R2-D2 Upgrade -- 17 Cores
JonnyMac
Posts: 9,104
With "Rogue One" about to be released (just over the hill from me in downtown Hollywood), Star Wars is on a lot of minds again. I got a call from my friends at Alliance. They had an R2-D2 that needed a "simple update" (Ha!) to enhance the lights and sound, and to make the dome move. I don't know who built the original piece, but it was what we would generally encounter in the film industry -- it was procured to save the time required to build one from scratch (they were already busy with a 1/4 scale, scratch-built X-Wing).
The R2 unit was turned over to master mechanic/machinist Kyle Martin (www.moxietool.com) for physical updates. I would coordinate with him vis-a-vis new electroncis. Here's what we found when we popped open the R2.
Yes, this is the horror show that needed a "simple update." Alliance wanted the dome to rotate (Kyle handled that, providing a servo for me to control), and to have animated lighting just like in the movies. With a full-time job to deal with as well, there was no way I could re-create the R2 electronics in the 10 days we had to turn this around. Luckily, I got very lucky. I found a guy named Paul who had a set of R2 dome electronics that he would sell at a very reasonable price. He re-tested and sent them.
I replaced the Smile in the dome with Paul's Teeces kit, then used an EFX-TEK HC-8+ (Propeller) as the master controller. It moves the dome (using a gigantic, all-metal, high-power servo), plays audio through the EFX-TEK AP-16+ (Propeller) audio player, sends commands to the Teeces controller (Arduino), and controls a WS2812 LED in the front projector for Princess Leia's speech to Obiwan Kenobi. Here's the new electronics (before installing):
It was a scramble, there were frustrations, and a few late nights, but Kyle and I got it all working. Alliance was thrilled -- within minutes of us deliver and powering it on, the shop turned into a giant selfie session with R2.
The Force was with me -- finding Paul was a huge help, and my friend Dan (an R2-D2 builder) provided his entire audio library; this was key as R2 primarily makes sounds.
Here's a very short video from the first time we ran it.
-- https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Z6lJmoPrb9emNHZ1NpdGhBSTQ
The R2 unit was turned over to master mechanic/machinist Kyle Martin (www.moxietool.com) for physical updates. I would coordinate with him vis-a-vis new electroncis. Here's what we found when we popped open the R2.
Yes, this is the horror show that needed a "simple update." Alliance wanted the dome to rotate (Kyle handled that, providing a servo for me to control), and to have animated lighting just like in the movies. With a full-time job to deal with as well, there was no way I could re-create the R2 electronics in the 10 days we had to turn this around. Luckily, I got very lucky. I found a guy named Paul who had a set of R2 dome electronics that he would sell at a very reasonable price. He re-tested and sent them.
I replaced the Smile in the dome with Paul's Teeces kit, then used an EFX-TEK HC-8+ (Propeller) as the master controller. It moves the dome (using a gigantic, all-metal, high-power servo), plays audio through the EFX-TEK AP-16+ (Propeller) audio player, sends commands to the Teeces controller (Arduino), and controls a WS2812 LED in the front projector for Princess Leia's speech to Obiwan Kenobi. Here's the new electronics (before installing):
It was a scramble, there were frustrations, and a few late nights, but Kyle and I got it all working. Alliance was thrilled -- within minutes of us deliver and powering it on, the shop turned into a giant selfie session with R2.
The Force was with me -- finding Paul was a huge help, and my friend Dan (an R2-D2 builder) provided his entire audio library; this was key as R2 primarily makes sounds.
Here's a very short video from the first time we ran it.
-- https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B5Z6lJmoPrb9emNHZ1NpdGhBSTQ
800 x 600 - 399K
800 x 600 - 666K
800 x 1200 - 701K
Comments
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The displays were...printouts of the LED panels, with lights to illuminate them?
What an upgrade!
I think that's it. We couldn't believe that it had a 1.5" speaker that was taped to the inside of the dome. The upgrade has a 4" (5W) speaker that is playing 32kHz WAV files; as you can imagine, it sounds so much better, and you can actually hear it in a noisy environment. Late Thursday night the constant stream of R2-D2 sounds from the shop attracted visitors, one guy very proudly proclaiming: "I build light sabers!"
And, yes, it arrived with transparencies with a single 5mm LED behind each. The PSI (round) displays had the LEDs housed in recycled rattle-can tops. The Teeces kit was a real God-send.
Cool Jon, you have to wonder about some of these Hollywood props, and what experience the people in charge of construction have, some do and some don't.
Where does the 5x27? LED array reside, up front I'm guessing. Definitely a better prop now.
To bad you have to send it off, why stop there, make it a real robot.
Most "Hollywood" props are built very well because they have to withstand the rigors of production, and a production put on hold due to a prop failure is a very expensive event. This prop was a personal project that was acquired to save time, and will be used in a display -- it will not appear on screen.
There are dozens of rolling R2-D2s in LA, so there's no need for another. Thankfully, one of those guys provide his sound library to me which is why this R2 sounds as good as it does.
It's in a shared Google folder -- you should be able to download it. If not, you really aren't missing much. It's R2-D2.
Thanks,
I was able to download the video, C3PO translation or subtitles needed.
Sound files make it all work, those smaller LED arrays are pretty cool too. Looks and sounds better than what's in the movies. Enough to say I know someone who knows someone, R2D2.
The people invoved in making a prop like that, create something nice and shiny. Then have to turn around and create the distress marks on it, an art in itself.
I do recognize the marks in the lower front of R2-D2,
Dried up beer stain with accumulated dust and dirt.
Any openings for this line of work?
That was a true "MacGyvered" R2 Unit before you guys got to it.
Building an R2-D2 is on my things to build so it's cool to see what you guys did on the inside on this one.
I found a photo of the bearing the Kyle built for the dome. The outer portion is fixed (connects to body), the inner portion (and servo) rotate. The dome sits on the vertical studs. This was custom machined and uses several hundred nylon bearings in the ring.
That's no small task, it had to be designed for more than one example.
It's interesting that there isn't more than one premier happening simultaneously.
And you guy's weren't swamped with multiple upgrading job's.
Though the hype wasn't there for this movie, at least around here it wasn't.
I'm sure each site is responsible for props, etc. Alliance is supposed to be busy this year -- hopefully, I'll get to put more Propellers into cool props and displays.