3D printing For The Entertainment Industry

Transcription

DISRUPTIVEMAGAZINE.COM | Issue 4 | September 2015
SHOWTIME!
3D printing for the entertainment industry
COSPLAY
Innovative
making from
the fans
AEROSPACE
AM comes
to Dubai
Airshow
DISRUPTIVEMAGAZINE.COM | Issue 4 | September 2015 | 3
FROM THE EDITOR
LIGHTS, CAMERA, ACTION!
INDUSTRY LEADING
3D PRINTING
Ultimaker 3D printers are the most reliable tool to bring prototypes and functional
models to life, in hours instead of weeks. Coupled with industry-leading service
they’re trusted by professionals, educators and innovators worldwide.
The fourth issue of Disruptive Magazine has been granted
behind-the-scenes access to some of the major 3D printing
players for the global entertainment industry. Highlighting
some of the big screen blockbusters that have benefitted
from the technology, I’ve been exploring how 3D printing is
becoming an essential tool for the production of props and
costumes and the role it plays in the movie-making process.
Keeping with the theme of silver screen creation, Dave
Marks interviews Jason Lopes of Legacy Effects, getting an
insight into his early career, his workflow and processes for
creating seminal works. Richard Horne, aka RichRap took
the opportunity to delve into the burgeoning global cosplay
scene, highlighting the incredible upsurge in creativity and
craftsmanship with desktop 3D printers that has allowed dedicated fans to give the filmmakers a run for their money in the costume department.
Elsewhere in this issue, Kerry Stevenson addresses the need for creativity when
designing for 3D printing, with a look at how companies like NASA are leveraging additive
technologies to drive innovation and enhance functionality, and I sat down with Michele
van Akelijen to discover how she has witnessed 3D printing disrupting the aerospace
sector at Dubai Airshow.
To round off this edition of Disruptive Magazine, Faith Robinson presents an
in-depth report from the recent Stratasys Direct Manufacturing Summit in Texas, while
her second article examines the contemporary art scene, exploring the current attitudes
toward 3D printed artworks and the resulting challenges that digital artists face.
Onwards …
Rachel Parks
Editor | Disruptive Magazine
[email protected]
Twitter @DisruptiveMag | @RPES12
Facebook disruptive-magazine
LinkedIn Disruptive Magazine
Cover Image Credit
Beck Binaural Head, created
by Legacy Effects. Photo: Andrew
Critchlow
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6 | FEATURE ARTICLE:
3D Printing — A Bridge
from Imagination to
Reality for Hollywood
By Rachel Park
18 | COMPANY PROFILE
& INSIGHT
Propshop
By Rachel Park
24 | AEROSPACE FOCUS
Disruptive Interview with
Michele van Akelijen,
Managing Director,
F&E Aerospace
By Rachel Park
31 | FEATURE:
Stratasys Direct
Manufacturing: Interview
By Faith Robinson
34 | FEATURE: INDUSTRY INSIDER
Industrial Applications
of 3D Printing Need
Creative Thinking (Part 2)
By Kerry Stevenson
42 | HOLLYWOOD’S
SECRET WEAPON
An interview with
Jason Lopes
By Dave Marks
50 | FEATURE: ON THE DESKTOP
Cosplay – Innovative
making from the fans
By Richard Horne
61 | NEWS ROUND-UP:
A commentary round-up of
the latest news from across
the 3D printing ecosystem.
The global entertainment industry has many different hubs, with companies all
over the world doing incredible work on tight deadlines to create onscreen magic.
Rachel Park met with three companies that specialise in hyper-realistic props and
costumes to find out what it takes to work at the very top of the movie industry.
FEATURE ARTICLE
3D PRINTING
A BRIDGE FROM IMAGINATION
TO REALITY FOR HOLLYWOOD
Rachel Park
The Star Spangled Man: Amazing detailing from Legacy Effects helped
make a war-beaten Captain America feel real. (Marvel Studios)
I had no idea that there were so many different definitions of the word ‘Entertainment’ twelve, with variations, in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) alone.
The two most accepted definitions in modern usage are: “The provision of hospitality
involving a meal and/or accommodation;” and, the one on which the huge global ‘entertainment industry’ (with which this article is concerned) is predicated. This second definition is
succinctly specified by the OED as: “That which affords interest or amusement.”
Today, still in the early stages of the 21st century, and particularly in Western cultures, our expectations are high when it comes to being amused! We do pay a premium for
it, mind you. Mention ‘entertainment’ and typically one’s thoughts will leap, at least initially,
to the ‘Hollywood’ phenomenon and all that it entails. Indeed, apart from the feature films
produced, it could be argued that the entire Hollywood ‘scene’ is a form of entertainment.
The multi-billion dollar entertainment industry extends beyond films, taking in TV,
music and gaming and can be extended even further,
as the lucrative IP that production companies generate via personas on screen and stage, are adding
significant numbers to revenues through physical
merchandise, replicas and collectibles. Over the
last decade or more, 3D printing technologies have
increasingly become an enabling tool right across the
entertainment industry in numerous ways, for a range
of applications.
However, the focus here is largely on the
sub-sector that produces movies. With some notable
exceptions, the film industry generally attracts audiences with the offer of taking them out of the real
world. The most successful box office sales typically
come with the Action, Thriller and Sci-fi genres, all of
which require audiences to suspend their disbelief in
terms of the storylines and resilience of heroes and/or
heroines under increasingly perilous circumstances.
We pay to do this, and willingly become absorbed
in the fantastical stories and action of movies (and
movie-stars’ lives) and leave the real world behind in
exchange for a few hours of interest and amusement.
Storylines aside, films are often dissected at
length by professional commentators and movie-goers alike, with a particular focus on how ‘realistic’
they are aesthetically. Props, costumes, green screens
and CGI tech are all used to make the things that we
Ol’ Shellhead: The Iron Man Mark V briefcase armour created
watch seem more realistic, and in the 21st century, 3D
by Legacy Effects for Iron Man III. (Marvel Studios)
8 | Feature Article | 3D Printing in Entertainment | Rachel Park
printing plays a significant role in making this happen
— quite literally.
Have you noticed that more and more frequently, 3D printers are featuring as props themselves? Tony Stark (Robert Downey Jr.) had an
unspecified printer in Iron Man III, Big Hero Six featured some super-fast 3D scanning and printing and
the Formlabs Form 1 was dead centre in Hank Pym’s
(Michael Douglas) lab in Ant Man. The first time I can
recall seeing one was in the movie Jurassic Park III –
way back in 2001. I got very VERY excited at the time,
but few others did. Looking back now, with the benefit
of hindsight, this was the hype before the hype!
Fourteen years ago, the third instalment of the
Jurassic Park series, (based on the books by Michael
Crichton) saw the return of actor Sam Neill as palaeontologist, Dr Alan Grant. He was minus Laura Dern,
but plus Alessandro Nivola, in tow as his assistant
Billy Brennan. Billy was the key character in terms
of introducing a 3D printer into the plot, or, rather, a
Velociraptor resonating chambers:
Rapid prototyping comes in handy when
you're being chased by dinosaurs...
“Rapid Prototyper,” as it was called back then.
Early on in the movie, Billy introduces Dr
Grant to the rapid prototyping machine and attempts
to overcome his cynicism of this new-fangled technology, explaining: “It's a rapid prototyper. I feed
in the scan data from the Raptor skull, then the computer breaks it into thousands of slices which this thing
prints, one layer on top of the other. It's the future of
palaeontology.”
Dr Grant, stuck in tradition, quips back: “Not if
it can't dig.”
But his scepticism is short lived, because when
the machine (conveniently) finishes its build on cue,
Billy lifts the lid, shakes off a minute amount of residual powdered material and produces a fully-finished,
fully-functioning replica of a Velociraptor’s resonating
chamber. Despite his aversion to technology, Grant is
amazed by the result and excitedly tries it again and
again, producing different sounds and variations of
raptor noises.
Approximately an hour and a half of dinosaur action
later, and it is the 3D printed part that saves the
day. Functioning correctly, even after having been
through the ringer, it sends the raptor family on their
way (without having torn the main characters limb
from limb), enabling them to live happily ever after.
As you would expect, this being Hollywood
and all, the film captured the basic reality of what the
technology was capable of (in terms of physically replicating complex digital data) and then exaggerated it
to the Nth degree. The producers had their fictional
machine produce a finished product, in a functional
material, with no post processing and wholly fit for
purpose straight off the machine, then claim that this
technology ‘is the future!’.
Oh the irony. Unintentional I grant you, but
what a precise analogy to what has happened in the
3D printing industry between then and now. Almost a
decade and a half later, the hype has escalated exponentially while the capabilities of the technology it
portrays have improved only minimally, by comparison, and still don’t fulfil that vision.
Real world applications
In the time since the third Jurassic Park, 3D printers have made countless appearances on film and
TV including CSI, Bones, Greys Anatomy, The Big
Bang Theory and Sherlock and in each case excessively exaggerate the capabilities of the technology in
various ways. Thus, it behoves us to understand how
3D printing is actually utilised within the film industry in the real world, does it not?
The dominant, and most visible, application for
a range of 3D technologies, which includes 3D printing, is the creation and production of props, costumes
and sets. Indeed, dedicated companies that provide
such a service, and have done for decades, have been
relatively swift in their adoption of 3D printing as a
way of advancing and improving their craft.
