It’s a DIY, open source slider. A “pocket dolly.” Motion control hardware, ready for your next DIY special effect or stop motion animation, made free, open, and hackable.

The work of Stefan Kohler, camSlider is in self-described “alpha” phase, but already looking wildly promising for a new generation of animators and creators. Doing an open version not only makes these techniques wildly more accessible to those artists, but also helps them get directly involved in how they’re made – without needing an apprenticeship with a big effects firm. Based in Traunstein, Germany (near Munich), Stefan himself is one of those artists – an animator and director, not only a tinkerer (though he’s clearly adept at that, too).

http://www.stefankohler.com/

Project details and growing documentation of the open source side of things:

camSlider.de

Via MAKE:Blog and the awesome DIY Photography

Stefan, we can’t wait to see more of your work – hardware and visual. Speaking of which, let’s see more of this in action: