Motion Control Dolly - Group Buy

[Ben Feuer]

Hey all - found a really cool opportunity to buy a "pre-owned", never used, custom motion control dolly rig. For FX work this is invaluable - also great whenever you need perfectly smooth, precision, repeatable motion.

Talked to the guy - apparently this is a custom-built rig. Brand new, never taken out of the box. He bought it for a shoot (original cost of 10k, not 100k) but by the time it was built his shoot was finished and he couldn't use it.

So I'm gonna contact the company that made it tomorrow and get some details. Assuming they're reputable and he's reputable, I'm going to organize a group buy with anyone in Los Angeles who's interested. I'm expecting the out of pocket cost to be $2k, $1k if I get a bunch of people.

Pretty good price for true motion control!

If you want to be in the loop, just PM me!

http://www.peaceriverstudios.com/15_...l/TrailRai.pdf

[Ben Feuer]

3 people so far - the price will only go down from here...
More information on Monday...

[Mark Allen]

your pdf link is broken btw.

[Albert Cheng]

I might be interested. But I need some more information

[KETCH ROSSi]

I'm interested too,

as far as getting more info just go here: www.peaceriverstudios.com,

you will be able to download direct and view specs, just clic on the Trailrail.

Great little product and perfect for me since it uses a Mac platform to control the software, they used with an ibook, I have a beef up 17" Macbook Pro w/HD screen but for use with this I would get the smallest and less expensive new Ibook I can get.

It seams you will have to make the Mac laptop part of the package control system.

Keep as inform on your ordering progress, I'm in it for at list one or two.

Ciao,

KETCH ROSSI
www.KETCHFRAME.com

[Mark Mannschreck]

I think I saw this listed... I was interested, but even more so now with a group buy!

[Ben Feuer]

http://www.peaceriverstudios.com/15_...l/trindex.html

That's a better link -

Thanks for all the support so far, let me know if there's any specific questions you guys want asked.

[Bruce Allen]

Penfever, thanks for the PM response and thanks again for finding this...

Thanks for all the support so far, let me know if there's any specific questions you guys want asked.

Yep, how fast can the sucker move in go-motion mode with a Red sitting on it (or an HV20 ;)? The sample video they had was a static panning timelapse. But even if it's slow it would obviously be very cool for the odd Baraka-style shot.

And you're going to have to tell us about your Valkyrie opera thing... is this a Wagner Ring Cycle thing or your own music? That's always been something I've wanted to do... anyway sounds like fun and look forward to meeting you and chatting about motion controlled dollies and our predictions for the LA Opera...

Bruce Allen
www.boacinema.com

[Ben Feuer]

Hey all -

So...
Here's the down-low. I've spoken with the guy who's selling the unit and with the guy who made the unit at length. I'm gonna lay down the following details.

The first detail (probably the one you're going to care most about) -
The price is higher than initally expected, BUT if everyone who contacted me is still interested, it still comes out to AROUND $2000 per person. Might vary slightly.

So around $2000.

Now here's the cool stuff -

This unit was designed for high speed - it can travel 20 ft of track in a few seconds (the motor was built to keep up with a moving automobile). It can also do low speed.

The dolly is motion controlled - it can be operated via software.

The extra cost comes from needing a motion control head to attach to the dolly, which would give us pan and tilt functionality (which I know is important to me, and probably everyone else also). What's nice about that is the same guys who built the unit build the head - so they would basically take it to their shop, verify that everything's in working condition (no reason it shouldn't be, it's never been opened), add the head, and also add a new feature they recently developed, an analog remote.

That means you can control all three functions with a 15-ft wired remote potentiometer - basically a knob. Dolly by knob - who needs a dolly grip?!

So that's pretty cool. It's precise to 1/20th of an inch (approximately), probably comes with 18-24 ft of track. Extra track or curved track runs about $1k per 6ft unit.

So, are people still interested?

[KETCH ROSSi]

Yes I'm still interested,

IO just spoked with the fox over atpace river studios for a Pano Head and clear some details about the Trail rail as well.

Continue to keep as up dated.

Ciao,

KETCH ROSSI