Sorry my first post here is to promote something.  I hope this little $150 Dragonframe controller will be useful to members of the forum.  Beyond that, I confess to a blatant commercial for our Kickstarter project and ask forgiveness and tolerance.  Thanks.

I've been shooting timelapse with digital cameras and have used several motion control systems to add movement to my timelapse shots.  Dragonframe caught my attention because of its fully keyframable motion control.  I was already aware of situations where simple A to B motion just wasn't cutting it.  Dollying past a subject while compensating with pan, or dolly/zoom shots are some very common examples.  The ability to keyframe complex motion profiles for many independent motors from within a single timeline, in an easy to use graphical user interface was irresistible. 

Actually building the circuit that plugged into the USB port on one end, and drove the motors at the other end, wound up being the most difficult part of the project.  The circuit recommended for Dragonframe was an Arduino microcontroller to which you added this mad scientist wiring all over the place.  It was big, messy, and worst of all, unreliable with all its exposed wires loosely stuck into headers on the arduino. 

After showing it to a friend who is a computer systems engineer, he decided to redesign the circuit and make a PC board.  We're offering it for sale on Kickstarter right now.  Hopefully enough people will want one to allow us to make them efficiently.  The miniDF is half the size of the arduino, it is enclosed, and easy to interface with motor drivers.  Some of the Kickstarter rewards levels include motors and drivers prewired with current adjustments set.  These bundles give you a plug and play solution all the way from the USB port to the turning motor.

I sure wish something like that was available when I started out.  Hopefully some of you will find it as useful as I have.