Over the years of casually enjoying behind the scenes footage of animatronics, I’ve gotten accustomed to the construction methods that are most typically used. Things like heat formed plastic or cast plastic for the structures and frames that go under the skin.
WilletFX is exploring the use of 3D printing to create his animatronics and his results are simply mesmerizing. I can only assume that the industry is using more and more of this stuff, but we don’t actually get to see the development, or at least won’t until the movies are old enough that the footage surfaces.
In the meantime, enjoy following along as WilletFX develops this 3D printed animatronic head. You may learn some things or get some ideas!
An eye ear and lip test shows that the structures are all working well together. The only thing missing here is jaw movement, which the rig is capable of. You can see that in one of the videos below.
Here is a breakdown of how the head is assembled. While WilletFX doesn’t share the files for download, they are fairly basic mechanical concepts (very well done). It is easy to imagine that this rig could be somewhat reusable with minor changes to the outlying structures that actually attach to the skin.
just for reference, here is a very similar animatronic head, made by WilletFX in the more traditional method. You can kind of ignore whether one looks better than the other, the real power of the 3D printer comes in allowing it to be modular.
Here’s another preview where you can see the interesting mechanics of the eye structure and his clever magnetic tooth system.
Look at the jaw movement here. The protrusion or forward movement of the entire jaw gives so much more life to a final animatronic, helping avoid that puppet feeling you can get with a simple jaw hinge. I can’t wait to see the whole thing finished.
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