GB2190825A - Animated form suits - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosure relates to an animated form suit for a real or fantasy being. The suit has a flexible skin to be "worn" by a human actor or a manipulatable mechanical skeletal structure. Internal gas bags (12) are disposed within the skin and attached to the body of the human actor or mechanical skeletal structure by straps (13) to represent the muscular form of the being. The shape, bulk and layout of the gas bags is designed to provide the required animal-like appearance and to reflect and emphasise the various parts of the animal's anatomy with a human actor or other mechanical structure supporting the bags and skin simulating the animal's skeleton. <IMAGE>

Description

SPECIFICATION Animated form suits This invention relates to animated form suits. The term 'animated form' is intended to inciude any animated beings and fantasy based creatures.

The International Film Industry has in recent years moved towards portraying extra terrestrial creatures, fantasy based alien entities and other beings to its audiences. Such developments in artisitic direction and entertainment have raised a number of technical problems. One of the most serious ofthese is that of creating a satisfactory form of suit that can be worn by a human to animate the desired extra terrestrial entity, a fantasy based creature or other being. The exterior ofthe form must create a credible representation of an animated being whose surface features, muscular movements and general demeanourmustconveythe impression of a believable entity which can, temporarily at least, suspend the audience's beliefs.The animated form suit must, at the same time, be of such a design asto minimise restriction to vision, movement and acting ability ofthe human within it in order that he can effectively'act' through the suit and communicatewith the audience. For animated forms of a shape and size that preclude the presence of a human within, the suit must be capable of being operated remotely from its exterior. A related problem tothatofsimulating the being's anatomy is the realistic representation ofeitherthe being's appendages or of parts of its anatomy which cannot be directly operated by the actor being inside the being.

An example is offered by the tail of an upright alligator-like creature. The movement ofthe actor or some mechanical simulation thereof should generate realistictail movements without direct control being applied.

The invention provides an animated form suit comprising a flexible skin containing a multiplicity of inflatable muscle shaped bags disposed within the skin to simulate the muscularity of the being and means to attach the bags to a skeletal structure enclosed within the skin to support the bags and skin in a life like manner. The skeletal structure may be provided by a human actorwithin the suit or alternatively by a remotely operated mechanical or electro mechanical device.

The animated form suit fills one ofthe above requirements of credibly simulating a being's anatomy in one application of the invention by mimicing nature in arranging fortheform to use the internal human actor as a skeleton surrounded by cellular inflated muscle shaped bags which simulate the shape and movement ofthe being's muscles. For animated forms that are substantially non-humanoid, the skeleton may also be provided by a mechanical device.

Afurther application of the suit structure described in this document arises in the design and construction of human dummies as fashion models andfor motor car and aircraft accident investigation work. These dummies are at present designed with the correct mass and mass distribution as those of humans but the representation ofthe pliancy ofthe muscle and bone combination is not correctly simulated. The animated form suit construction described in this document offers a means of creating human dummies of realistic appearance or with a realistic load deflection relationship for bodily impacts in accident research.

The following is a description of some specific embodiments of the invention, reference being made to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure lisa frontview of an animated form suit being worn by an actorwith the skin ofthe suit shown "ghosted"to reveal internal details ofthe suit and the actor therein: Figure 2 is a side view ofthe animated form suit and Figure 3 is a detailed view of an appendage of the suit.

The animated form structure is designed around the basic philosophy of simulating a being with an internal skeleton surrounded by musculature and skin. The actor's body or a remotely operated mechanical or electro-mechanical device forms the internal skeleton ofthe being. In the case of an actor operating the suit form within, the being's skeletal structure has to broadly reflectthe basic characteristics, joint positions and mobility of the human frame. However, the creature's muscular system can be credibly simulated by a system ofgasfilled bags attached at key points onto the actor's body. A reasonably flexible outerskin surrounds the actor and the gas bag system.Movements of the actor and consequential changes in shape (expansions orcontractions) ofthe muscular (gas bag) system will then cause the outer skin to flex in a credible mannerto simulate a creature with a believable internal structure. Although the internal skeleton (that is, the actor's body) has to be humanoid, the muscular system (gas bags) can be designed in any suitable arrangement of external shapethatthe creature designers wish to achieve.

There is, therefore, considerable potential for creating beings of strongly alien appearance which will, nevertheless, appear anatomically credible to the viewer.

