Ungab Productions!

Welcome to Ungab Productions a website devoted to my puppet creations and video madness in general. It's my hope that you find the content here entertaining. Follow Mr. Scrap as he tries to avoid the Illuminati! Help Jack remember his lines! Listen as Grendle explains the bounty of the "Free Software Movement" and why you should be using it. Listen to Ungab tell you about nifty products and services that he's found online. Listen to the mad genius of Conspiracy Cowboy. He knows what will continue.

I've also recently expanded into video tours of local (Kalamazoo/Battle Creek MI) parks, and interviews with local coffee shop owners and works. :)

Even more expansion! Drawings, images, photographs, comics and more!!!

The art of the Variety Show lives on!

A fig rig is sort of a steering wheel shaped rig for your video camera to help get steadier shots while still keeping fluidity of motion and control. Since I didn't really want to spend $300 today or wait for one to arrive I decided to make a similar rig myself. I decided on a square design (hence squig rig) instead of circular since it's easier to assemble and I think the benefits of a circular design is dubious at best.

This is a video showing off my Squig Rig and a short shot of it in action:

Here are a couple of still photos for a more detailed view of the squig rig iteself and the bracket after it has been put together:

This rig uses four equal length pieces of 3/4" pvc pipe for the walls (make long enough to fit your camera), four 3/4" pvc elbow connectors, one 1/4" wing nut, two 1/4" bolts, one 1/4" hex nut, one 1/4" locking nut, one pipe bracket with space for 1/4" bolts/nuts, super glue, and flat black spray paint.

I think this rig is pretty good, but I think shifting the weight of the camera more towards the center will help increase stability even more, so I've drawn up plans for version 2:

What do you think? Let me know if you give making one of your own a shot. Feel free to ask any questions about the rig and materials as well.

Space is Heaven made in lmms

I recently put together a shoulder rig for my Canon EOS T2i and my H2 Zoom audio recorder so that I could take more stable moving videos and record better audio than with the built in microphone.

It's made out of 2 pieces of PVC pipe, a PVC "T" connector, a pipe bracket that has a place for a bolt to fit through, two 1/4 inch bolts, one locking 1/4 nut, one regular 1/4 inch nut, two 1/4 inch wing nuts, and duct tape where needed or cool. The shoulder padding is made of some pantyhose, rags, and rubber bands. Not very expensive, not very pretty, but steady and useful. :)

Here's a video that shows it off pretty well (though my Sony Bloggie has trouble in the low light and close up):

Here are some stills taken with my Canon T2i so you can get a clearer look at how it's all put together:

What do you think? Please, let me know if this helps you out or if you make a variation on this design. :)

Hard Night by Phillip J Rhoades