I'm considering getting in to microcontroller programming and have a project I want to work toward.
Any suggestions on how to build a decent motion control camera rig? I want to play around a bit with greenscreen model shots, but mostly I want something to perform smooth repeatable camera moves. I'd start out with two axis and move up from there.
My concerns are the following.
-Learning (as opposed to programming the move each time as you would a CNC lathe)
-how to get home position or position feedback
-Memory (Do I store only angle information or angle AND acceleration?)
-physical layout
-Microcontroller power and ease-of-use
Ease of use dictates that the rig be operated by joystics operating the axis (pan/tilt/up/down/forward travel/reverse travel). I could probably figure out how to use a Basic Stamp reading pots and operating some geared-down stepper motors to get this functionality, but how do you store the information? How fast do you need to poll the joystics and set the steppers for smooth movement? How much memory is required for, say, 2 minutes of data?
I think the layout should follow the camera usage as much as possible. So, no boom and no arm. The camera should probably be on a track with counterweighted movements up and down a central shaft, or series of shafts.
Finally, what's a good platform to use for someone who knows a very little bit about a lot?
Basic Stamps are easy, but I'm concerned about cost and the power of the Basic programming language. I REALLY like Basic Stamp's all-inclusive starter kits, though.
Ooopics look better, but cost is a problem (I'd rather fry a $5 pic than a $70 daughter board) and no nifty starter kits.
Proton Basic looks promising, but is expensive and no all-inclusive starter kids with books to hand-hold you through the learning process.
And that's just the PIC side. There's Atmel and some Rabbit thing too. Along with Lego's Mindstorm.
Thanks for your help!
P.S. I HAVE done a motion control scene already! I put my camera on the rotating platform of a stretch wrapper. The movement slows and stops in roughly the same place so I videotaped myself three times at three different locations and composited them together. The result is the camera panning over one of me, then stopping on two of me sitting at a table. That was fun!