Hello, once again, it is Mark the Shark here. I am wondering if anyone knows how to build sets a good way. Thank you. My film is coming soon.

ive made afew now

What are they like and how did you make them?

Please don't make me beg in this forum too!!!I ask for a couple of bits of help and I have to beg to get people to answer them!!!!

Sometimes the best backdrop is a room in a dollhouse.

Here is a couple of pictures of a set of mine made from 6mm ply, on the ends of the ply I have glued and pinned 18mm x 18mm square soft wood battens, in picture 2 you will be able to see how two corners are temporarily clamped together with a spring clamp.

Picture 2

Well done, Great Work

Yeah, wow. Those sets are really good!

How did you make the door?

Mark the shark the door is made of 4mm plywood with more strips of 4mm ply creating the framing for the panelled door.

I believe you can get a foam card faced board that you could make similar type door with

Just try and find different materials and experiment


Mark the shark and Harry glad you liked it.

Thanks Cavor. You've helped me a lot recently. Thank you!

all of mine are made of wood

How do you shape them with wood?

? , 3 walls if its a room set

Some times having plain backdrops for your animations works better, putting the emphasis on the animation.

Plain backdrops...Paintings, per chance?

Where the hell is everyone?

Well since I'm kinda new to this, I use plain ol' cardboard boxes. I would also like some tips on how to relatively cheap sets.

Right. Thanks.

A shoebox with wallpaper or wrapping paper inside it, per chance?

my sets coming along nicely, just cut out teh "glass" for the windows today

any pic's

OK.

its coming along nicly mine is....

whoo stuff for it been ordered cant wait... so excited!!!!

sometimes people use foam board

Check this out

http://www.animateclay.com/index.php?name=Sections&req=viewarticle&artid=16&allpages=1&theme=Printer

i used foamcore once never again will i use it!

ohhh was it bad?

if you cut holes in it for windows etc, it becomes very flimsy and can bend very easily. i build everything out of mdf now

ok

Whats mdf? sorry for being a little stupid

Fibre Board "Wood" is old wood remade into new wood by machine the old pieces get churned up and then squashed and compacted to make "wood" "MDF"

Warning You should always wear a prop mask when machining MDF (Can be hazardous to helf) the mask rating is FFP2 or higher like a fume mask, premium welding mask.

Mdf can be great to cut and shape but be careful my friends.

Most paper masks I have seen up for sale are only rated FFP1 and wont do the job, I Have bought some MDF today for some shelves and noticed the masks on sale at the counter were rated FFP2 so B & Q is good for your MDF needs

Hi guys. This thread is suddenly rather old!

Hey Mark, there are many ways to build a cheap easy set.

Wood- MDF, balsa or other wood care really good for walls, houses,props,fences etc.

Foamcore- brilliant easy set material that is great for the same things as wood except props and fences!

Cardboard- sounds cheap and rubbish, but thick corrugared cardboard can be good for small sets. You can cover it with paper mache or plaster for a really good textured look.

Wire mesh- can be sculpted into various irregular shapes if your film is stylized.

There are many more ways of building a set too.

Print off brick work- you can create brickwork patterns in paint or photoshop to print off for a cheap solutution

plaster- a must have for set building, can add texture, bricks and all sorts.

paper mache-cheap solution for building up areas of your set.

Heres a pic of my greenhouse set called green roots.

I meant from my film called Green Roots. (Its about walking talking Vegetables) As seen below.

wow vincent animations, looks like youve been really busy, your set looks great, well done when do we get to see your animation?

Its on 'Your Creations' page 3. Called Green roots.

Thank you everyone!

I like the idea of using MDF, I was still under the impression that foamboard would be a good base for sets, but from what people have said, I can understand the cons of using it.
One question I do have is, how do you get the door to open and close, are there some sort of scaled down hinges used? Or is it much simpler than that?

i got SOme MDF the other day i used to just use my wooden desk and my plain white wall but then i painted it orande ....

The good thing about balsa and foam cor is that you can use them without wood working tools. You only need a good knife a straight edge, pva and pins and your away.
You can use foam cor for a base, but you need to strengthen it by making it into a shallow box, with strips underneath.
The trick with doors is to trim them so that they're a little smaller than the doorway, then fix them in using a neat piece of masking tape up the front when it's closed, then open the door and tape it up the back making sure that the two pieces of tape make contact.