I was Initially concerned about how well the eyes would synchronize being controlled by separate servos (versus the old bowden tube system that used one servo for each axis across both eye modules). Pleasantly surprised, they sync up nicely and I was able to make small adjustments in software.

Still waiting on a few parts to hook up the linkages on the second eye, painting and gloss are done though. This is only a update to the current build. I'm going to remove the existing skull mech and reuse most of the fur, although I'm going to swap the mofu on the muzzle for nft for better realism.

Painted, and ready for lacquer. I always paint the whole thing, even though it'll be mostly covered in fur. I've made the teeth a bit more yellow this time, which I'm hoping will look more realistic. I need to figure out how to cast resin teeth, those look better than printed & painted teeth.

After an eternity of printing, the flexible TPU components are complete.

I was originally just going to update the design of the jaw part and install, then the jaw and the eye mechs, then the jaw, the eye mechs and the headbase, at this point I have updated and am re-printing (or have re-printed) every part. Isn't that just how projects always go?

Controls work on the eye assembly, significantly more responsive than the Bowden cable version. I haven't finished refining the code, and in spite of that the movement is pretty natural. Parts for the other eye are printed, waiting on more servos to assemble it.

Eye mechanism moving under its own power. Code still needs work, but the mechanical side of things is working nicely.

Eyelid servo test, seems to work pretty well.

Eyelid test, making progress. Still needs work.

Range of motion test, seems to work just as well as the bowden cable drive version. A slight drag force applied to the eye reveals that there really isn't any slack in the linkages and joints, I'm optimistic I can get two of these to synchronize with the right code.

The Viking Werewolf pre-made head I ordered from @growlngear.bsky.social arrived yesterday, just in time for National Werewolf Day! whatnationaldayisit.com/day/werewolf/ Trying to decide if I want to build a full body suit, or build a 3/4 partial with armor.

Finally got around to printing a head for the 3d-scanned, 3d-printed patterning mannequin I made of myself (for patterning the body suit). Now Haakon can loom menacingly in the corner to his hearts content.

My animatronic headbase from the 3.0v build, before I put the fur on it.

The earliest proof of concept to the latest WIP. The beauty of design isn't in the finished product, it's in the process.

Another old function test video from early in the development of the eye animatronics.

Hooking up the eye itself to the the servos will require some small parts that haven't come in yet, but I'm very pleased with how this has turned out so far. It seems likely I can take the eye mechanism from Bowden cables to direct drive.

When you forget one of your printers still uses a bowden extruder (for reduced weight and faster travel speeds), and set the slicer to 0.5mm of retraction, instead of 4mm of retraction. Didn't ruin the print though.

Old video of testing the movement of the eye animatronic in module in the 3.0 version of Haakon.

Old video of the eye animatronics working on the version 2.0 Haakon head.

The ossuary of failed headbase design configurations. On the far left is the current version 3.0 just before final assembly. Beside it all that remains of version 2.0 which was taken apart to find out what worked and what didn't.

So far, so good. This the first two segments of the armature mechanism I devised to re-work the Haakon head into a head-in-neck type suit. The spring drums can be adjusted to neutral balance, and used transfers the weight of the head to the frame back.

When I designed this the first time I didn't think it was possible to fit all three servos onto the eyeplate (resorted to bowden cables from an external assembly). Tinkered around with the design again, and low and behold: a configuration with both left right, up down, and blink servos in one piece.

Spring loaded neck hinge mechanism.

Biggest challenge of the current Haakon build has been the back mounted control box (drives eyes / eyelids via bowden tubes). Calibrating the eyes involves someone manipulating the adjust bezzles while looking over my shoulder into a mirror. It's time to put the servos directly on the eye plate.

Concept for v3.0 of the Haakon head: ignore all previous instructions, make gnoll as tall as possible. Putting the head on a spring balanced armature creates many interesting new design challenges. Jaw will be electromechanical. Should be about 8' at the ears though. Probably worth it.

Tinkering with an art deco inspired, fox-protogen sort of hybrid concept in cad of my first character Rankine the fox.

The original prototype of the Haakon head, I liked the aesthetics better in some ways but it was almost entirely unwearable due to how I had the inside configured. I deconstructed it to figure out how to improve the design. The NTF fur looked more realistic than the new black stretch fur.

modular animatronic eye, the camera feeds to a screen inside the mask. Movement is cabled driven.

First fursuit head build in years, took a while to get the animatronics to work right, and I was sewing the face on while en-route to AC2024, overall it turned out pretty good. I didn't count on the humidity though, took out some of the electronics but was still able to suit a few times.