On the other hand, for animated forms that can not accommodate a human actor within them, the actor can be replaced by a mechanical or electro-mechanical device to provide a remotely operated skeletal structure. This permits flexibility for designing ani mated beings with a wide variety of appearances.

Figures 1 and 2 present illustrations of a typical design which embodies an animated form suit with an actorwithin it. The internal human form 10, simulates the being's skeleton. The groups of creature muscles 11, simulated by gas bags 12, are attached to the human form by straps 13, in the same way as human muscles are attached to the human seleton. However, it isdesirableforthe actorto weara hardened internal suitortunic 14, from shoulderto upper leg which will permit attachment of gas bag muscles to any part of this hardened exterior. It is proposed, as shown in figures 1 and 2, thatfive sites are used for connecting the gas bag muscles to the actor's frame by straps.

These five sites are: (1) Below ankles on upper part offeet (2) Just belowthe knees (3) On hardened shoulder to upper leg section (4) Just below the elbows (5) Belowthewrist Gas bag muscles of appropriate shape connect adjacentfixing points in the list above to make up the proposed musculature. The shape, bulk and layout of the muscles can be entirely dictated by the designer of the being to yield the necessary final appearance and to reflect the emphasis (and volume) of each part of the being's anatomy.

In orderforthe animated form suit to be as light as possible, the possibility of filling the gas bags with helium ratherthan air was investigated. Itwas found that helium fiiling of the gas bags only created a worthwhile amount of liftwhen the being's external size was ofthe order of5 times or larger (in width, height and girth) than the actor's size. Therefore, filling gas bags with helium is only worthwhile for beings whose external size is substantially greater than the actor's size. Nevertheless, this option has been retained because the need for making the animated form suit lighter is greatestfor suits of very large size.

The above general construction and iayout of the animated form suitwould be similarfora suitwhere the actorwithin is replaced by an equivalent mechanical orelectro-mechanicai skeletal structure.

Investigations into materials for the gas bags and skin indicate that a form of polyethylene or conven- tional latex would be suitable for construction ofthe shaped gas bags to simulate muscles whereas either silicone, polymersorconventional latex into be used for skin material.

Although these materials will meetthe requirements of holding shape and having sufficient elasticity, they will nevertheless pose difficulties for cleaning and deodorising if an actor is working within the suit.

This is clearly only necessary when the actor's bare skin lies next to the gas bag material. It is planned, therefore,that in order to prevent the need to clean and deodorisethe gas bag material thatthe actorwear a non porous internal leotard shaped garment to prevent skin debris and sweatfrom coming into contact with the gas bag material.

The actor will need to be kept cool and dry within the undergarment. This will be done by a small, floor standing air conditioning system which will pump cool air of breathable quality and with low humidity between the actor's skin and the under garment.

The animated form suit may be built and used in sections with separate components including those listed below: Hardened shoulder to upper leg unit Upper and lower legs Upperand lower arm The head Feet Hands Other appendages.

The animated form's construction details are illus trated in figures 1 and 2 with the structure being such that one or more ofthe body sections can be used c their own. Skin joints between sections would need to be hidden under clothing orwithin skin folds deliberately built into the being bythe model maker.

Theanimatedform suitwouid be donned by the actor in an indicated order and with the gas bags emptied of air. Once the suit was on the actor, the gas bags would be blown up to precisely defined pressures in orderto activate the creature's musculature.

The pressure levels in each group of bags would need to be defined by trial and error using camera or other tests prior to commencing filming. These pressures can be repeated for subsequentwork. There is, however, some scope for modifying the gas bag pressures to change the animated suit's appearance.

It is recommended that inlet valves to the gas bag muscles be brought out in skin folds at points on the rear ofthe suit such that pressure adjustments can be readily made through non return (bicycle tyre type) valves. A similar suit preparation procedure would apply to the case where the internal skeletal structure was of mechanical form.

It is essential that the animated form be constructed from extremely lightweight materials in order to minimisethe difficulty of acting through the form. The structural features described above could be used for creating human dummies using aerated plastic material to represent bones and gas bag muscles to simulate musculature.

Thetail ofthe being illustrated in figures 1 and2 is used to illustrate the construction of a typical appendage. The tail structure has been designed for realistic movement and behaviour by simulating the structure of reptilian (or mammalian) tails within the being. The detailed construction is illustrated in figure 3 and consists of short sections of light plastic, 15, hinged at both ends to identical adjacent segments. The sec- tions are hinged 16, to generate horizontal movements ofthetail. Each of the sections are mounted with springs 17 on both sides to stimulate muscle action which operates on the "vertebrae" 18 made up from the plastic sections.The choice of low stiffness springs will yield the desired type of tail behaviour with motions of the being's waist induci ng realistic movements in the whole of the tail.

