CMU School of Drama


Sunday, September 04, 2011

This is what the patent for a dinosaur suit looks like

I09: ON-ART Corp., Tokyo ("a top artistic structure airbrush paint production company in Japan") have just been granted their US patent (7,997,991 B2) for a "Costume suit of large size animal."

10 comments:

ZoeW said...

Besides the soul fact that this suit is really cool and that it can scare numerous children these dino's actually look real. They could have a lot of practical application in theater. Animals are always something that theater makers are trying to prefect, take for instance war horse they went threw multiple modles of different horses before they found the right movement and action of the horse. This dinosaur suit can be operated by one person and sounds like a dinosaur, this is every theater person's dream.

Devrie Guerrero said...

I agree with Zoe, these suits are great. They almost look real and make real noises. I feel bad for that poor dog in the video. It looked very scared of the suit.
The only thing i would say that needs work is the movement of the person inside. In the one in the video, the person didn't really flow well, it seemed choppy. I also agree that this would be great for children. they could learn about all kinds of animals, not just dinosaurs.

Daniel L said...

The descriptions of the possible applications for this suit are hilarious, as is that the 'problem being solved' is the need to "provide a full-scale costume suit of a large size animal that makes or is able to make realistic movement." It's interesting that they use the word 'large' so much, since they don't actually define it and it really it's a relative term.

Drawing conventions and wording in patents are hard to follow.

Wyatt said...

I think that the suits while really really cool rely a ton on how good the actor/puppeteer is. if its a four legged animal its going to move drastically differently than a two legged person echoing what devrie said. on the flip side they are great for theater most of the time your far enough from the stage that no one could tell the difference between painted scales and the real thing and how can you complain about a "large" dinosaur that takes up less than a cubic foot when its not blown up

abotnick said...

I couldn't believe what I was seeing when I started the video. They look so real! This is a great invention and the application of them in theater and in film will be even more amazing I think. The movement of the costumes was what really impressed me the most. They were really fluid and didn't look at all like it took any effort from the people inside. It looked like a real dinosaur. And that poor dog was definitely scared of them too. These costumes could also be used in amusement parks and children's museum to teach children about dinosaurs. What a great innovation!

Dale said...

I am never really studied and patent document before. It is not something that I have experience in. I was awed by the incredible level of detail that was present ed here. It is like a put to detail times ten. I understand the that this document is the result of years of research and patent law but I do not think I have ever thought of anything in THIS great of detail. And I probable will not until my thesis.

I do have an additional comment about the weigh and balance of the this unit. This materials must be very light weight and balanced accurately. It would seem that if the operator leaned too far forward. he would not be able to regain his upright position.

Hannah said...

It looks like a great improvement and I'm sure they aren't finished with the design. They are surely analyzing each movement of the person and its translation to the animal. Once that's improved, they'll likely work on the comfort of the wearer. I wonder how hard it would be to take this design and apply it to various animals or scales of animals. You could use this suit in movies, parks, performances, to enhance any atmosphere. 10 year old boys will be thrilled.

Will Gossett said...

This dinosaur suit looks really great. I especially like how realistic the head and mouth movements are. I looked up the full patent at http://www.google.com/patents/about?id=f8jWAAAAEBAJ but I wish that there was more visual detail images on the mechanisms involved in making the creature move so realistically.

David P said...

This is great! I feel that in more recent years, with computer technology advancing and allowing us to use CGI more cost effectively, that the actual aesthetic quality of movies has gone down. For example, the original Star Wars movies were all done with puppetry and detailed props, while the more recent three used almost exclusively CGI environments and creatures. Many people prefer the aesthetic of the originals because you can tell that the puppets and creatures are actually tangible. It would be interesting if these Dino Suits could actually bring back the use of puppetry in cinema. This, however, is improbable because CGI would probably still be less of a hassle, but maybe a stage adaptation of Jurassic Park could be on the horizon!

C. Ammerman said...

Correct me if I am wrong, but I think this a patten is somewhat vague in exactly what is being patented. The design looks deceptively simple, which I hope means we see more things like this based on similar tech and design. While it looks like it has more articulation points, the suit's movements and operation looks oddly similar to the horse puppets in War Horse. Jurassic Park the musical may finally be a possibility?