Over recent weeks, I’ve spent time touring
workshops and talking to different companies that
specialise in the production of film props and costumes to better understand how they operate and
where 3D printing fits into their workflows. From
what I have witnessed, they have widely embraced 3D
printing technologies and embedded them into their
toolboxes to great advantage, but operating in the real
world has not been without challenges.
Perhaps the most high profile, and certainly the most
internationally vocal of the companies I spoke with
is Legacy Effects, based in California, not far from
Hollywood itself. Jason Lopes heads up the specialist
department there and his work is prolific, to say the
least.
I’ve always admired Jason for being a positive
proponent of 3D printing while telling it how it is
when it comes to applying the tech to his craft — no
magical shortcuts, plenty of demanding clients and
lots of hard work! As such, Jason has been involved in
some of the biggest box office hits of the last decade,
mixing with Hollywood royalty behind the scenes to
create some of the most iconic props and costumes
and contributing to some of the most fantastic stories
ever told, including (but not limited to) The Avengers, Avatar, Iron Man, Terminator Genisys, and more
recently, full-sized dinosaur heads for Jurassic World.
I also visited Propshop, and took a tour of their
design studios, workshops and 3D printing facilities —
all based at Pinewood Studios just outside of London
in the UK. It brought home just how much collaborative work is involved in finalising even the tiniest of
details, all of which matter.
Propshop was acquired by OEM voxeljet late
last year, but operates as a fully independent subsidiary, largely in this vertical sector. The company’s Managing Director, James Enright, was open
and frank during our interview and the many team
members I chatted with during my day at Pinewood
confirmed the dedicated technical skills that are
required for ‘make believe’ to seem real (for a more
complete insight, turn to page 18). Propshop’s client
list is a veritable who’s who in the film industry and
includes EON Productions (James Bond), New Line
Cinema, Universal Pictures, Warner Bros, Sony
Pictures, MGM, Dreamworks, Disney and Marvel
Productions.
Another UK-based company in this field is
FBFX, conveniently located near London between
Shepperton and Pinewood studios. Director, Grant
Pearmaine, took time out to talk to me about the company’s output and where 3D printing fits into their
workflow. Their film resume stands alongside any of
their contemporaries, featuring blockbuster movies
that include Interstellar, Prometheus, Guardians
of the Galaxy and, most recently, the latest Mission
Impossible instalment.
The helmets that Legacy Effects created for Guillemo
Del Toro's Pacific Rim featured an incredible level
of detail, character and individual style.
Grant was also the most forthcoming about unreleased movies that they have worked on, namely The
Martian, (starring Matt Damon) and another space
flick for a Russian production company. The others
were tight-lipped or had me sign my life away before
letting me through the doors, where I may get any
sort of inkling of ongoing work.
Such is the nature of Hollywood, I mused,
wherein the producers and the studios (and by extension their suppliers) go to great lengths to keep every
last detail under wraps, or at least under their control,
while the entertainment press hunt for sources to
supply spoilers and, indeed, any information (accurate or otherwise) to the extensive fan base(s) who
desire the information. Would they still go and see the
films? As someone that invariably reads the last page
of a book first, I think they would, but would Hollywood still have the same appeal if it were not veiled in
secrecy? Possibly not.
The applications undertaken by these companies are broad and varied — every project is different and can require the more obvious film props,
set pieces and scale models, character masks, body
armour, helmets, weapons and animatronics, as well
as the less obvious concept models, digital patterns,
maquettes, full-scale models, models for lighting tests
and more.
Issues and Insight
Starting with the positives. What was abundantly clear
from all parties are the invaluable benefits that 3D
printing brings to this discipline when embedded into
a workflow. Jason, James and Grant were all singing
from the same hymn sheet in praising 3D printing for
taking them in directions that would otherwise have
been impossible before this tech emerged.
Even the most skilled hands, honed over
decades can only achieve so much. The complexity
required to achieve some of the more outlandish,
futuristic props and costume designs, not to mention
masks and prosthetics are a perfect fit for the resolution and accuracy that can be achieved with today’s 3D
printers. Also, the volumes are always low - another
reason why 3D printing offers a viable solution, and
the turnaround times ensure deadlines can be met
more easily than ever before. Manufacturing deadlines have nothing on film production schedules….
apparently!
Another familiar story, regardless of which vertical
sector one researches, emerges when considering the
range of 3D printing processes available. No single
platform offers a complete solution.
Legacy has the broadest platform range
in-house — Jason has been building a state-of-the-art
3D printing lab at the California facility since 2008.
As a subsidiary of voxeljet, Propshop has three of their
large-scale platforms, along with a couple of other
processes in-house. FBFX is different again - they
have a high volume of desktop 3D printers in-house
(Ultimakers) that are constantly used for concept
development and prove invaluable in this regard,
but for high-end pieces, FBFX works with preferred
suppliers to access the expertise required at the point
when they need it. Grant imparted that the company
found it was best not to limit itself to one or two technologies and uses most processes available, including
Voxeljet, FDM, PolyJet, SLA and SLS.
The Legacy Effects lab has recently supplemented its line-up with some fresh new tech from
Carbon3D. Jason was one of the very first testing
partners for this machine (even ahead of the it going
into full beta testing) and is more than impressed
with the results. It’s worth noting (as has been mistakenly reported in other media outlets), that this is
not a replacement technology for the many other 3D
printing processes that Legacy employs, including
a Connex 3 500, a Fortus 250mc, an Eden 260V, an
Envisiontec Perfactory, two MakerBot Z18’s, a Rep
2 and an Ultimaker. There is also a need for some
detailed SLA parts, and while an iPro 800 is on his
wish list, internal logistics currently mean that SLA
parts are outsourced.
At FBFX, most of the high-end parts and
moulds are 3D printed by third parties, invariably
trusted partners, leveraging the expertise of specialists like Gary Miller at 3D Print Bureau for fast turnaround, high quality and reliability.
Despite this broad usage of processes, however,
all three companies reported that in reality, only
a small proportion of 3D printing output is direct
manufacturing and 3D printed moulds for casting is
the dominant application of the technology. Jason
reported that 3D printing is often used to produce
rigid parts as a master pattern and then moulded or
cast in more flexible materials appropriate for the
final application.
Likewise Grant imparted that still only a small fraction of the parts that are 3D printed are used directly
on set – much of the 3D printing work, as reported by
Jason, is for patterns and moulds. However, complex
moulds can quickly be made via the most appropriate
3D printing process and then cast in more suitable
materials and Grant stresses how important 3D printing is to the mould making process and how it offers a
more accurate result in shorter timescales than traditional methods. “It is a vital short cut and time is really
important to our clients.”
So why is direct 3D printing still lagging?
Across the board, materials are still a limiting factor
for the applications. Grant reported how “The strength
of materials is still a factor, and, for the most part it is
not there. Even metal plating can be a
problem for our requirements.”
On this issue, Jason is very
excited about the potential that the
Carbon3D machines are demonstrating. He told me: “It is, was,
always will be about materials. That
is why the Carbon3D machine is such
an interesting platform as it introduces elastomers into the mix.” He
also told me about the research and
development he is conducting into
direct applications with the elastomer materials, that is proving very
exciting. Unfortunately, the project
currently being worked on is still 2-3
years away from being revealed to
the viewing public.
That being said, there are noticeable examples
of where direct 3D printed props have been used.
Grant cited one example - for The Martian’s suits,
where FBFX 3D printed a device the characters wear
on their wrists (the aptly named “Wrist Tech”) which
in actual fact hides an iPhone, but it had to be slim
and slick; and produced quickly. Thus FBFX printed
the parts in the highest resolutions and, according to
Grant, “They lasted the duration of the film — just!”
On the materials front, Grant was more excited
about some of the direct 3D printed metal work the
company has produced. Here, he cited a couple of
examples, where they used Materialise as the service
provider - most notably for a prop that was created for
Mission Impossible 5.
The parts in question were for underwater goggles
worn by Tom Cruise with metal clips on the sides,
3D printed in stainless steel. Grant nonchalantly
described the time he spent with the actor, scanning
his face and trying a number of different iterations to
achieve the correct fit and function. He was adamant
that he could not have fulfilled this remit using any
other method with all of the digital changes involved.
Scale is also an increasingly important issue.
Producing props and patterns at full scale is not an
easy thing to do, but the increasing build volumes of
some high-end 3D printers is going some way toward
easing the burden.
As mentioned earlier, Legacy Effects produced
a great deal of work for Jurassic World. This has
involved props and master patterns
for characters, but also the largest
parts produced in-house to date, in
the form of two full-scale dinosaur
heads. According to Jason, this particular film application demanded
the maximisation of the Connex 500
build platform to build four pieces
that could then be assembled and
finished. Other large projects have
been completed with external help,
including The Destroyer from the
first Thor movie.
Propshop also has a lead
when it comes to large-scale productions for props and sets. This is the
key advantage of the Voxeljet platforms, with three VX1000 machines
in-house and access to even bigger ones via the parent
company in Germany.
Indeed, before the Voxeljet acquisition of
Propshop, the company’s huge VX4000 platform was
used to 3D print the (now renowned) exact replica of
the DB5 Aston Martin, which was destroyed during
the filming of the James Bond movie SkyFall. Voxeljet has also performed similar large-scale projects
for Guardians of the Galaxy, Captain America: The
Winter Soldier, and X-Men: Days of Future Past.
But perhaps my favourite, produced by Propshop, is
Thor’s iconic hammer Mjölnir!
