Assembly Of a Stop-Motion Puppet Armature

Stop-Motion Animation is one of the most unique art forms in the world. Since the early days, the techniques and technologies used by the animators in the various disciplines of stop-motion animation have developed by leaps and bounds, be it in design, sculpting, armature machining, filmmaking or acting.

Every Stop-Motion puppet gains its dexterity and freedom of movement from its Armature, which acts as a skeleton, hidden within its clay or foam exterior. The puppet Armature pretty much decides how easily and efficiently the puppet will perform during animation. Hence, it is vital for every animator to carefully design a puppet Armature according to his or her requirements. The Armature is the carrier of Design Intent in every Animation.

The Metal-Joint Armatures used today by most animation professionals and hobbyists consists of a combination of simple mechanical joints linked with one another in a manner that suits a particular form and generates the required movement during animation.

We shall take the example of a Standard Armature Kit available commercially and see the various stages involved in the assembly of its various components into the shape of a human being.

The first step of any Armature construction involves a rough sketch or layout to define the scale of the puppet. Fixing the size of the armature at the early stages of the armature construction helps to avoid unnecessary iterations in the later stages.

Before we proceeded to the CAD Modeling of the puppet Armature, we realized that one of the ready made joints available in the kit needed a slight modification. The joint which was to be used for the feet, used a fixed multi-purpose block attached to a ball and socket joint. We wanted a normal block to replace the multi-purpose block.

We then translated our proportional sketch to a CAD System to further optimize the proportions and build an exact dimensioned ‘Master Layout’ for the Puppet.

The next step was to build the 3D-Model of the Armature using ProEngineer, taking size and proportion reference from the master layout.

Once the 3D-Model was complete and verified for its size and proportions, the required machining drawings and dimensions were provided for the workshop.

The various parts of the armature were cut and the sharp edges rounded off. The parts were then identified into respective subassembly joints before the actual assembly process began.

The Standard Armature kit provides for a modular and easily interchangeable set of joints that can be used to build your puppet. Yet, in most cases during animation the diverse range of characters and the variety in movement expected of each puppet puts the conventional modular armature kits at a clear disadvantage. More often than not, the animator is forced to adjust his or her puppet’s character and movement styles to suit to their standard Armature kit’s limitations.

Armature Design is an Art form and each new challenging character in any animation deserves a in-depth analysis into its character and range of activities, before building its Armature. We believe that an Armature should infuse character into the puppet.

Emantras explores and brings out stable, movement specific Armatures that are custom built for a specific application. Our Armatures are driven by the puppet’s character, not the other way around.

Sajan Rajagopal

Design of a Three Phase Portable Reference Standard

Three Phase Reference Standard (TPRS) is a device used to measure the load and test the accuracy of three phase energy meters at residential as well as commercial installations. The device is used primarily by State Electricity Boards and electrical laboratories.

Being a low volume product, the TPRS is manufactured by only a handful of manufacturers across the globe, only one of them being Indian. The Indian model is relatively less expensive but leaves much to be desired in terms of functionality and styling. Emantras Product Design was approached by Signals & Systems India Private Limited (SANDS) to design and develop a new model of TPRS for the Indian as well as international markets. SANDS is a ISO 9001:2000 certified company specializing in DSP and embedded solutions for the power sector.

The product being highly technical, we were completely at sea when SANDS engineers showed us the bare circuit assembled on a table! The first step for us was to understand all the parts, accessories and their inter-relationships.

Our team observed SANDS engineers performing all possible operations on the TPRS, namely Calibration, Error Checking and Data Transfer. We prepared a flowchart of the steps involved in each of these operations. Based on our observations and discussions with the SANDS team, we optimized the Usability Cycles of the product for efficiency and fool-proof performance.

The next step was to work out a physical embodiment for the product. All the loose parts and accessories were measured accurately in order to have a dimensional database of our building blocks. We generated five different arrangements for encasing the main console and all the accessories.

For each of the arrangements, we tried numerous configurations and compared them in terms of volumetric efficiency, usability and number of casings required. One of the options in arrangement 5 was selected for development.

For the outer carry case (housing the hand-held unit and accessories), our client preferred to go for ready-made instrument casings due to the low volume of the product. We surveyed the internet for ready-made casing models suiting our dimensional requirements. The selection was made based on volumetric efficiency, material & construction, self-weight, available colours, appearance and of course, price!

The dimensions of the hand-held unit were frozen and styling possibilities explored for the same.

The selected design was modeled and detailed out in ProE.

