. Falk KeutenAugust 2, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    And the best börsday wishes too, I forgot.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Dug NorthAugust 2, 2011 at 9:47 AM

    Thanks again, Falk!

    ReplyDelete
  7. pitts8rhAugust 2, 2011 at 11:12 AM

    Hi Dug,

    You've got some really excellent movements going on there, and the poses are realistic. I like the outstretched leg on the guy with the rope, trying to get that little extra pull.

    It looks like your lower right guy is carving out a monster head, but why, I have no clue.

    I like this one a lot. I'm not sure what you have left to do on it, but we'll see...

    RogerH

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  8. Dug NorthAugust 2, 2011 at 5:04 PM

    Hi Roger,

    Thank you! I'm very happy with the motions in this one. The strongman figure has some really nice subtle motions.

    You are right that it is another monster head below! The reason will hopefully become clear when the additional details are added.

    I have many aesthetic decisions to make still and then will rebuild it out of finer materials.

    -Dug

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  9. DeniseAugust 3, 2011 at 10:30 PM

    That's wonderful! I'm glad to finally see a Dug North automata on the Dug North automata blog :) Great work!

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  10. Dug NorthAugust 3, 2011 at 11:07 PM

    Denise,

    Thanks! It can be hard to find the time to work on my own pieces when there are so many interesting things to share! Thank you for the kind words!

    -Dug North

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  11. AnonymousAugust 4, 2011 at 9:04 PM

    Well done -- about time for us to get a taste of your creativity and skill!

    Charles

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  12. Dug NorthAugust 4, 2011 at 9:50 PM

    Thanks, Charles! It has been a long time coming!

    Best,

    -Dug

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  13. Sharon KAugust 4, 2011 at 11:06 PM

    Exciting action above and below - it's lots of fun to watch. Can't wait to see what more you'll be adding!

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  14. Dug NorthAugust 5, 2011 at 7:36 AM

    Sharon K,

    I'm glad you like it! The core is there, but there are many details yet to be worked out.

    Best,

    -Dug

    ReplyDelete