Chris Helmsworth in action with Mjölnir in the
opening of Thor: The Dark World (Marvel Studios)
Propshop's incredible life-sized hammer
on display at 3D Printshow London 2013.
"...the skill and the man
hours that are invested
(prior to, and particularly
after the part comes off
the machine) is where the
‘magic’ really happens."
Star Wars icon: FBFX display a perfect replica
3D printed Stormtrooper helmet.
The incredible Star Lord Mask that FBFX produced for Marvel Studios'
Guardians of the Galaxy in it's initial print stage (top left) and in all of
it's detailed, finished glory (top right & bottom.)
One of the key challenges, (an issue rarely considered by moviemakers and movie-goers alike) is the
time-consuming and highly skilled work involved in
the pre and post-3D printing stages of the process:
3D scanning & 3D CAD work perfecting the digital
data ahead of 3D printing and the extremely precise,
highly skilled finishing operations of post processing.
Grant summed it up when he said: “What comes
out the machine is not what is seen on screen!” Unfortunately the perception, often generated by Hollywood
and 3D printing headlines, is the opposite and can
cause challenges in terms of people’s expectations.
No one actually wants to talk down 3D printing
in this regard, because the 3D printing processes are
now an irreplaceable enabling tool within the production process. However, they do want to promote the
reality, namely that 3D printing is only a small part of
the entire process — the skill and the man hours that
are invested (prior to, and particularly after the part
comes off the machine) is where the ‘magic’ really
happens. James placed great emphasis on the skills
required for post processing and finishing operations.
Thus, the need for finishing skills is still a prerequisite, but there has been a noticeable shift in how
and when these skills are applied. As James said: “they
are more necessary than ever.”
Jason echoed this sentiment, adding: “The creative process has morphed so that now we do not even have
to think about how to work out the technology part. Greater
experience means that we have improved our workflow
tremendously because our people are thinking differently.
Having a range of 3D printers in our environment and
using it daily means that it is now just a part of our everyday language.”
In terms of finishing, Jason pointed to one
angle of Legacy’s work to make his point, whereby
the company is regularly commissioned to take
digital video game characters and translate them into
the physical world. Sometimes this can be before the
characters have even been finalised for the game –
which is challenging, to say the least.
The work, Jason reports, involves high detail
and often complex texturing — a perfect fit for 3D
printing. What is rarely seen, or mentioned, is the
time-intensive clean up and finishing involved with
producing 3D printed characters - a process that
demands a great deal of skill.
Grant at FBFX highlighted how the workflow
has changed, referencing the complex spacesuits
designed for The Martian. He explained that the
designs were created digitally (no drawings), from the
very beginning, as this was the best starting point for
a process that would lead to eventual 3D printing.
He continued: “At the other end, sculptors and
traditional skills are still really important for our workflow,
but just at a different stage of the overall process. Finishing, in particular, is vital as this is where the fine details
are incorporated that can be seen, often up-close, on screen.
Special skills and expertise are needed to make the 3D
printed parts ‘perfect’.”
Beyond Props
Another common theme I picked up on was the
amount of work dedicated to IP protected collectibles
and merchandise resulting from films, TV and video
game franchises. While the production of these items
does not always include 3D printing, the accuracy
(and protection) of the digital 3D data is of paramount
importance. Hence professional, hi-tech and varied
3D scanning capabilities are an important part of
Legacy, Propshop and FBFX’s repertoire.
When you consider the digital nature of games
in particular, digitised data is essential and protecting
it, even more so. This is also true for the production
of merchandise and replicas. A lucrative and growing
market is emerging here as increasing numbers of
movie franchise supporters engage with the brand
beyond the screen, through collectibles and Cosplay
activities.
Comic book characters, in print and onscreen,
attract a huge fan base. Perhaps the most vivid
demonstrator of this is the huge dedicated event for
all things comic book — ComicCon. Fans take it very
seriously indeed, with costumes and props playing an
essential role. There is perhaps an unfortunate ‘geek’
association here (think Big Bang Theory) but, much
like the maker movement, it’s big, growing and developing its own cool status. There is plenty of money
being spent and time being devoted to this pastime,
and so it continues to garner the attention of marketers and press alike.
3D printing is proving an extremely valuable
medium for personalising superhero figurines and
producing personalised props and costumes (See
Richard Horne’s article on page 48). The Cubify 3DMe
offering is a good example of the collectibles phenomenon enabled by licensed digital data and 3D printing,
but there are now countless others, where consumers
can replicate themselves or acquire replicas of their
favourite characters and sports heroes.
To date, the 3DMe range has included character
options from Star Trek, The Boxtrolls and Ghostbusters, as well as NBA and soccer stars.
Propshop has a slightly different take when it
comes to high-value replicas, but also acts as a facilitator for general merchandising activities for its clients
too. More details about this are referenced in the
article on page 18.
Legacy Effects naturally works with a host of clients
from the entertainment industry, including Hollywood studios and directors that Jason and his team
interact with directly, but he also cites creative agencies, art departments, Ad agencies, and musicians
among their clients. I was interested to learn that
Legacy also works with a completely different breed
of clients, including (but not limited to) medical companies and Government agencies.
According to Grant, FBFX works with Soho
advertising companies, and also Sports brands such
as Nike and Puma. He has also noticed an increase in
enquiries from architectural firms.
In Conclusion
Within the entertainment industry, as with so many
other vertical sectors, 3D printing is proving to be an
invaluable tool when embedded into adapted workflows. As Jason Lopes sums up: “3D printing allows us
to be flexible and stay on deadline, even when our film
clients make late changes — as they often do. We are
very dynamic in how we use 3D printing – I love to keep
pushing the printers and using them for new and greater
things.”
Grant’s summation had more a historical
flavour: “We were very limited when we started out 22
years ago. If you couldn’t do it in your own workshop
with your own hands, you couldn’t do it! The funny thing
is that we still do all that stuff but it’s now combined
with digital tech, which makes everything faster and
easier. 3D printing has improved our workflow and has
improved the quality of our output. But, it can also be a
burden, as people’s expectations are too high, particularly in terms of making changes!”
So, while the heavy focus of this article has
been on the film industry (a dominant sub-sector of
the entertainment industry) here’s one final thought
to leave you with when considering the definition of
‘Entertainment.’
For many people, particularly within the
maker community, 3D printing is a subject of interest
and a form of amusement. As such, 3D printing is not
just an enabling process, it is the motivation for their
activities. With this in mind, I find it fascinating to
see that desktop 3D printing is, in itself emerging as a
(tiny) sub-sector of the entertainment industry. 
From the very start, Stan Winston was
part of bringing the Terminator story to life.
In 2015, Legacy Effects carries on his work
with menacing full-scale robots created
for Terminator: Genisys.
Rachel Park
Rachel is a passionate advocate
of 3D printing technologies and the
industry that has sprung up around
it. However, as the hype and hyperbole
has gathered momentum, her aim is
always to offer a reasoned voice in
the midst of inflated expectations
and to cut through the noise in order
to provide a realistic outlook
of how things are.
Pinewood Studios: Home to Propshop and the
actual location for many of our favourite blockbusters.
COMPANY PROFILE & INSIGHT
PROPSHOP
Beautiful, immensely detailed and a perfect fit. 3D printing ensured a fit to
the exact dimensions of King Henry's horse in Disney's Maleficent.
Rachel Park
Propshop is based at the iconic Pinewood Studios just
outside London in the UK and as a provider of services
to the film and entertainment industries, it is strategically placed to serve its clients. Indeed the company’s
client list serves as a roll call for the film industry’s
latest and greatest success stories, and includes the
likes of Dreamworks, Disney, Marvel Productions and
EON Productions to name but a few.
Founded in 1998 by James Enright, as the
name suggests, Propshop was set up to provide the
film industry with a one-stop-shop for specialised
set and character props — originally created using a
range of traditional methods and hand-skills. Today,
the company has evolved significantly and describes
itself as a ‘Physical and Digital Asset Production
Company.’
I recently paid the company a visit and got
to tour the facilities at Pinewood as well as meet
members of the Propshop team to better understand
the full range of services provided, how different
disciplines collaborate and, of course, see some of
the amazing output that has been immortalised on
screen, using 3D printing or otherwise. I’m not sure if
the reality behind the gloss makes me appreciate the
gloss more or just impressed upon me — more than
ever before — the time and effort involved in creating
illusory perfection.
Of course the primary motivation for my visit was to
find out more about the role of 3D printing in Propshop’s workflow, specifically the large-scale Voxeljet
3D printers. Late last year, Propshop was acquired by
3D printer manufacturer Voxeljet AG, and operates
as Voxeljet UK — a wholly independent subsidiary
with a very different business model from its parent
company.
As such, it operates three large platform
Voxeljet machines (VX1000’s), which emphasise the
synergy between the two. The entertainment industry was identified as a key vertical market by Voxeljet
for its 3D printing platforms and Propshop identified
large platform machines as a key enabler of its remit.
The company is not limited to Voxeljet machines
however, with a number of other 3D printers onsite,
such as SLA, as well as working with preferred 3rd
party suppliers.
My tour guide for the day was Amanda
Amphlett, a model maker by trade who now heads up
the company’s publicity department. The sheer scale
of Pinewood is impressive, and Propshop operates
a number of facilities across the studio, with offices
and a design studio, a 3D scanning room that includes
a photogrammetry system, a 3D printing lab and
various other workshops.
20 | Feature Article | Company Profile & Insight | Rachel Park
Bond's scaled-down Aston Martin is skilfully crafted
to be a perfect replica.
