Tom’s show are played through our Show Control system provided by Weigl Control. We are using a Pro Commander 2, that is our main show controller with all the shows stored on it and that communicates with the show computer. We also have a Pro I/O Analog/Servo module to control Tom’s servos and actuators, a Pro I/O Digital module to interface with the relay that is used to power Tom on and off remotely from the touch screen and a Pro I/O DMX module that controls the DMX lights on the scepter.
The first step in the show control programming is loading all the animations into the show control software. We added the animations from Maya after they were converted using the 3D converter software given to us by Weigl. The animation data from Maya is converted into data readable by the motors in the form of a .CSV file. After the file is exported from the 3D converter it needs to be imported into the show controller software Conductor pro to allow the motors to read the data through the Weigl Pro I/O module. This requires creating a template in Conductor Pro with channels representing the different functions like Mouth Open/Close, Head Turn, Head Tilt, Torso Bend and Scepter move. The order of the channels needs to be right so that the motor assigned for that function can read the data, for example if the order for Torso and Scepter is not right then it may cause the animations of the scepter on the torso which is something we don’t want. After creating the template we then add in the audio channel and the DMX channel for the lights on the scepter.
Once we are satisfied with all the animations, we must deploy them to the show controller over the ethernet connection. Each animation is stored as a separate show file with a unique index to identify it on the show controller. Once all the shows are on the show controller, we are ready to trigger them from the interface.
The show computer connected to the interface communicates with the show controller over UDP. The show controller, the Pro I/O’s and the show computer are all on their own subnet in the 10.0.0.x range. The IP address for the show controller is 10.0.0.102. The show controller understands predefined ASCII commands that can be found on the Weigl support website (https://www.dropbox.com/s/3idtbiicdglara0/WEIGL_ASCII-Commands.pdf?dl=1). These ASCII commands are stored as strings and can be sent over UDP to the show controller when we want to invoke a particular show or any particular behavior. The program controlling the touch screen interface uses these commands and sends them to the show controller to play the particular animation, sound and effects.
We also integrated with the existing show control system in the Castle of Miracles. iTec, who built the castle helped us integrate Father Time an existing animatronic in the castle with Tom Foolery for the Goodnight Castle show that happens every night. This allowed us to breathe in new life into an old animatronic. While integrating, we wanted to ensure that the staff controlling Tom Foolery was able to start the Father Time show. This meant that when the Goodnight Castle show is started, the show controller opens open collector output 1 and sends a signal to the Father Time PLC to start playing the Goodnight Castle show. We used the “ess” command to set the open collector outputs on the show controller to high and that would send a signal to the iTec PLC to trigger the show.
By Rajat & Niharika