I recently tried something pretty neat. I took a cheapie HO gauge train car and stripped it down to a flat with wheels. I then attached my wireless web cam to it. I took a few pieces of track and set the up all around my set. I use the speed control for the engine to pull the cammera train SMOOTHLY past my scenes for EXCELLENT pan shots . just a fix for my lack of being able to buy the nifty camera robot.

Optik

P.S. also worked great for towards/away zoom type shots and to simulate speed

Hey Optik, thats a great idea. I saw something like that done with some Lego train tracks that they sell. It seems like a really good compact way of moving a web camera as opposed to large tracks like the kind I've built before.

Ya, I've thought of that before too, or read it somewhere. It would be interesting if some one created a way to make it so that you could move the camera along the track in more precise increments(I don't know if they're really needed or not).

Time to go see how much train tracks are fetching for nowadays on ebay.

Okay...

I went and looked on ebay. The prices still seem kinda expensive, around 10 bucks and up with shipping. It would probably be better to get something of the sort at a garage sale for a few bucks (makes me wish I kept the train set I had a long time ago. It was cheap, and a perfect size). The trick is to also find something that is big enough to support a camera, a car for the camera to sit on, and a track that is cheap(no need for electric stuff on it).

http://cgi.ebay.com/LARGE-TRAIN-and-three-cars-and-some-track-Display_W0QQitemZ290231167598 QQihZ019QQcategoryZ130QQrdZ1QQssPageNameZWD1VQQcmdZViewItem

That was one I found, it was similar to the one I used to own.

If anybody else finds more interesting info, post it here.

HO scale seems to be cheapest..also a good size for webcams but not supportive enough for anything bigger...now lionel...thats just miniature hollywood tracks...hmmm

Hey Optik, you say you have a wireless web cam. Does that run on just a 9 volt battery or something? I'm wondering if it has any flicker in the images - and how long does the battery last? If you use a train track, you could in theory run the camera through little tunnels or through complete sets - like through a door or window if it's small.

yeah you could basicly like velcro a wireless to the front of the train. hmmm interesting ok who makes these wireless webcams, now i need one lol

the lego trains are a little loose fitting on the tracks do animate smoothly.