Propshop’s managing director, James Enright, sat
down with me to chat after the tour and explained
how he believes that what sets the company apart is
that it does everything involved in the process (everything from initial concept designs, right through to
fully finished part) in one location – with constant
and direct communication between all departments
and direct relationships with the client in terms of the
details of the films.
He was very keen to stress that 3D printing is
just a small, albeit important part of what they do. This
was obvious to me too as I spoke with different team
members. Amanda Darby works largely with scanning applications, which obviously includes a great
deal of sensitive data. When it comes to the entertainment industry, Intellectual Property (IP) and the
protection thereof, is of paramount importance, but
so is harnessing that IP for the brand owner. Amanda
Amphlett offered a telling interjection here saying:
“Essentially we are the custodians of the IP and often
an intermediary between the owner and the licensees.”
Thus Propshop spends a great deal of time working
with the studio production companies, but also with
consumer product companies, merchandise manufacturers (often in China / Taiwan / Japan etc), VFX
companies and gaming companies.
Amanda Darby describes Propshop, in this respect at
least, as a ‘Digital Hub’ that connects all of the various
dots. It was also interesting to learn that Propshop is
now also involved with museums, including one of the
largest in the UK, where work is being carried out to
digitally archive their inventory. Amanda described
the work as “digital protection of their data.” This
is no small undertaking and demands an extensive,
protected database construction - a facility that
James Enright has made a priority. As such, James
confirmed that Propshop has “…developed technology to
acquire and store digital assets on an unprecedented scale.”
This digital capture extends to the services provided
to film makers too, providing them with “assurance
that all valuable IP will be digitally captured during
the film making process.”
I also spent some time talking to Jet Cooper,
an extremely talented 3D modelling expert. He was
happy to show me some of his current work, which
I am under oath (and a lot more besides) not to disclose. It’s so frustrating, because it’s A-MAZINGLY
good, and exciting stuff — such is the 'Hollywood' lure
when it captures your imagination. So I asked him to
show me some stuff that I could talk about. While
some of these films have been out for a while, some of
the behind-the-scenes stories that go with them may
not be so familiar.
One of the best such stories I heard concerned the
body armour worn by the horse in the Disney film
Maleficent. Like me, readers have likely heard about
the many applications of 3D scanning and 3D printing to achieve various customised apparel. This is
the first time I’ve heard about it for a horse. Indeed,
ahead of 3D printing the horse’s armour, the animal
was scanned and the data used to create armour that
was fully customised to its size and shape.
Jet also regaled me with a story that concerned
the wood finishes they can achieve by design and 3D
printing with specific materials. Traditionally carving
wood takes a lot longer, is more expensive but is also
more unpredictable in terms of the outcome than
the new digital alternative. However, the perception
is that it would produce a more authentic prop. Not
so, particularly with the techniques developed by the
company that resulted in a specific instance where the
3D printed wood-effect version was selected over the
actual wood version, because there was more control
over the wood grain - those details really matter!
Jet also unintentionally exemplified how he,
in the digital design department, works closely with
colleagues in other Propshop areas. He was explaining the regular collaboration he has with the guys
running the 3D printing lab and the way in which he
designs for 3D printing while maintaining the intent
of the design for the screen. This was the case with
the large (visible) frame of the full scale pod for the
Guardians of the Galaxy film. Similarly, when it comes
to designing parts that require very specific finishing
operations, Jet works with the skilled model makers
to achieve the very best outcome. For example, on one
character mask, the eyes had to achieve a very precise
look and by modelling a 1 mm ridge around the eyes,
a task that took him a few minutes, it simplified the
finishing process that would otherwise have taken
hours. A very important lesson in effective communication, I thought.
When I later got to spend time with Propshop’s leader, it was hard to be anything other than
impressed with the entire operation he was running,
but I did push to understand his relationship with 3D
printing and his perspective on how it has contributed to the evolution of the company. He left me in
no doubt that he credits 3D printing as an enabling
tool, one that has allowed the company to extend and
push new boundaries, but he was also very clear that
it is not the be all and the end all of what they do.
He also told me that he has seen many people
in the entertainment industry view 3D printing with
scepticism, and in some cases fear, in terms of it eliminating jobs, but James stated that this couldn’t be
further from the truth: “If anything, it has created more
The finished product: Exquisite craftsmanship throughout.
22 | Feature Article | Company Profile & Insight | Rachel Park
jobs and has just changed the workflow somewhat, that’s
certainly the case here. The [3D] printers do produce the
highly detailed, highly accurate parts that film directors
and art directors demand, but the skills and experience
needed to take the part from the machine and make it
film-ready have increased dramatically.”
Soon after, and more visibly, James imparted
how Propshop utilised 3D printing for the Golden
Compass. For the actual compass, when timelines
were pushed to the limit, the specialist engraver that
had been lined up revealed that his specialist process
would take six months, while the prop was required
for filming in four weeks. This is really the sweet
spot for 3D printing per se, but particularly when up
against filming schedules and the potential wrath of
production companies.
James recalled how he first saw a 3D printer
around 2004 (it belonged to a friend who used it for
prototyping and mould making), and immediately
saw the potential within his own business, however
over the last few years Propshop has been able to
print more props directly, albeit only for certain
applications.
However, it does do the job better and faster,
cheaper and more accurately than alternative
methods when applied correctly — either directly or
for mould making. And, he reiterated, a 3D printed
part is not even close to the final story when it comes
to props and costumes, the work that comes after is
extensive and highly skilled. I concur that it is worth
repeating.
The cockpit of the Milano - Propshop working at full scale to bring
Guardians of The Galaxy to life. (Marvel Studios)
In terms of what the future holds for Propshop — more
of the same, just bigger and better. But with some
interesting further extensions that centre around the
digital assets that the company is able to generate
and protect for its clients. Propshop sees huge value
in providing a service that goes beyond “typical merchandising” to produce and sell exact scale replicas
of iconic movie props. James believes there is huge
demand for high quality (high price-tag) replicas
that use the exact same digital data and production
methods as the original.
This premise can be seen with arguably one of
the most iconic props of all time — the Aston Martin
DB5, as driven by Bond (James, Bond) in the film
Skyfall. There has been plenty of publicity around
the fact that Propshop and Voxeljet 3D printed much
of the original prop (which was destroyed in the film
rather than an actual Aston Martin), but the digital
data remains intact.
This data is now being used to produce
100 exact replicas, with a price tag in the region of
£28,000. I saw one of the 100 in the workshop, and
even to my untrained eye it was a piece of masterful
engineering that screamed quality and precision,
to the very last detail. This is a revenue stream that
Propshop is certainly keen to pursue, and one that
people are apparently willing to pay for too, but this
goes way beyond “merchandise!” 
Rachel Park
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AEROSPACE FOCUS
INTERVIEW
MICHELE VAN AKELIJEN
MANAGING DIRECTOR, F&E AEROSPACE
In November of this year, the 2015 Dubai Airshow will include 3D Printshow
Dubai for the first time. Michele van Akelijen is the woman at the helm of show
organisers F&E Aerospace, a role she took on in 2013 following a career in the
events sector that spans 26 years. With a tremendous amount of experience across
the Aerospace and Defence sector, Michele has been instrumental in developing
F&E’s expanding aerospace events portfolio, which includes Dubai Airshow.
Michele thus holds a position that sees her working very closely with
international aerospace associations and allows her to garner original insights
into this dominant, and growing, market sector. Here, she shares some of those
insights in an exclusive interview with Disruptive Magazine's Rachel Park.
26 | Feature Article | Aerospace Focus | Rachel Park
RACHEL PARK
RP
The aerospace sector seems to be going from
strength to strength and growing rapidly. Would
you agree, and what, if any, specific trends have you
noticed in recent years?
Additive manufacturing continues to increase in
importance for companies working within the
Aerospace industry — both for product development and notably, for the production of lighter and
stronger components. How do you see this reflected
across the sector?
Michele van Akelijen
Dubai Airshow is a fantastic opportunity to see a
snapshot, once every two years, of the current state
of the aerospace industry in the region. If we were to
identify specific trends in the Middle East, in recent
years sales of wide body jets have been prolific among
the Gulf airlines.
The Boeing 777X, for example, was launched
at the Airshow in 2013 and became the most financially lucrative aircraft launch in history, with Emirates placing its largest ever order for 150 of them.
The 777X will feature the GE 9X engine, and GE is
currently working on 3D printed fuel nozzles for use
within it.
Another trend that’s apparent is a drive,
like any industry, for potential cost savings. A good
method for achieving this in aerospace is via weight
reduction - another advantage that 3D printing also
offers the potential for. Researchers at McCormick
Northwestern University have discovered that 3D
printed aircraft parts are much lighter and high-performing, which reduces the weight of airplanes, thus
decreasing carbon emissions and fuel expenditure.
3D printing has already begun to have an impact on
the aerospace industry. Stratasys recently 3D printed
more than 1000 in-flight parts for the Airbus A350
XWB aircraft and GeekWire estimates that there are
over 20,000 parts 3D printed out of plastics currently
being used on Boeing aircraft —30 of them on the
787-9 Dreamliner. Perhaps as importantly, General
Electric has announced that its Leap jet engine will
incorporate a fuel nozzle produced entirely though
additive manufacturing, and is currently completing
testing of the new Leap engine models.