Asolenoid 19 mounted nearthe ends of the tail may be triggered by the actor or remotely to induce tail flicking movementwithoutany motion from the being's body. This is an optional extra.

Thetail internal structure of plasticsegments and springs is covered by light card tubes 20, overwhich may be built a gas bag muscular structure 21 and skin 22, to yield a desired shape and volume.

Thetail is mounted to the lower part of a hardened shoulder to supper leg tunic section 14, by an adjustable pivot which can be clamped by a boltwith the tail at any desired angleto the horizontal. An angle range of from 30 to 70 degrees is recommended.

The tail does, however, pose a balance problem for the actor. The problem can be reduced by constructing the tail to be as light as possible. Furthermore, if the creature rests part of its tail on the groundforthe majority offilming positions, the balance problem will not arise. For sequences in which the creature has to walk or run, it may be possible to make the creature run with thetail held high and closerto the bodythus again reducing the balance problem and simulating the expected biological behaviour ofthe creature.

Claims (15)

1 An animated form suit for a real orfantasy being comprising a flexible skin containing a multiplicity of inflatable muscle shaped bags disposed within the skin to simulate when inflated the muscularity ofthe being and meansto attachthe bagstothe human ora manipulatable mechanical skeletal structure to be enclosed within the skin to supportthe bags and skin in an animated form.

2. An animated form suit as claimed in claim 1, wherein the being incorporates a bodily part and a plurality of appendages attached thereto, the means for attaching the inflatable bags to the humanoid skeleton comprise a tunic to engage over the trunk of the humanoid skeleton to which certain ofthe inflatable bags depicting muscles around the bodily part ofthe being are attached, the gas-filled bags of the appendages ofthe being having strap means for attachment to arms/legs ofthe humanoid skeleton to move therewith.

3. An animated form suit as claimed in claim 2, wherein the arms/legs have separate inflatable bags simulating muscularforms of upper and lower parts of said arms/legs.

4. An animated form suit as claimed in claim 3, wherein the arm/leg portions of the skin terminate in hands/feet which have internal attachment straps for attachment to the hands/feetofthe humanoidstruc- tureforsupportingthe skin.

5. An animated form suit as claimed in any of claims 2to 4, wherein the tunic within the trunk portion of the being's skin has a rigid or semi-rigid form to receive the trunk of the humanoid skeleton and to carry the inflatable bags depicting the muscularity of the being's trunk.

6. An animated form suit as claimed in any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the suit is adapted to receive and be supported buy a remotely operated mechanical or electro-mechanical skeletal structure in place of its internal humanoid skeleton.

7. An animated form suit as claimed in any ofthe preceding claims, wherein an appendage is provided extending from a partthereof.

8. An animated form suit as claimed in claim 7, wherein the appendage of the form contains a multi-link articulated structure to enableto appendage to flex in any direction and a multiplicity of inflatable bags disposed around the articulated structure and along the length thereofto simulate muscularity ofthe appendage.

9. An animated form suit as claimed in claim 8, wherein the multi-link structure comprises a multiplic ity of links pivoted together and interconnected by springmeansto biasthe links into an elongate straight form whilst permitting the links to pivot with respect to one anotherwhen subjected to load to simulate flexing ofthe appendage.

10. An animated form suit as claimed in claim 8 or claim 9, wherein motor means are provided between any two sections of the appendage to reciprocate one part of the appendage with respectto anotherto simulate flicking ofthe appendage.

11. An animated form suit as claimed in any of claims 7 to 10 and in the case where the suit contains a tunic supporting the trunk of the animated form, wherein the appendage is attached to the tunic.

12. An animated form suit as claimed in any of the preceding claims, wherein each muscle shaped bag has meansfor inflation ofthe bag to a required pressure to depict the required muscle shape.

13. An animated form suit as claimed in claim 12, wherein said means for inflation of the bag is accessable externally of the suit.

14. An animated form suit as claimed in claim 12 or claim 13, wherein the means for inflation of each bag comprise a valve controlled nozzle.

15. An animated form suit substantially as described with reference to and as illustrated in Figures 1 to 3 of the accompanying drawings.