710263R P PuppetsClosedGRD Proof of ConceptInnovate UKMackinnon & Saunders create internationally famous animated character puppets such as Bob the Builder, Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride and Wes Anderson’s Fantastic Mr Fox. The company’s workshop uses many artisan skills such as sculpting, mouldmaking, fine metalwork and painting. New technology is becoming increasingly relevant to our industry and our aim is to develop an innovative system to “grow” puppets. Animation puppets have to be moved incrementally thousands of times during the production of a TV series or film, a process known as ‘Stop Motion’. Our puppets have an internal skeleton of brass and steel called an armature, which supports the puppet and allows it to be repositioned by an animator. Such armatures have traditionally been made from machined metal components soldered together. Unfortunately, this method can leave inherent weaknesses in the metalwork and, in the long term, the armatures may deteriorate and malfunction. The metal armatures can also be quite heavy, which can make them difficult to manipulate. The objective of the new system, provisionally titled ‘DMLS Armatures’ will be to use rapid manufacturing and metal sintering technologies to produce highly robust and ultra-lightweight puppets. Additionally, we wish to explore the practicalities of an innovative system provisionally called ‘Flexi Masks’. Our award-winning puppet head mechanisms are greatly respected by industry peers but there is now an increasing demand for a different type of puppet that utilises sets of faces to give the illusion of movement when used in sequence, where any detailing in the design on each face must “follow through” the entire set with great accuracy. We believe that rapid manufacturing technology may be able to help us apply complex paint detailing and textures to large numbers of puppet faces in a much more costeffective manner than traditional hand-painting techniques.