Additive manufacturing has been estimated
by ICF International to be as low as 0.0002% of the
$150 billion aerospace parts market. However, many
industry observers forecast that the market for 3D
printed parts in aerospace is expected to reach $2
billion within the next decade; and predictions for
applications range from 3D printing of aircraft wings
to complex engine parts and UAVs (Unmanned Aerial
Vehicles).
RP
RP
Working with large OEMs as well as Tier 2 / 3 companies, how important is the supply chain within
the Aerospace sector and what makes the difference between success and failure when it comes to
forming such partnerships, in your opinion?
Can you tell us about your partnership with 3D
Printshow for the Dubai Airshow 2015 — what
was the motivation and how have your exhibitors
responded to date?
MvA
MvA
MvA
The aerospace sector, like any other major industry
with a large supply chain, relies on relationships and
face-to-face networking to build these relationships.
This is even more important in the Middle East,
where culturally it is still seen as the main way to
do business. The networking value of events like the
Dubai Airshow is therefore immense - the opportunities to meet with industry professionals from
around the globe and every part of the supply chain
is unparalleled.
The Dubai Airshow 2015 will be the first time we have
featured 3D printing, through our partnership with
3D Printshow. Additive manufacturing is emerging
as an important tool for aerospace manufacturers
with global companies such as Airbus, Rolls Royce
and Boeing, among others, citing the importance of
industrial 3D printing technologies both within their
supply chains and for final manufacturing of components. Indeed, PriceWaterhouseCoopers called 3D
printing “A potential game changer for aerospace and
defense.”
U.S. Marine Corps Capt. James Kerrigan takes a break from the desert sun
at the 2013 Dubai Airshow at Dubai World Central in Jebel Ali, UAE.
28 | Feature Article | Aerospace Focus | Rachel Park
The response from exhibitors has been very positive
– they know that Dubai Airshow has a reputation
for being at the forefront of the aviation industry
and with the current and potential applications for
additive manufacturing in aerospace, it seemed only
logical to bring these industries together.
RP
What are the highlights of the 2015 Dubai event that
you are most looking forward to and what sort of
attendance are you expecting?
MvA
We are definitely looking forward to having the 3D
Printshow within Dubai Airshow and hope to see
some exciting aerospace applications for additive
manufacturing technology. Another new feature this
year is that we have received permission for UAVs to
take part in the flying display, and we’re currently
working with our exhibitors to create a programme.
Some of our UAV exhibitors include Adcom, BAE
Systems, Northrop Grumman and Saab.
Other key exhibitors include industry heavyweights like Airbus and Boeing, plus the business aviation sector will also be highly represented with companies such as Embraer, Bombardier and Dassault.
We are expecting over 1,100 exhibitors from
60 countries and more than 65,000 trade visitors to
attend Dubai Airshow 2015. 
The Dubai Airshow will be taking place 8–12
November 2015 at its purpose built venue at Dubai
World Central (DWC), Dubai. 3D Printshow Dubai
will be running concurrently across the week
and will be fully embedded within the show.
Other shows organised by F&E Aerospace
include the Gulf Aviation Training Event (GATE),
MEBAA Show Morocco, Aircraft Interiors Middle
East (AIME), Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul
Middle East (MRO ME) and MEBAA Show.
www.dubaiairshow.aero
Rachel Park
MEDIA SUMMIT 2015
Faith Robinson
SDM offers an outstanding selection of manufacturing options in both metal and plastic.
Positioning itself as the AM industry’s key service provider, SDM was formed in 2014 by bringing
together three US legacy companies under the Stratasys umbrella: Solid Concepts, RedEye and
Harvest Technologies. As a result, the level of expertise and technology understanding here are
outstanding, providing a perfect service option for clients with exacting requirements.
To be a key player in any industry, strategy and
delivery critically pave the way for success. A trip to
Texas last month to visit Stratasys Direct Manufacturing’s impressive facility reinforced this idea: from
the clarity of the ambitious business plans in play,
through to the insightful results of their recent industry survey, this corner of the Stratasys portfolio is a
powerhouse of experience and enthusiasm for additive manufacture.
I was invited to participate in the SDM Media
Summit 2015, where a select group of journalists were
welcomed to the Austin facility with a factory tour,
followed by an interactive conference. You can read
more about my trip, as well as the survey results presented on disruptive.com, but as an industry exclusive, I was given the opportunity to interview two
senior members of the SDM team onsite:
J: I think the hype has helped SDM and its legacy
businesses a great deal over the past few years. You
had this bubble with tons of media talking about 3D
printing; two and half years ago President Obama
mentioned it in his state of the union speech. I mean,
that very moment changed the conversation – you had
more people knowing about additive manufacture.
That really helped all of us increase the awareness and then of course the adoption - of this technology.
D: In terms of public perception, there remains a
tension between the terms ‘3D Printing’ and ‘Additive Manufacture’. Does SDM have a preference,
and what are your thoughts on this?
J: Those who have been in the industry for a while
P: Phillip Conner
prefer ‘Additive Manufacturing’ – because that’s
really what it is, but I think most of us recognise that
the term ‘3D Printing’ and, as we mentioned, its hype
over the last few years is valuable, because it raises
awareness. We use them interchangeably, and it
depends who we’re talking to, but we use both.
Manager
DMLA (Direct Metal Laser Sintering)
P: It seems to be split along generational lines more
J: Jim Bartel
Senior Vice President Strategy
Marketing & Business Development
D: Disruptive Magazine
D: In today’s opening presentation, Joe Allison
(CEO of SDM) stated: “This is where the hype ends”.
If this is the case, how do you think this hype has
helped Stratasys Direct Manufacturing?
than anything… in the last 25 years I’ve seen it be
called all kinds of different things. Some of them
stuck, some of them didn’t.
D: Is it hard to manage client expectations? Do they
fully understand your role as a service provider?
32 | Feature | SDM Interview | Faith Robinson
J: When we put these three businesses together, we
suddenly had this full suite of product offerings that
became a one-stop shop for our clients. With traditional manufacturing, as well as the additive technologies, SDM can give a client what they need, wherever
they are in their new product development - whether
that’s early concept or all the way into end-use technologies, that help them along the way, and I think
that’s a really important thing.
We have a direct sales force supported by 45
people across the US, and they’re supported with an
internal project engineering team, as well as manufacturing engineering – as well as people in operations
who can help with more complex quotes. The project
engineers are at all of our facilities and they all report
in to one organisation. So we blend
our sales, marketing, project engineering and manufacturing operations into one. We may have eight
facilities, but we are one business. In
terms of getting that message across,
we rebranded, put a new logo on
SDM, got a new website…
D: From a ground level perspective
– is the AM production schedule
difficult to manage?
P: It definitely has its challenges, but another brilliant outcome of combining these companies is that
we all had different processes and different tools that
help control the flow of work – which we merged. By
doing so, we were able to take the best practices from
each of them and create a more robust system.
So yes, all manufacturing has its challenges,
but the fact that we are picking the ‘best of the best’
out of such a huge group of very experienced people
makes it quite manageable. It’s never easy, but it all
comes down to having a lot of experience; people here
have been doing this for decades.
D: What prompted your investigation into the
future of 3D printing service providers? Were you
looking for answers, or to confirm your ideas, perspectives, and ultimately, SDM’s future?
J: Probably both. We all know that there are other
industry reports out there, but in our case, we wanted
to create an independently sponsored report of our
own - let’s see for ourselves - let’s get our own data.
Of course, we had a lot of influence on what questions
were asked and what information we wanted to get
out of it.
In particular, I really wanted to learn more
about, and ensure we received answers to, why
people outsource versus insource. The survey data
shows why, but intuitively we kind of already knew –
however, it’s about confirming information.
D: A lot of the 3D printing community is still excited
about the recently launched Stratasys Strategic
Consulting– can you tell me a bit more about that –
and why the solutions provider service is so important to the Stratasys portfolio?
J: What we at Stratasys are trying
to do is offer total solutions for our
customers. The core here is additive
technologies, but there is also a great
need (as the survey shows) for consulting, expertise and the general
know-how that we’ve built up over
the years. SDM delivers that for
customers who want parts, because
in the end, that’s what every customer is looking for. They want to
buy a part or a component – so we want to be able to
provide that.
For a more strategic reason, we think that
being able to offer parts helps sell printers and materials, and having printers also helps sell parts. So it’s
a continuous circle in a sense: we get them hooked on
our parts, introduce them to our machines and then
once they have those things, they want expertise.
We’re offering everything.
D: Does it ever become difficult to manage expectations, or provide support to clients who may need
more than they think they need? How much guidance do you have to give?
P: We work with all kinds of people: from those who
are complete novices right through to people who
have been doing this for decades. There’s always
something you can learn. Nobody knows everything,
and so even if you have a group of people who have
been using this tech for quite some time, there’s
always something they might not be aware of or have
access to.
Larger groups and bigger teams mean that
there’s more expertise and more exchange of ideas.
I guarantee that if you get a room
full of experienced people in any
industry, the bouncing of ideas will
result in new solutions. Additionally,
sometimes clients who know the
least about the technology and who
don’t understand the limits may pose
questions in such a why that a bunch
of really smart people might stop
and say: “Hmm, I never thought of
it like that”. It helps keep the flow of
information always moving forward.
J: I can think of some classic case studies (that may
even still be on our website.) We’ve done a number
of memorable things in the last couple of years – for
example, we worked with NASA JPL to FDM print
this antennae array that took over a year to design –it
was designed directly for additive.
