Make A High Tech Zoetrope

[@noonco]

Thank you! I'm not building custom projects right now, but any electronic hobbyist there in the UK should be able to assemble it easily. I've found that just connecting the reed switch to a small relay does quite a good job as well. You can add small capacitors across the coil leads to vary the delay in the flash if needed, and dial it in pretty well without the circuit! Thanks again!

[@HowtoMakeThings]

You absolute legend for posting this

[@sandipanpaul4404]

Hello, You taught the mechanism so easily. Thank you so much for your initiative. It made me feel like I may make one. I have no knowledge about electronics. Could you please help me with purchase links of the strobe circuit and motion sensor.

[@frankly1970]

Amazingly helpful. I had spent and entire afternoon with a strobe and fan trying to get the right sort of effect for a Muybridge set of 16 baboon images. My baboons were laser cut on a thick paper disc and each shows a gradual shift. The problem I discovered is syncing things up. I will certainly try this method.

[@TheColleenDabeanShow]

That is so cool! Now I want to build one.

[@noonco]

Awesome!

[@mrHenryGale]

Great video!!! I'm making my own zoetropre...can you tell me where buy the gear do you have? Many thanks!!

[@noonco]

@TuangPingfaVilunda Thank you so much for checking it out, and taking the time to write!

[@diamony123]

any idea on specs for using ir sensor set-up interrupter...what type of transistors , voltage, resistor etc, for bright LED strobe using around 5-9 volts

[@micraft3]

hi, thanks for the info on the pcb focus tool, i have tried to recreate it, but it seems to take a lot of brightness out of the system, even with a 9v supply it seems to be very dim, i cant figure why this is happening, is the circuit diagram correct, is it a std 4013 chip?

[@theantithesis1]

@ 4:54 Know what else would help with the dimming/brightness issue? Add another magnet or two between each of the segments. This will cause the light to flash more often and your eye will interpret it as nice, even lighting. This is how film movie projectors worked. There was a shutter wheel that blocked the light when the film advanced but they found that a steady light between frames made the image flicker, hence "flick." They found that increasing the amount of flicker by adding two more shutters to the wheel made it appear as a steady light source.

[@noonco]

Yes! I've seen this done beautifully with a camera set to the exact frame rate of the spinning disk. (Tricky to adjust, but beautiful when well done!) The only downsides to a record player is that your models to animate must be very light, and well balanced, and if you want to trigger your strobe from the turntable, you'll probably need an optical or mechanical pickup (instead of the magnets). The motor and turntable shown here only cost about $25, so price is probably comparable. Thanks!

[@Joreus]

Haha, this stuff needs way more credit. This is pretty cool and well thought out.

[@micraft3]

further to my previous post, i am trying to use a 4.5vdc system, what voltage do you use?

[@dannymosquito]

Wow great video! thanks so much for sharing. Does the room have to be in complete darkness for this to work. The reason I ask is I noticed when you start to spin the wheel without the strobe you can still see all the frames of the balls. Unless the room was in complete darkness why wouldn't you still see the darker images when the strobe is in the off position causing a blurring effect. Is it to do with the human eye focusing on the brighter images and ignoring the darker?

[@fulyngu]

I had a paper Zoetrope as a kid (which was pretty cool) but when I saw my first LIVE 3D version at a Blue Man Group show... I was BLOWN AWAY! Thanks for the great video! (I'm trying to figure out a way to incorporate something like this into my Magic Show... I'll keep you posted ;^)

[@noonco]

@dannymosquito Complete darkness is best, though you can certainly make out the animation as the lights begin to dim. Yes, the blurring is caused when the duration of the flash is too long. When the flash is short, the wheel is visually frozen at that moment, so there is no "motion" blurring. If the flash is too short, then the wheel looks "dim" because your eye does not have enough time to respond to the flash. Hence, the little focus tool. :-) Thanks.

[@alwayslive7460]

SHOULD THE LAMP TURN ON AT THE INITIAL BOUNDARY OR AT SEGMENT CENTER... ? (FOR PURPOSE OF MAGNETS PLACEMENT)

[@mackenziekid]

Either will work. It just changes where the piece "appears."

[@vaasnaad]

Excellent tutorial on something classic and cool! It's been too long, glad to see you again!

[@stancurtin]

There are some really neat ways to cut a perfect circle in wood. My favorite is to use a table saw! There is a good video showing how if you search youtube using this term: "perfect circle dan r mold"

[@noblinking]

Love the "focus tool".

[@noonco]

I do have the parts available on the web page given at the end of the video. You certainly don't need to purchase parts from me, and I'm happy to stear you toward vendors that sell similar parts. Thanks!

[@RomainPitz]

Hi, I realise this is quite an old video, but by any chance, what is the transistor you use in your focus tool? Thanks!

[@stancurtin]

Any general purpose transistor NPN should work. I probably used a 2N2222 just because everyone does. :-)

[@RomainPitz]

great thanks. I ll check cause I want to drive LED strips so I might need a bigger transistor for higher current.

[@zagent]

Walt, thank you so much for sharing, this was beautiful, great job You are one of a kind. Joe (EnvisionMagic)

[@noonco]

@EDUNEWES Thank you SO much! You've made my day. :-)

[@andrew-irwin]

Walt, this is absolutely fantastic! I'm currently teaching 3/4th graders animation and I'm going to build one of this to use in class. The kids are going to go nuts! How big are the magnets you used? I've found an Australian supplier, but I've no idea how big they need to be for the reed switch. That would really help me out.

[@rastAsia]

Would you be interested to build that 'reed switch' and LED 'focus strobe' circuitry for purchase? I wish I was good at electronics soldering and such! But I'd love to build one of this.. Thanks a lot for sharing this! You certainly need more credit on this.

[@EDUNEWES]

This is very very wonderful... Amazing job Sucess for u Walt Noon by Eduardo Neves .'. from Brazil

[@jototeva]

This was so cool! Can I buy the focus tool from you? I am in the UK!

[@noonco]

5/16" diameter x 1/8" thick Thanks!

[@diamony123]

They always did say great minds think alike

[@TuangStudio]

OMG!! THANK YOU !! for such a good invention :)

[@constanceaverman4364]

Thanks!

[@ryanbrownnew]

erm..can't you just use a record player?

[@AngieMoonie]

MMMM, WHATCHA SAY? MMMM, THAT YOU ONLY MEANT WELL, WELL OF COURSE YOU DID!

[@Quads-and-Rods]

Awesome

[@thegreatcahyo]

Hello my friend, how are you?

[@noonco]

Yep, I could do that for sure if you like. I also had an idea for a simplified design that is "preset" to a certain burst rate rather than being adjustable that I could build faster/cheaper if you don't mind the focus set to a certain value. My email is nooncomp at yahoo dot com.

[@umutilis2099]

The end