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Since
1979, the talented cast & crew at Animal Makers has
been creating and performing the finest animal replicas,
puppets and rigs. Hollywoods top directors and producers
have learned to rely on the integrity, quality and attention
to detail that is exhibited in so much of our work.
Beware, though. This work is not priced like stuffed toys. This work is not mass-produced with simple patterns. If you want a quality animal replica for a display, film, television show, commercial, trade show booth, museum diorama, zoo display, or personal collection, then you did come to right place. If you are seeking a good looking, yet inexpensive stuffed toy, then you need to continue your search elsewhere.
This work is not "taxidermy". No animals are harmed during the creation of this work. The incredible attention to detail in the final products are capable of educating students at a museum, or entertaining viewers in a movie theater.
This work is commissioned art. The type of art that seeks to recreate nature as it is. This takes time, experience, patience and ability. Each request is individual and specialized. We may use parts from other projects, or sculpt a new face as part of your project.

Managing your commission has been made easier by use of the internet. Each project gets assigned a web page at the Animal Makers web site. This page shows key update images of the works in progress. This allows your creative team to analyze the work and help direct the artists.
The modern day animal replica has the ability to perform a variety of scripts. This is in part, because of a significant drop in animatronic controller costs.
The original Disney tiki birds were controlled by a room full of refrigerator sized computers. Surveying these computers demanded a full-time staff of specialists, computer programmers, mechanics and imagineers.
In today’s scaled down world, those same controls are housed in metal containers (some the size of a pack of playing cards) with Smart Media cards for memory. These controllers are set up with onboard calendars, chooseable options, and enviable maintenance records. While the controllers were getting smaller, better and cheaper; animatronic construction developed the same way.
Jurassic Park” signaled the wide spread acceptance of animatronic animals and contributed greatly to the development of animatronic engineering. Hundreds of temporary film crew learned the inner secrets of the science of bringing models to life. Aerospace mold makers were brought in to teach their craft. Hydraulics engineers were consulted with a use they never considered. Large plastics vendors were introduced to the entertainment industry. After the movie’s preparation and shooting, many of these artists and technicians came to work at Animal Makers. The first projects using these technological developments were “Flipper” and a commercial for Choice Hotels featuring a friendly dinosaur. This developing technology moved here and has continued ever since. Quality look and performance demands the active coordination of three different departments.
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