We worked with them and visited a number of
times to guide them through the AM
rules in their design, so that we could
print it as one piece. Compared to
what they were doing before, this was
a significant difference, and what’s
cool about it is that the part going
up will be the first 3D print actually
outside a spacecraft in space. I think
it’s going up next spring.
D: In terms of the specific manufacturing options
that SDM offers, how long has it taken for DMLS to
come into its own in the way that it now has?
D: An example like that really illustrates the pro-
P: It’s been around for quite some time - I think it’s
really in the last four or five years that its come into
its own: having parts that are now FAA certified and
so on – those are the type of huge turning points in
the industry.
D: Which vertical industries do you feel are the
of the numerous options that they might need –
even if that client doesn’t know they need them?
most important for SDM?
and then our Project-Engineering Group – and then
depending on the complexity of the project, it may
go through to our Manufacturing and Engineering
Group as well. So it really depends. We’re there to
provide our clients with that support.
D: Within your recent work, are there any particularly memorable projects?
J: 3D printers are being used and
developed in the space station - our
part is actually being used in the
functionality of the spacecraft itself.
D: To what extent does SDM guide clients in terms
J: Well it’s really the role initially of our Sales Group
most important areas that I work with, and I assume
it’s the same for other processes. It really runs the
gambit: we do a lot of different things for a lot of different people.
P: Obviously in my world (in the metal shop), Energy
and Aerospace are the really big vertical markets that
we work with - from very early on in development
work and testing phases, right through to 50 years
down the road making legacy parts for something
that doesn’t even have prints anymore. They’re the
gression and value that additive manufacture is
giving to different verticals and clients all around
the world – as well as those in the world’s orbit!
Thank you for your time - Disruptive looks
forward to seeing more of Stratasys Direct Manufacturing’s results and influence in the future. 
Special thanks go to Jack Doyle and the team at Inprela,
as well at Stratasys Direct Manufacturing for their outstanding hospitality in Austin.
www.stratasysdirect.com
Faith Robinson
An example of a very complex structure 3D printed in metal:
Lightweight and yet very strong.
INDUSTRY INSIDER | PART 2
INDUSTRIAL APPLICATIONS
OF 3D PRINTING NEED
CREATIVE THINKING
Kerry Stevenson
If you missed Part 1 of this article, here’s a quick recap: It is my belief that the progression
of 3D printing has largely followed a path similar to the one computing took in the five decades from 1950 to
the end of the 1990’s. During that period, computing was simply a matter of automating existing processes
to extract value, by achieving the desired results faster or at lower cost. In almost all cases during that
half-century, computing was focused on simply making existing business processes more efficient.
That’s the scenario that we have lived with across the
3D printing industry for some time now: it has provided a way of making existing product development
and manufacturing processes more efficient. For
example, a large portion of 3D printing activity has
been (and still is) focused on the preparation of manufacturing prototypes. These prototypes are typically
used for developing designs of products that will ultimately be produced via traditional manufacturing
methods, such as milling or injection moulding.
As a result, manufacturing companies are
simply doing the same things, just faster and cheaper
in the earlier stages. In many cases, these ‘rapid’
prototypes are substantially less expensive and can
be prepared in far less time than their traditional
predecessors.
While that’s a really good thing, there
is a lot more to the story.
Computing took an interesting turn in the mid-1990s,
when the Internet connected everyone in ways that
were previously unimaginable. The ability to connect
companies and individuals presented an opportunity
for innovation, and that challenge was taken up by
the pioneers of the ‘Dot Com’ era. From there, we saw
massive successes in several ventures, such as Microsoft, Google and many others that you’ve no doubt
heard of, and perhaps still use, even today.
Their successes paved the way, by validating
the approach, for others to follow with increasingly
inventive solutions that leveraged the new environments. Even today, we still see this phenomena taking
place, as companies innovate on top of innovation, in
a world where anything digital seems possible. They
did this by leveraging the equipment (computers and
networks) to their fullest potential.
Just as computing made a monstrous leap from
the mere automation of existing processes to today’s
state of constant revolution (with utterly new business
models and processes emerging, it would seem, every
month), I believe that 3D printing can do the same but it will require considerable effort by many people.
A key element in the transition to a ‘future
world of innovative 3D printing’ must include the
36 | Feature Article | Industry Insider | Kerry Stevenson
addition of production printing, the process of making
end-usable parts, not simply prototypes. This is now
increasingly possible, as the capabilities of industrial
3D printing platforms improve, and the associated
prices drop. But if the equipment is capable of producing production parts, will the transition be as simple
as that? I think not. There is a serious requirement
for change in design, in order to leverage 3D printing
equipment to its fullest potential. Wait, that’s just
what I said about computing’s transition.
Consider the main advantage of 3D printing
technology: the ability to easily create complex geometric shapes, without regard to any constraints by
the equipment. This is in stark contrast to traditional
manufacturing, which involves milling and injection
moulding machines, each of which have very serious
limitations on the producible geometries.
As an example, in many cases complex system
components must be decomposed into a collection
of simpler parts that are actually manufacturable.
This enables the complex component to be produced,
but also introduces a requirement for assembly of
those simpler parts, multiple manufacturing runs,
additional material for connectors to hold the parts
together and potentially decreased strength along the
joints of the assembled parts.
None of these are good characteristics, so why
would we accept them? The answer is that they were
always accepted because there were no feasible alternatives to manufacturing. This was THE way to make
things. The only way. It is no longer THE way to make
things. 3D printing is a technology that can overcome
this particular limitation, but only if the creativity of
designers embraces those capabilities to their fullest
advantage.
Here’s an example of how this can happen,
taken from the genesis of Urbee, the 'World’s first 3D
printed car', (which was actually the world’s first 3D
printed car BODY, but that’s another story.)
The lead designer on the project, David Bernhardt, began by designing standard car body panels
for the Urbee, which could have been printed and
installed in a manner identical to that used in normal
car manufacturing processes.
However, in the process of digital design,
he realised that there was nothing preventing him
from embedding enhanced functionality into the 3D
printed panels. The panels would be printed in almost
the same time, but this way, they’d include additional
features.
The digital 3D models he developed in SolidWorks were easily changed to include simple additions such as clip points or channels to accommodate
the later installation of cabling, for example. This
was very easy to do and somewhat simplified things
for the project. But that was just the start. Once this
concept became routine, additional features could be
added, without regard for any manufacturing complexities, which, due to 3D printing technology, had
disappeared.
Subsequently, Bernhardt took this concept
forward and began designing much more complex
digital auto parts, developing items that could only be
produced using 3D printing.
David Bernhardt: Re-imagining design
processes with 3D printing in mind
There is a serious
requirement for
change in design, in
order to leverage 3D
printing equipment to
its fullest potential.
(Top) Surfacing on the Urbee during development stages.
(Bottom) The finished article - ready for the road.
This only works if you can use the 3D printed part
in a production setting. Today, if you will eventually
revert to traditional manufacturing processes (e.g. for
producing millions of units) it won’t work - the part
would have to be designed to accommodate those
restrictive traditional manufacturing methods. Similarly, if you require the use of specific materials or
combinations of materials, it could be that there is no
3D printing process or equipment that can produce
them. In that case, you’re out of luck and cannot (yet)
take full advantage of design for 3D printing.
That’s not to say there is no way forward. In
fact, the production of high-quality plastic and metal
components is already possible with today’s 3D printing equipment. It may not be as inexpensive as some
might like, but it is certainly technically possible to
create production parts in several useful materials.
This opens up the possibility of dramatic innovation in design for 3D printing, yet few have taken
steps in that direction, other than experimental ventures, perhaps due to the increased cost of high-quality 3D prints.
One excellent example of this new design philosophy was demonstrated by NASA, in its work to
develop a 3D printed rocket engine. NASA operates
in peculiar circumstances that enable this design to
become practical:
• NASA does not require large quantities of components; rockets are usually countable on only a few
hands worth of fingers.
• Rockets are high-priced items because they’re often
custom-built, rather than mass produced. Therefore,
it’s acceptable that components used in them may be
pricey.
• Rocket engines, and indeed the entire rocket stack
must be very strong (to withstand launch stresses),
but also be as lightweight as possible.
• NASA’s missions are often one-of-a-kind, thus
requiring extreme reliability, driven partially by the
reliability of underlying rocket components.
Parts like this, which feature a high level of geometric complexity
and draw from almost random or organic-looking structures would
be virtually impossible to create using any other process.
If you look at these circumstances, it’s clear that 3D
printed components would work well for NASA:
• 3D printers cannot mass-produce components, so
that works.
• The price of 3D printed components is compatible
with the financial structure of custom-built rockets.
• Metal 3D printers can produce sufficiently strong
parts for use in rocket engines.
• Ingenious 3D designers can develop optimised parts
that are lightweight.
• 3D printers can produce single, complex parts in a
one-print operation.
Put all of these together and it becomes obvious that
NASA is in a prime position to leverage 3D printing
— and in fact they already have. The organisation
has been (relatively) quietly developing a new form
of rocket engine that fully embraces design for 3D
printing.
Their design experiments have been quite
fruitful, particularly in one dramatic example from
a couple of years ago: a specialised injector normally
Complex and simple: High levels of geometric
complexity in metal parts and optimised design
in piping / distribution will make AM invaluable
in the future.
requires around 115 separate parts to be manufactured
and carefully assembled. With a new, 3D print-focused
design, they were able to produce the same injector
with only two 3D printed parts! This vastly simplified
manufacturing and assembly, increased injector reliability (fewer seams for nasty high temperature gas to
escape) and reduced component weight.
