How to Make a Walking Mechanism for Special Effects Creature Models: A Walking Aid for Quadrupeds in Filming”

The Challenges of Creature Model Crafting

In the realm of filmmaking, “creatures” can refer to a wide range of beings—from fictional monsters to dinosaurs that once roamed the earth. Creatures hold immense cinematic appeal, often becoming the defining feature of a film when used effectively.

The greatest charm of creatures lies in their otherworldly designs. While many miniature model makers create static “hard models” that capture a moment in time, creatures in special effects films must move, requiring “soft models.” Building soft models is far more challenging than creating hard ones, as the materials and methods differ significantly.

In the past, I would critique special effects creatures, saying things like, “That fold in the skin looks unnatural,” or “They could have made it more realistic.” But once I started creating moving creatures myself, I realized how difficult it is to balance the model’s design and natural movements to a satisfactory level. More often than not, prioritizing movement means compromising the model’s level of detail.

Primary Methods for Animating Special Effects Creatures

Unlike static models, special effects creatures are used as props during filming, brought to life through various movement techniques:

• A person moving inside the model
• Strings or piano wires to manipulate movement
• Hands inside the model (puppet-style)
• Mechanical devices built into the model
• Stop-motion animation, moving the model frame by frame

Most realistic creature movements combine several methods. However, models large enough to accommodate a person are prohibitively expensive, so I focus on miniature models to keep costs down.

Puppet-style models are known as “muppets,” while those used for stop-motion animation are called “stop-motion models.” For examples of these techniques, refer to my e-books for detailed crafting instructions.

The Joys and Challenges of Model Animation

Animating models, or “puppeteering,” can be compared to manipulating a marionette with strings. The more moving parts a creature has, the more hands are required to puppeteer it, sometimes involving a team.

For instance, the live-action adaptation of Attack on Titan may have had a poorly received script, but its commitment to traditional special effects over full CGI made it a masterpiece in its visuals. Contrary to popular belief, the giants were actual physical models filmed on set, not CGI creations. The colossal giant, in particular, was manipulated by a team of people working in unison—a process both fun and inefficient.

One of the hardest actions to replicate is walking. Achieving natural balance while moving the legs and maintaining upper body stability is no small feat. Four-legged creatures pose an even greater challenge, as their complex gait—alternating front and back legs while balancing their weight—must feel natural to viewers accustomed to seeing real animals move this way.

For a short film of mine, The Iridescent Mist, I featured a mammoth and had two people animate its walking motion. One person manipulated the front legs while the other controlled the back legs, using a 1-2-3-4 counting rhythm to synchronize their actions. Although the footage turned out well, the process was painstaking, prompting me to design a walking aid for four-legged animal models.

Creating a Quadruped Walking Aid

After experimenting with various prototypes, I eventually developed a working walking aid inspired by principles found online. This device uses wheels to smoothly roll an animal model forward while automatically moving its front and back legs alternately, ensuring the legs don’t unnaturally sync. By calculating the wheel diameter, the device matches the stride of the model’s legs, preventing unnatural sliding when composited with background footage.

The best part? The walking motion can be controlled single-handedly, leaving the other hand free to animate the model’s head or other features.

Final Thoughts

Currently, I’m working on a comedy film called Phantom Dinosaurs, featuring various dinosaurs moving dynamically across the screen. While stop-motion animation could take an entire day to shoot a single scene, my walking aid allows me to complete a shot in just minutes, enabling a wider variety of footage.

I plan to showcase the construction process of the walking aid in future e-books or behind-the-scenes videos for Phantom Dinosaurs. Please look forward to it!