Whoa check it!
So, the strings are tricky, but I've decided to go ahead and use them anyways. Here is the link to my flight tests as of yet:
pegasus frolicking loopy loop
the clumsy descent from heaven
I'm learning that NOTHING in stop motion can happen right the first time. Who'd have thought? My violin-string-flight-adjustor boxes work perfectly. But silly me, I did not design them so that my flying horse/angel/spaceships will be able to CHANGE DIRECTION in midair. I thought I could get away with animating the turning of the set and create the ILLUSION that the horses were flying through place, however it's a little fake because the horses remain perfectly placed within the frame as everything else moves around them. This was a dumb, lazy thought. Luckily the violin-string-flight-adjustor boxes are only fastened to the stands by masking tape, so I can easily take them down and make adjustments. What I will need is some sort of pulley system, something like a rod that extends from the box, and can be adjusted left to right. However, there is a problem in that I could only attach one arm per box, when I had planned to have up to three flying objects at a time. Only one of three would be able to change direction! Here's a diagram, it may or may not help you understand what I'm talking about:


BACK TO THE DRAWING BOARD :)

Yay! My set is finished!
A city of cardboard was all I could afford.
I cut it up and glued it in,
and strung it through with chord.
Mostly, it is made from stuff I had lying around or snatched from friends and family, but there were a few things I had to purchase: glue (both super and hot), wood (for the base and table), dowels and wire (for the telephone poles), foamcore...
For a pan-view clip, link to vimeo!
http://vimeo.com/19933495


Now remains the question: how will I animate the flying angels and ponies!?!? I am hoping to order the Dragon Stopmotion software within the next couple of days. It looks awesome! I watched a tutorial and the interface seems very sensible and as if it were actually designed by an animator.
But now to ask the real question: is it more sensible to animate the ponies flying through my set on strings, or to prop them up on green screens and composite later? I will be testing this out this week. String flight first; I really do want to avoid as much compositing as I can. Why? Because there is something magical about seams and strings that you don't see so often these days. My animation is done by hand and in this project, I want to emphasize that fact. Not to mention, it seems like less fun to match lighting and angles for compositing.
I'm thinking that I will have to make some sort of wind-up device to adjust the string height. Just a simple peg in a hole-type-thing. Something that would remain snug, but loose enough for me to adjust. Like my violin strings! Good idea Travis, you're sweet!

Does anyone read this shit?