Similarly, this dedicated team at NASA has
also designed components that could not be manufactured in conventional ways. In the image on the right,
you can see a rocket engine bell that appears quite
straightforward. However, internally, the engine bell
is criss-crossed with a network of very fine channels
through which coolant flows, keeping the bell from
melting during firing.
This is another example of design for 3D printing; embedded features, which, when combined with
reduced components, produce a new type of design
that’s freed from traditional limitations. NASA gets it,
or at least their rocket designers do. The question is,
"Embedded
features... when
combined with
reduced components,
produce a new type
of design that’s freed
from traditional
limitations."
In the combustion chamber, propellant burns at more than
5,000 degrees Fahrenheit. To prevent melting, hydrogen at less
than 100 degrees above absolute zero circulates in more
than 200 intricately carved cooling channels. (NASA)
“You are in safe hands”.
Laser Lines Ltd has been supplying 3D printing
and production systems to the UK market for over 20 years.
Whether you need to build parts in plastic or metal we offer an impressive portfolio of 3D Printers and 3D
Production systems. The team at Laser Lines has amassed over 100 years of experience selling and
supporting the Stratasys range of systems and compliment this by offering the SLM Solutions selective laser
melting systems for metal parts.
what about all the other designers in other industries?
To be sure, NASA has an advantage due to
the circumstances they work in, but it may not be
long before similar discoveries are made by designers
working in other sectors. As the capabilities of 3D
printing gradually increase, so too will opportunities
for such design innovation to occur.
Some work has been done in other areas,
particularly in that of building components, where
internal structures can be transformed: from uniform
blocks of material into intricate lattices that provide
the most efficient structure to handle the expected
mechanical stress on the component.
Eventually, we’ll see large fleets of production
3D printers making increased numbers of such components. The increased activity may itself bring prices
down, leading to more use, in a kind-of virtuous cycle.
But none of this will happen unless designers take
that initial step and think about how their designs
could be ‘3D print enabled.’ 
“From Entry Level to Production Systems,
we understand how difﬁcult it is to
make a decision when buying a
3D Printer. Perhaps
we can help you with
that ﬁrst step?”
01295 672500
Kerry Stevenson
A key focus for Kerry is the previously
impossible idea of replicating physical
objects directly from digital data. In 2007
Kerry created Fabbaloo now one of the
internet's oldest blogs exclusively dedicated
3D printing, which follows developments
and implications of replication
technology. @fabbaloo
Laser Lines Ltd
Beaumont Close, Banbury,Oxon OX16 1TH
Tel: 01295 672500
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.3dprinting.co.uk
Pacific Rim ‘Gipsy Danger’ Pilot Suit.
Courtesy of Legendary Pictures.
INDUSTRY PROFILE
Dave Marks met with Jason Lopes in 2013
to discuss his life, work and approach to
technology. This article has never been seen
before in print and serves as a fantastic
introduction to one of the most gifted and
prolific 3D print engineers working today.
Dave Marks
DM: Could you talk a little bit about your background –
how did you wind up 3D printing in Hollywood?
JL: Growing up, I’ve always been a maker in some way.
I went to school because I used to be a skater and got
fascinated with shooting skateboard videos. Coming
out of school, I started getting more into graphics
work and it wasn’t until I moved out to California,
about 13 years ago, that I had the opportunity to work
on really large, complex rendering environments.
I worked on visual effects shots for Sky Captain
and The World of Tomorrow, for Klasky /Csupó (creators of ‘Rugrats’) and for another place that did very
high-end commercials and films. My role in it all was
to build and manage render farms and figure out their
workflows.
In those environments, the data is nasty, the
timelines are crazy and it all needs to be managed
into some sort of workflow. I realised back then, it’s
not just the machines that are propelling companies to the top with this technology - on top of the
machines, it’s also workflow.
I’ve focused my whole career on how to
bridge departments, how to automate processes - not
taking jobs away from people, but actually allowing
them to create more and have more time to do their
art without all that technical mumbo-jumbo in the
background.
Managing thousands of render farms and building all
of these things on deadlines allowed me to really up
my game on the behind-the-scenes of workflow. That
came down to scripting, writing custom programs,
figuring out where there were bottlenecks in the
modeling creation and trying to automate the movement of one process to the next.
I landed at Stan Winston’s Studio (now Legacy
Effects) at a perfect time, when their digital department was basically a separate entity from their
normal special effects business. I knew from day one
that they always wanted to have it integrated, so after
a house-cleaning of the digital department, Stan gave
me my shot at bringing the digital department in line
with the other departments.
DM: So how did you bring 3D printing into Legacy?
JL: Alan Scott (one of the main commercial producers) brought in a Halo diorama campaign and at that
point I told him: This has to be our test bed - we can
bring 3D printers into our traditional workflow. Let’s
not focus on the printers, they do what they do if you
have a good tech guy that can maintain them. That’s
the easy part of the equation. The hard part is what
we can do behind-the-scenes in our network to facilitate just slamming these machines – almost as if they
were automated.
44 | Feature Article | Industry Profile | Dave Marks
After months of research, I basically adapted everything that I had learned in render queue building and
management and applied it to a 3D printing workflow. When people come here, they’re blown away by
what’s gowing on before it hits 3D printing. It’s one
thing to just have machines that create things, but
it’s even bigger to be able to feed these machines in
such a way that…. if you step back and look at how this
data is created, going from digital to a physical object
without missing a beat in the studio - that’s where
I get Goosebumps. There’s a flow to the data that’s
going through here 24/7 and we are just producing
beautiful pieces of artwork.
DM: How do you start developing an idea?
JL: Every film is different, but a lot of times the brief
will come to us as a pencil sketch or a simple 2-D
sketch. We try to get into a 3D concept within the
first day, so that we can start working in 3D, showing
different angles – things that a 2D sketch just can’t
give you.
At the same time, we start highlighting potential problems. It’s one thing to ‘make’ a character, but
on top of that, we also do script breakdowns. A design
might look fabulous, but how do we know that this
design and our material choices are going to hold up
for what that character is required to do in the movie?
We have to go very deep into shot breakdown
to figure out ‘What can we get away with here? What
can’t we get away with there? What do we need to do
for safety?’ On top of getting a sign-off to go from
concept to building this character, we have to open
up a whole lot of conversations based on the requirements in the film.
Once we start getting those conversations
going, we can step away from the studio for a moment,
get our internal departments together and go through
the design. We’ll get a mechanical engineer’s input on
things that need to be done underneath the suit, electronics, even down to the mold makers and the model
shop.
Let’s say that we’re going to 3D print a shinguard for a Halo character; we’re not just 3D printing
that part, we’re actually modifying that part on top
of it, bringing in a skilled mold maker with 20 years
of experience, thinking ‘What can we add to this part
to help them in their mold making process? Can we turn
this part into a 3D printed tool just to buy more time, to
The stars of Real Steel:
Full scale robots - (Top) Ambush and (Bottom) Noisy Boy.
Courtesy of Dreamworks Studios
The Crimson Typhoon Chinese pilot helmet and
Stacker Pentecost’s Sensei helmet from Guillermo
Del Toro's Pacific Rim. (Legendary Pictures)
have more fun creatively?’
Once the studio take a step back, we pick the
design apart to come up with our plan for executing.
We take all the mistakes that we’ve ever made and
all of the history that we have from making previous
movies and we try to incorporate that into every new
thing that we’re doing.
Even if it’s a character that we could do in
our sleep, we try to find new ways to do it - to help
our process, to cut down on time out on the floor, so
that we can spend more time in designing something
proper.
DM: Do you have a print that you’re most proud of?
JL: With every film we do, I feel more and more
proud. I have to say, what we were able to achieve in
Pacific Rim…. we were able to gain back so much time
that we were able to take it to another level outside of
the suits, breaking them down with the spine mechanisms and finding some really great ways to make this
practical again and fluid – and all in-camera.
It’s one thing to 3D print something. It’s
another to work with a team of four or five different
people, 3D print components for something rapidly
through versions and versions and to start seeing this
stuff come to life and automating it. We can quickly
go from just a dumb, static 3D printed part to a part
that is totally controlled via remote control or motion
control systems.
Every project becomes my proudest moment
because every time we seem to be pushing it farther
than we ever have before.
I encourage everyone to watch our behind the
scenes footage on YouTube – you’ll really see what
went into making those Pacific Rim suits and Connpods. It’s probably the best work I’ve ever seen. It’s
amazing what this technology allows us to do, and
we’re also buying our time back.
DM: What sort of things do you vary on version builds?
JL: We’re able to offer more material types, to simulate some rubber and some different Shore values.
Clients might say – ‘It’d be cool if we could see into this’
– so I print using clear materials. We can do all this
now and we just have fun with it.
On The Amazing Spiderman, we created the
Lizard in SLA and the detail wasn’t good enough for
Not just movies: Legacy has created some fantastic
characters for TV commercials like (top) the FedEx Turtle
and (bottom left) the Xbox Ryse Roman soldier.
us. Instead of scrapping it, we sculpted with clay on
top of the 3D print. How awesome is that to mix the
traditional and the digital to create this eye-popping
creature? It’s not about ‘Oh, we’re gonna 3D print – how
cool is that?’ We 3D printed and it bought us back a
load of time – now let’s use our traditional techniques
on top of that and really blow it out of the water!
DM: Can you tell us about your machines?
