Building the snowman wasn't hard, it was just time consuming. I have about 3 months of work into him. The delay in the DIO card didn't help matters because I had to guess on how the servos were going to work without being able to control him. Needless to say, there was work involved when I got the DIO board.
I was actually going to get one of those snowmen on eBay and hack him. However, they really aren't tall enough to fit in with my display. Everything around this snowman is huge; mega trees, mini mega trees. I decided to make my own and got the frame from Val.
I think if you were going to make a santa, it would be better to buy one and cannibalize it. Unless you know how to make prosthetics, The face would be difficult to make and probably look "scary".
I would want to make my own snowman because I could choose the size.
and it would be fun to do.
rstately wrote: I think if you were going to make a santa, it would be better to buy one and cannibalize it. Unless you know how to make prosthetics, The face would be difficult to make and probably look "scary".
I would want to make my own snowman because I could choose the size.
and it would be fun to do.
Virtually all mechanical santas are 'scary' to me. Not sure why, but the snowman seems a lot easier to pull off without looking freaky. Maybe it's because a talking snowman is already freaky, but we're culturally accustomed to that already
I, too saw Mike Z's snowman and wanted to pull something like that off, but didn't get anywhere past the "want" stage. Very nice work here Greg!
So you're using a DIO board for this, and not a ServoDog? I'm pretty stupid when it comes to electromechanical stuff -- can you discuss the differences and why you went with that option?
He's using the new DIO32, it has much of the functionality of the ServoDog. I just started fiddling around with the ServoDog last night. The SD utility is pretty cool.
Greg, I noticed something that kinda worries me though. When the sequence ended, all the servos drove to the 0% (hard left) position. I believe that's the end-of-sequence-all-off command. What's happening with the DIO32 for you?
Jeff
____________________ Evan... Are you at home resting yet? I'm very glad you're feeling better!
Yep. That's pretty much it. The DIO32 can control servos, Digital inputs, Digital outputs and PWM dimming (along with all the standard lighting effects) to off-board solid state relays. The ServoDog is an 8 channel controller used mainly to control Servos, but it also has DI/DO and PWM in fewer quantities. I did my first tests of it last night and I'm pretty impressed. I tried it with ELLs and it was flawless. I'm really looking forward to animating stuff. I'm going to try some control/power lead distance tests as soon as they allow me to leave work for a few minutes...
Great Snowman Greg. I can't wait to see it up close and personal!
Jeff
____________________ Evan... Are you at home resting yet? I'm very glad you're feeling better!
The reason I went with the DIO card was really for a few reasons. First, LOR didn't announce the ServoDog until later in the year. I had originally planned on using the DIO card simply because of what it can do. The ability to control large amounts of power I thought would come in handy down the line. Then the ServoDog got announced. I could probably of used that this year with the servos and the inputs I am doing but after that I would need the ability to use the daughter cards that go along with the DIO card. This year I am just using the card for servo control and inputs, but next year I most likely will be adding the relay card to the setup.
Long story short, the main reason for the DIO card was it's flexibility in the future.
Yes, he does have a hat. The hat that came with his frame from Val was modified because it was a little too heavy to be balanced and controlled by the servos. The problem is he is so big he doesn't fit in my basement with his hat on! Whoops again! He will have one when he is singing live though!