Special attention was paid to the design of the keypad, with due consideration to ergonomics, logical clustering and relative frequency of usage.

3D rendered images were generated for the design so as to convey a realistic picture to the SANDS management, and in turn, to their customers.

A rapid prototype of the hand-held casing was generated through the FDM process. The internal components were assembled and the unit was tested for ergonomics and electrical performance. After some minor dimensional adjustments, the design was approved for production.

Being accustomed to designing consumer products, this project (an industrial product) was a welcome break for us. We realized that however technical or complicated a product may be, design has the power to significantly enhance its usability and of course, its aesthetics.

Shoubhik Dutta Roy

Pocket Torch using High-brightness L.E.D.

The invention of the high-brightness L.E.D. has opened up a world of possibilities in the realm of compact lighting products. When we were approached by L.E.D. manufacturer Lednium for developing a handy pocket torch, we carried out a quick survey of existing pocket torch designs. Much to our dismay, we found that a sheer lack of design effort, in terms of styling as well as usability. Most of the existing designs still follow the conventional form of a torch i.e. a uniform cylindrical form with symmetrical surface treatment. Little or no thought seems to have been given to stability on flat surfaces. The models that have pen-like clips use this as an add-on element having little or no correlation with the visual language of the product.

We started the design process with the objective of giving a fresh perspective to pocket torch design, making it a style statement rather than just a utility device. Extensive form exploration resulted in a bank of sketches showing diverse form factors and interesting design elements.

Some of the promising designs were shortlisted and refined.

One of the designs was selected for development in consultation with the client. The concept was assigned dimensions and put through a round of extensive feature refinement for finalizing the aesthetic.

The finalized design was subjected to a preliminary engineering review to understand the manufacturability aspects.

After some dimensional refinement, a CAD model was generated and rendered to explore different color schemes and finishes. The product form was reviewed for aesthetic appeal. This trendy design has a circular cross-section which varies throughout its length to create interest. The long depressions on the cylindrical body and the truncated front end further add to the excitement of the design. The recessed neck and color-coordinated clip help in maintaining a slender profile.

The concept proceeded to the design engineering phase, where it was detailed out in terms of parts and their assembly.

A rapid prototype of the design was obtained through the FDM process. The prototype gave a realistic feel of the product and vindicated our efforts towards ergonomic design. The design was approved and taken up for mass-manufacturing.

Being a small product with very little technical complications, the pocket torch often fails to get the design effort it deserves. Completing the design process in a detailed and systematic manner made us realize that the simplest of products can be made delightful to see and use through proper design.

Shoubhik Dutta Roy

Railway Berth Number Lamp

The existing berth light inside coaches of Indian Railways is crude and the signage is cumbersome to read. Moreover, the fixture uses fluorescent tubes. The idea behind this project was to design and develop a modular and compact fixture on the existing footprint, using LED technology.

When I got this brief, I was personally excited. From my college days I used to travel by train in sleeper class and take the upper berth, in order to avoid disturbance. My idea of train travel was to read, listen to music or simply sleep. I always found it disturbing and irritating to see the lighting fixture, in terms of styling as well as quality of light.

The project started with understanding the existing fixture and its technical specifications. Indian Railway authorities were not interested to change the base plate screw positions, so we had to design within this constraint. We tested 3 pieces of 1 watt LED  & tried different color combinations of warm & blue color LED.  High power LEDs generate considerable heat, hence we used an aluminum base plate with optimized surface area as heat sink. The challenge was to make it look sleek & compact taking care of visual ergonomics. The current graphics were dimensionally constrained, so we proposed better layouts for the same. Based on the selected graphics we developed styling for the product. We came up with concepts keeping simplicity in mind and using minimal design elements.

Initially we proposed a kind of modular Polycarbonate fixture with clear PMMA detachable number plate.

A big advantage of this design was that the same berth number light could be used for other purposes at the same time. However, the client wanted to stick to conventional sticker numbering, probably because of security and durability issues with the detachable number plate.

We developed  prototypes and installed them in running coaches for testing.

The feed back from travelers was encouraging, they are looking forward to more green (sustainable) designs of railway coaches.

“The furnishing, lighting, window style is really good and 100 times better than the AC 2 tier, I travelled before 14 days, in Utkal Express from HWR. The look of the coach is really appreciable. Next time I definitely prefer to travel in same coach.”

— Pawan Khurana (traveller in prototype installed coach)

Go railways, Go green !!! ( YouTube Video )

I hope Indian Railways understands the need for green design and implements the same into their coaches in a big way. “Go railways, go green!”

Amarjeet Sonkar