Fpider

Behind the Scenes!

Setting up the Shot

Prototype

Fpider Mechanism

Walking in the Fpiderwebs

Fpider was another rapid-fire special effects shot made for my Art of Robotic Special Effects class. The Fpider in question is a fork that was made into a spider-like marionette. This project only took one week to design, build, and shoot.

This shot was meant to capture the odd, spider-like motion of our character using the limited resources we had. Up until this point, no one in the class had created an automated marionette, so we tried to break that barrier to encourage others to do the same.

The Fpider was a fork with armature wire legs that were mounted on pivot points under the fork. The "knees" of these joints were attached to fishing line that was then attached to our servo mount. The servo mount had 6 servo motors on it (one for each leg), and it slid on a rail so that the Fpider could move. This motion produced a dragging effect in the legs, that made the Fpider appear to be pushing itself along.