Making a treadmill for greenscreen - any ideas?
 

Hiya,

I'm going to do some greenscreen work in the next months, and I was wondering if there is a guide somewhere to make or buy a treadmill machine? Or do you have any idea on how to record walking/running people?

Thanks in advance!

-- Frank

Get up early on trash day, and just drive around. Chances are, somebody has one of those exercise treadmills, and planned to get in shape. After a year or so of tripping over them, they will try to sell them in the front yard. When that fails, they take it to the curb. And this is where you get the parts to make yours... FREE!

Hey Keith,

I'd love to drive around here in Belgium, but unfortunately people don't buy this kind of stuff to use at home as much as in the US, so chances are slim to find it :(

-- Frank

Sorry, but you never stated where you were. You're welcome to come drive around my neighborhood though. I believe I saw one in the trash just a week or two ago.

Hey Keith,

Thanks for the info - I think it's more expensive to buy an airplane ticket :) I found some cheapo magnetic trainers that might do the job - we'll see. Thanks for the tip!

-- F

There is a "behind the scenes" footage on "spy kids 3d" that has some chroma green painted threadmill. Would be good to take a look for ideas how to do this. Cool stuff.

probably you can build one with some pice of wood and few screw.
for running people, probably a great length will be necessary, longer than you would usually find on a regular threadmill.
the most difficult will be to find the belt , especially if you need it green or blue.

it is possible
 

We took apart 2 treadmills. with the first we put it flat and built a box around it, then coated it in blue, rewired the controls to do from a distance, then we put it on a platform with a pipe sticking out, took the second motor and wheel on the floor, and used it to move the entire assemply so it could turn.

dont ask me how we did it, i didnt do the engineering, but we did it

all you need is an old treadmill... Take the control panel off and the arms extending to the top... be careful to keep the wires intact. Discard the panel support arms. Take the control panel and place this in a custom made box and paint that chroma!

Take a big can of spray paint in your closest Chroma green (Or Blue, your call), and co crazy on it! Run the machine at a good speed and spray the belt back and forth to get a good light covering on the belt. Allow to dry, and repeat 2-3 times till the black is covered. Make sure it is running while it drys, this will keep it flexing and not crack when you start it with a heavy coat.

Make sure to also flip it and paint some of the underside that will face the camera, otherwise you can use a garbage matte in your editing software.