Realistic, Animatronic Lion Mask with stereo night vision and amplified hearing

This is the full step by step on building a realistic lion mask with moving jaw
with stereo night vision/color vision system, and amplified hearing augmentation.

This system was first line prototyped in this mask, Others have been made since then
such as the wolves and bear that can be seen on my site along with all my other work at

Lion of the sun [e-mail]

To build this system takes both art and technology. the first part of this Instructable will deal with the
tear down and rebuild of the video glasses into stereo units. There is a huge amount of information
on the whole build. If anyone has questions you can email me through my site and I will try and answer when I can.

Last page of this build has videos for your enjoyment, including demo of how my jaw systems work.

So sit back, this is going to be a long one. and I hope you enjoy this build.

Step 1 Teardown and rebuild of the video glasses

Okay so we start with 2 I-Theater video glasses, these are a dual TFT display system. Units come with a driver system with an internal LI-Poly battery with an average runtime of 8-10 hours. these units run about 250.00 -300 each on ebay

Comments

[Lily Baldwin]

Really realistic and well-made. Nothing close to store bought--- perfect construction and helpful instructions. Great job!

[avanbibber]

Incredible.

[chrisre cat]

this could be perfect if you add some small servos to the ears and snout and some soft flex sensors behind the ears and under the eyes to make the ears twitch and the snout snarl

[zack247]

very, very cool, the addition of night vision means you can keep wearing the mask even after the sun has gone down, but i want to know, how did you make it so the jaw moves with your mouth?

5*s man, 5*s.

[dsonley]

thats amazing. would do that if i had the money, haha there awsome makses.

have you thought about using old camcorder digital viewfinders? there more like £30 for the pair rather than £400

also you should add more leds to take advantage of the ir camera i think,
Dan

[Hawk515]

could use the optics to make splinter cell goggles

[bornkilr]

What kind of fur is that? And where can you get it?

[ScottlandtheBrave]

Try this place: http://www.nftech.com/index.html
They are expensive, but super-awesome high-quality furs they offer.

[_-MacGyver-_]

So this halloween will we be seeing a body as well?

[JamesRPatrick]

Dayum! This is intense!

[DJ Radio]

I spot a reference to Halo in this ible.  (number of steps)

[hottamaleindustries]

I'm sure that was unintentional, but nice observation.

[DJ Radio]

Of course it is, this is the longest instructable on the site so far.

[Opcom]

my hat is off to you for an accomplisment of technology and art in harmony. For my part I always wanted to convert a motorcycle helmet, (or even just buy a PVS-7 for my kevlar pot) but i'm not an artist enough to make such a great looking mask. A good choice the lion, the king of cats with his super senses, and you made the king of masks!

[chrisre cat]

do you think reinforceing and modifieing this to make a motorcyle helmet is a good idea

[anres321]

WTF this is the longest instructable ever !! 117 steps but the result is great !! 5*

[sabbysayshi]

im contemplating on the jaw system.. can you make an ible or explain how that is done? thank you

[dormotavian]

Q!!!!!!!!

[arturbo]

Before you buy iTheater glasses: I ordered a pair of iTheater glasses (now half-price) from a seller on Ebay, only to find that they changed the way the TFT screens are powered. Rather than a hard-wired hot and ground from the board to the TFT (made by MicroEmissive Displays), the power is diverted through the flexible ribbon cable! Imagine my dismay. There is no way I can find to power both TFTs from one board, no matter the configuration. I'm considering using both pairs of TFTs, with the screens I don't need hidden off to the side maybe... Definitely a expensive disappointment. Here is an article I found while searching for datasheets and solutions. http://bit.ly/bWyptX Thanks for this amazing tutorial. I made one myself last year and it worked brilliantly for everything I wanted.

[Bochiechio]

Where did you buy the fur from?

[00giba00]

 Could it be done in an Half-Summer plus 2 month of school?   Want one for next halloween

[simpsoni]

very many steps,but thank you this is amazing mask

[Sunny124613]

imagine crawling in a bush around
an enclosed neighborhood...

ahhhh, then you will be part of an elite
group known as nerds.

[bored2death]

that is an awesome mask! it would be a hit at my school since our mascot is a lion ;P

[bored2death]

HOLY S***!!! that's a lot of work...i'm impressed

[squawker]

Congratulations good sir. You obviously spent hours of blood sweat and tears on this project and it has paid off. Just an idea. Wearing it as a mask is alright but it would be uber cool to make a fully working robot lion that was remote controlled and sent you its video and audio back to your laptop. MASS PANIC!!! MASIVE FUN!!!

[Tape-structable]

That is probably the most realistic looking mask I have ever seen. Better than store bought, better than low budget movies, oh man. AMAZING.

[ericgarner118]

I haven't commented on any instructable yet, but I had to give you kudos. This is one of the most interesting things I've read on here. I don't think I would/could ever build something like this, but it's simply wonderful. Very nice job.

[thepelton]

Fascinating. I think you may have taken the prize for the longest instructable ever, but this I definitely have to download.

[Sunny124613]

I looked up jaw test 2 and it was SOOOO funny. 5 stars!!!!

[dombeef]

Hi Sunny

[Flumpkins]

How long dic this take you???

_{,5/5 and favorited}

[ReCreate]

about 500 years, aprox

[Flumpkins]

LOL that is believable

[ReCreate]

Ha yeah :P

[Solion]

Actually about 3 weeks, about 120 hours or so

[ReCreate]

wow, i bet you set a record.

[Jackus95]

I've got a great idea of what i could do with this design...but it would probably take me FOREVER to make

[00giba00]

I didnt quite understand this step because of the weird angle. More precision plz? (Or detailled explanaition)

[ebidk]

Nice instructable but won't that head construction be incredibly hot to wear?