I don't know much about Dan, he's not one of my favored performers but Rudy is a God. He likewise created about 90% of what made him famous by tinkering and brainstorming with a handful of chums like Kevin James, Nick Knight and Franz Harrary . . . this was back in the day when we were all kids busting out butts just to pay the rent and frequently crashing on one another's couch. . . most "stars" have that starving artist past so hang in there.
My suggestion would be for you to start with the Gary Darwin book of Inexpensive Illusions, it will give you some very viable material, much of which has been used by Lance Burton, Sigfried & Roy and several others of note, so it really is audience tested material. You would also be doing yourself a huge favor if you picked up the Sharp Encyclopedias published through Hades Publications in Canada, especially the Levitation & Suspension text and the volume that deals with Hydraulics & Pneumatics. Finally, get your hands on all of the Paul Osborne plan books as well as the Rand Woodbury & Jim Stinemeyer books. . . from there you should be pretty well set when it comes to understanding basic construction and methodology.
Even as you do this, find some creative and resourceful chums that love magic and the challenge of making something that's unique and bust your hump in designing your effects; researching them so as to prevent replication but likewise giving credit where it is due when it comes to concepts borrowed. But be prepared; when Kenny and I first started working on Shadow Vision we must have built and torn about at lest 6 versions of the cabinet before we finally found an approach that would work, we also learned some things about the poor souls working the thing, that we'd never considered earlier. Same goes with most all the other things we developed at Creative Illusions over the years; it can get nuts as well as expensive.