Brian McLean

So the geniuses at Leica have been trying to figure out a way, in real time, that I could demonstrate how we use 3D printers for replacement animation.

You see, stop-motion animation is an extremely slow process.

The average animator, working 40 hours a week, can produce three to four seconds of footage.

I would be up on this stage for weeks trying to animate something for you guys, and if any of you stuck around that long, you'd be disappointed because I'm not an animator and it wouldn't look very good.

So at first, we thought about building the zoetrope.

It was invented 200 years ago before film cameras existed as a way to see still images come to life.

We thought about dragging one of these out here and having me spin it like crazy, but the problem with this design is all the beautiful artwork is hidden behind large cylindrical walls.

So instead, we designed, engineered, and built something specific for this TEDx stage.

So this is Norman.

He's one of our typical stop-motion puppets.

Norman is about 10 inches tall.

He's got a metal armature.

animators will move the puppet, and they will also remove his face.

This is one of those 3D printed faces.

There are magnets on the back, and the magnets snap the face into position.

So when an animator goes out to set, they go out with their little character, little puppet, but they also go out with a box of faces.

We're delivering 24 faces for every second of footage.

This represents

Three seconds of Norman animation.

Think about this contraption, this camera as your eyeball, and this flywheel mechanism as your eyelid.