ELECTROLUMINESCENT WIRE
makezine.com/21/primer
LIGHTWIRE ANIMATION PROJECT
ANNIE’S BLINKING EYE
Here’s a project that illustrates the steps and considerations for using lightwire to create a successful
animated image: in this case, a large, blinking eye.
MATERIALS AND TOOLS
Eyebrow
Upper
eyelash
Outer iris
Inner iris
Lower eyelash
Upper eye fold
Upper eyelid
Lower eyelid
Lower eye fold
C
2.5mm lightwire, “High Brightness Standard” in
yellow, pink, blue, and green, 6' lengths of each
$1.40/ft from Light ’N Wire ( lightnwire.com)
Standard driver (cube driver) for lightwire
Light ’N Wire part #CB-SD01, $8
10-channel sequencer for lightwire
Light ’N Wire #SQ-XC01, $75
Heat-shrink tubing, various diameters
Foamcore board, 2'× 3'×¼" thick
Copper tape available at stained glass
supply stores
Steel wire, 28 gauge, uninsulated
Network cable, 8-conductor, 24-gauge
twisted pair wire, 3' long
Snap connector leads, lightwire side ( 5)
Light ’N Wire #SNR-LSC02, $1 each
( 1 included with each lightwire order)
Small zip ties
Duct tape
12V DC battery holder, 8×AA “brick”
Light ’N Wire #PS-BB01, $2
AA batteries ( 8)
9V battery snap
Colored pencils and paper
Scissors
Wire cutter/stripper
Heat gun
X-Acto knife
Needlenose pliers
“Helping hand” mini workstand
Alligator clips ( 2)
Paper or masking tape for labeling wires
Palm drill and small bits
Lightwire stripper (optional) Light ’N Wire
part #AC-WS01, $5
Soldering iron and solder
1. Make a full-sized drawing.
First, sketch out the object you want to animate.
We’ve seen running horses, jumping kangaroos, flying saucers, and leaping dolphins. The best designs
can be understood from just a few contours.
Once you’ve refined your idea, draw it at full size
on one or more sheets of paper. You need to figure
out which elements are always on — the common
frame — and which will be animation frames.
In our case, the common frame included the
eyebrow, the folds above and below the eye, and the
eye’s bottom edge and eyelashes. The animation
consisted of 4 frames (Figure D) that showed the
eyelid and lashes, iris, and pupil in various stages of
open- and closed-ness. To distinguish the various
parts and make the animation easier to view, we
decided to use yellow for the eyebrow and folds,
green for the lashes, pink for the eyelid, and blue for
the iris and pupil.
We made a full-sized master drawing of the fully
opened eye (the common frame plus frame 1) and
then 3 more drawings for frames 2–4. To make the
movement of the upper lashes appear smoother,
we drew them on a separate piece of tracing paper
and simply translated them downward for frames
2–4 without foreshortening the lashes’ length. This
allows successive lash segments to overlap from
frame to frame, which helps the viewer follow them
and see them as the same thing. The animated
movement reads better this way, even though real
lashes don’t stay upright. D
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146 Make: Volume 21
