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This 3D printed motion control rig offers pro-level features at a DIY-level price

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I’m a big fan of DIY motion control rigs and we’ve featured quite a few here on DIYP before, including this crazy 6-axis (mostly) 3D printed one. But this one from Andreas Epp – who goes by FuzzyLogic on YouTube – is a really slick design. Not only is it a thing of mechanical beauty, but it also seems to rival many commercially available systems out there, too.

Andreas’ motion control system is 3-axis, including a slider and a pan-tilt head. It’s a setup that you wouldn’t expect to be all that difficult. But having had a go at building some myself, they can be quite complex beasts to nail down – especially when you’re relying on 3D printed parts.

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This open-source DIY 6-axis motion control rig is almost entirely 3D printed

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The only thing cooler than a 6-axis motion control rig is a DIY 6-axis motion control rig. And the only thing cooler than that is an open-source one that anybody can build and modify to suit their own needs. And that’s exactly what this is from Chris Desrondiers at Do It Whenever? An open-source 6-axis motion control rig that’s made entirely from 3D printed and off-the-shelf parts.

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The axiiio nano is a complete compact, modular and expandable motion control system

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It looks like there’s a new player in the world of motion control. The axiiio nano has today launched on Kickstarter with a new modular system that offers a lot of flexibility. Rather than just being a single device, it’s a range of components that allow you to build up only the system you need. And it’s designed for both photographers as well as filmmakers.

The goal of axiiio was to have the system be as lightweight and versatile as possible. So, it’s made from carbon fibre composites and aircraft-grade aluminium. But it’s also designed to be small, allowing you to use the same motors to control both the focus as well as move a camera along a slider.

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This DIY kit wants to be the Lego of motion control

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If you’d like to add some movement to your videos, there are plenty of ways to do it (including plenty of DIY methods). But here’s a very interesting kit that will add movement not only to your camera but also to your subjects. RGKit Play is kinda like Lego of motion control, and it seems both useful and very fun to play with. So let’s check it out and see what it offers.

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You thought this 7-Eleven commercial was CG but it was really shot using a giant robot arm

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I’m not entirely sure how recently the above commercial for 7-Eleven was released (I’m in the UK, not many hhere), but when I first saw it, I thought for sure that it was just some pretty neat CG. It turns out, though, that it was actually shot 100% practically and for real by none other than Steve Giralt and his team. Yeah, I know, I was quite surprised, too.

While a computer was used to previsualize and programme the moves, the actual sequence was shot on a Bolt motion control robot arm. I can’t quite tell what the camera was (some shade of RED, most likyle), but the lens used appears to be the Tokina Cinema Vista 16-28mm II T3 cine.

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Here’s how to light and shoot cinematic Apple-like product commercials

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When it comes to product photography, there are a lot of brands out there who keep a very consistent look and feel to their promotional material. Whether it’s a truck or a toaster, you can immediately tell by the way it’s lit and shot that it belongs to a certain brand.

One such brand is Apple. And while many of their product photos and videos are actually CG, the guys at Syrp have broken down Apple’s techniques to show you how you can shoot it for real.

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How to blend time with motion control from planning to post production

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Motion control is one of the most fascinating topics of photography and filmmaking for me. It combines several of my favourite subjects. Photography, electronics, engineering and programming. Motion control allows us to create some amazing imagery that just wouldn’t be possible in any other way. It also allows us to do it over and over again consistently.

That’s what drew YouTube channel Media Division to motion control and The Marmalade production house to record their new video intro. Consistency and repeatability. Their goal was to create a composite clip, shot with a moving camera, blending four different speeds of footage from real-time to 25% speed seamlessly.

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How to shoot epic slow motion food commercials without $100K+ robot arms

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We’ve all seen those fancy slow-motion food videos with ingredients slamming into each other in midair. Such videos often require expensive rigs involving multiple motion control robots that cost more than your house. But you don’t necessarily need to spend quite that much to start having a go at this kind of thing yourself.

After watching some of Steve Giralt’s work, the guys from Syrp were inspired to try it with a couple of their Magic Carpet sliders and Genie Mini heads to see if they could pull off a food video that had a similar look. I think they managed to do it quite well, and they were able to control the whole setup from just an iPad.

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This insane camera rig spins a Phantom slow motion camera at 150rpm (32mph)

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Steve Giralt is pretty well known for pushing things to the extreme when it comes to super slow-motion video. This time, though, he’s gone way overboard, by making a rig that spins a Phantom VEO 4K high-speed camera around a platform at 150 revolutions per minute.

The rig was made to film Jack Daniel’s Honey. They wanted to show a piece of lime spinning as it was falling into the drink as the whole thing was rotating around in front of the camera. Naturally, they couldn’t easily spin the lime as it fell, and they couldn’t really spin the drink, so the solution was obvious. Spin the camera.

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Syrp’s Genie Mini II upgrades connectivity, adding WiFi, more reliable bluetooth and USB Type C

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The original Syrp Genie Mini quickly became a leader in motion control for timelapse photographers and filmmakers. The small form factor made it easy to slip into your camera bag or even a pocket, and take with you just about anywhere. It also offered a lot of control and consistency.

Syrp has today announced its successor, the Syrp Genie Mini II, offering everything the original has but adding WiFi, Bluetooth 4.2, Type-C USB and future-proofing it for new features within the Syrp mobile app.

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