JL: (N.B. Circa 2013) In house, I’m running six
machines: A Connex 500, an Eden 260 V, I’m running
a beta machine from Stratasys right now that I can’t
talk too much about, but if you know the Connex 500
and you can imagine the next level up from that… It’s
very vivid, that’s all I can tell you.
On top of that, I’m running a Fortus 250 for
some strong ABS parts, an EnvisionTEC Perfactory 3
for some super hi-res smaller detail parts for our miniature / maquette type work…. and a Makerbot Replicator 2. And that gets used more than most people
would think.
DM: How do you decide which machine
to assign for each job?
JL: It’s very dynamic here - we don’t work on one
Multi material monsters: Utilising a
variety of materials, Legacy can create
working moveable parts for more believable,
interactive characters on screen, like this
alien from 2011’s Cowboys and Aliens.
Courtesy of DreamWorks Pictures
project at a time, which makes reserving machines
for specific duties very difficult. By default, I would
like to have my machines reserved out on projects by
material: My Connex is my default for ABS material
and my Eden will either sit in VeroClear or VeroGray
for smaller parts, high detail, and some that need to
be clear or even rubberized.
With the way deadlines are, that’s easier said
than done. If I have one machine sitting in one material, another machine in another, something’s gonna
pop up to kill me. Luckily, I can get any machine in
and out of a material very quickly – within the hour
normally. That’s one of the reasons why we chose
Objet technology – how versatile they are. The best
practice I use now, as project parts are needed in
our normal house material, I’ll start offloading to my
smaller Eden 260 V, figuring that once I fill up that
tray, I can then overspill into my Connex 500.
Within these six machines, we know what their
strengths are; we know what they’re capable of. They
do not have a weakness. If there’s ever a weakness, it’s
not in my workflow, so every machine is just potential.
DM: What about large or particularly long prints
– how do you cope with that?
JL: It all goes out the window when I’m planning and
I get told ‘We have an updated version of a Robocop
chest for you’ – that’s at least forty-eight hours for me
on a particular machine. I have to mentally know our
schedule, know what’s coming up and factor in for
mistakes, revisions and changes.
Once I throw that Robocop chest on my
Connex 500, I have at least two days where I’m not
touching a printer which has extreme capabilities, so
I really have to know all the parts that the artists here
are working on. I can’t just wait for them to be sent to
me – I have to be involved in all the meetings. As I’m
seeing what they’re working on and how we’re gonna
break it down, I’m already envisioning my tray setups.
I think of myself as a technical producer – I can’t just
sit back and not be involved. If I was to do that, we
wouldn’t make our deadlines. I need to be one step
ahead of where they are when they’re designing and
modeling and have this beautiful elaborate matrix in
my head of what’s going where and how it’s gonna get
done.
DM: So you print around the clock, day in, day out?
JL: One of our goals when we walk out of here at
5pm every day is to make sure that these machines
are running until we walk back in at 8am the next
day. Fridays here are crazier days than Mondays - on
Friday, my goal is to have every machine printing
over the weekend. A lot of times, I’m in and out over
the weekend to take down trays and let more trays go.
DM: That seems like a dream setup.
JL: Having a range of machines is great, but just
throwing machines at production doesn’t solve the
problem. You really need someone that understands
workflow, that knows how to get around it when
things happen in scheduling – when you have that
last minute emergency job that sneaks in, that‘s gonna
affect other things that you schedule for the weekend,
so it really comes down to being a pro – you eat, sleep
and sh*t this stuff.
DM: What are your biggest challenges as a maker?
JL: We work on a lot of hard surface and flat surface-type parts, similar to the Iron Man armor. Those
things really don’t have a lot of detail to them for the
most part. Unfortunately, with this tech, when you
have less detailed parts, that’s when defects or limitations, really show through. I’m talking about grow
lines.
Let’s face it, everything is visual. If I print
something out, the first thing they’re gonna do is look
at it. If they see grow lines all over it, that’s gonna be
an embarrassing moment for me.
Over the years, I’ve worked with Scott Patten
(one of the lead artists at Legacy). I told him: This is
the problem that we’re gonna face here. We’re dealing
with people that don’t know things technically, so
they’re just gonna look at all of our hard work and if it
looks like shit, it speaks for itself.
Scott came up with the idea of adding textures
into parts that you normally wouldn’t see texture
in. It’s our little ‘secret sauce’ way of doing things
in-house that helps us turn a normal 3D print into
something that looks better than it actually is.
Every time I talk to people about this, they look
at me like I’m crazy, but the proof is in the pudding.
I can show you two prints of the same part – one will
knock your socks off and one will make you think we
have a few years to go yet…
DM: What kind of ‘unusual’ things does this
approach allow you to create?
JL: Yesterday I had the Stratsys / Objet R & D guys
in here. I showed them examples of our texturing on
a glove that we did for The Wolverine (which I’ll be
bringing to 3D Printshow). It looks like real fabric and
no one, until they get it into their hands can believe
that they’re holding a 3D print.
We always ask: ‘What can we do to make it look
better? Add a little bump texture on there? That’s gonna
be so tight in tolerance that even though there are build
lines in that grow, those little textures in there are gonna
fool your eyes’… and it works.
It’s amazing what you can do by thinking
outside of the box – when you know your limitations,
you can logically figure out ways of pulling smoke and
mirrors and for me, that’s what it’s all about. We do
not run a default here - we push buttons, we experiment, because at the end of the day, it’s visual.
Five people can print the same iPhone case out
and show it to you – I guarantee that if I print that
same case, you’ll choose mine over all the others.
DM: So the human element is still really
important for you?
JL: Absolutely. A few years ago people were going
crazy in the editing world because Final Cut Pro
came out and it was gonna replace Avid – like anyone
graduating is gonna get a Mac Pro and have a professional editing system in their house. Like the industry
is over!
No, it’s not, because you still need that person
driving that technology. Just because you have the
means – just because you go out and buy it doesn’t
mean that you’re going to produce beautiful things on
it.
DM: What do you crave in the future of 3D printing?
JL: The next thing for me is metals and right now,
the only thing that’s holding me back from metals is
a budget… but I’m sure that will be different one year
from now.
All I’m hoping is for the technology to keep
moving forward at this current pace. With things like
Makerbot and all the home-kit printers, everyone
always asks me – ‘What do you think of these desktop
printer systems – pretty shitty huh?’ No – not shitty
at all. Pretty impressive for what you can buy for the
price of an iMac and once it gets out into the general
population, everyone’s gonna need to kick it up a
notch. That’s just going to advance the professional
stuff that I’m waiting for.
Ultimately, I want more material research. I
can live without speed right now; I just want more
material options. I want stronger materials, I want
higher temp materials – I want materials to take over
what’s driving this technology. 
Dave Marks
Dave Marks is a self-confessed tech nerd
and fills his life with as much creative work
as he can fit. Alongside writing and design,
he leads a not-so-secret double life as a
professional musician.
Realising Destiny: Ad agency 72andSunny utilised the
expertise at Legacy Effects to create a hyper-real, intergalactic
aesthetic in their live action advert for Activision’s Destiny.
ON THE DESKTOP
3D PRINTED
COSPLAY AND
DEVELOPMENT
BEYOND
Richard Horne
People all around the world are looking for ways
to escape normal life. A good book, film or even a
weekend of historical re-enactment can allow a break
from the norm. Cosplay is a fascinating and growing
pastime for people who enjoy the task of making, and
also a good community activity. So, let’s embrace our
inner superhero and investigate how 3D printing is
helping make Cosplay more fun and spectacular… and
explore what this may lead to in the future.
Cosplay is short for Costume Play. It's not
intended to be a dress up game or an activity for kids,
this hobby (like many that revolve around cult video
games, sci-fi, film heroes or almost any type of fantasy
character) is directly tuned into the biggest forms of
entertainment that exist today.
This powerful link between films, computer
gaming and actual representations of characters and
objects, is a growing pastime for a surprising number
of people all around the world. Although it can attract
unwanted attention, it's certainly not something to be
ignored or banished behind closed doors. Cosplay is
not solely for the exhibitionist who wants to display a
perfectly made costume - quite often it provides shy
or socially distant people with a platform to show off
their talents and in doing so, become more confident.
Not for kids: The Hulkbuster Iron Man suit (James Bruton: Xrobots.co.uk)
52 | Feature Article | On the Desktop | Richard Horne
Cosplay is often thought of as a Japanese activity,
due in part to the many Japanese video game characters normally selected as figures to emulate through
home-made costumes and accessories. In fact, the
term cosplay was coined by a Japanese reporter visiting the 1984 WorldCon in Los Angeles, California.
WorldCon is the world's most noteworthy
science fiction convention, and has been hosted each
year in a different location since it’s debut in 1939.
High profile authors and actors accompany WorldCon wherever it goes. (E.g. Arthur C Clark was the
guest of honour for the New York convention in 1956.)
Since the very beginning, WorldCon has
retained a strong tradition of masquerade, which can
be traced back centuries to a time when dressing up
was part of any social event. The WorldCon masquerade allowed people to show off and express their love
of sci-fi characters who, at that time were often only
depicted in books or comics. The masquerade was
also a competition, where winners would be rewarded
for their efforts, thus inspiring ever more elaborate
and complex costumes.
In the late 70s / early 80s, Japanese animation
started to find its way around the world, and before
long costumes depicting these colourful characters
began winning awards at the WorldCon shows. With
this, interest grew in the whole culture of costume
play.
Because much of this cultural movement
was about visual spectacle and functioned as part
of a show or gathering of like-minded folk, a high
standard was always expected. Add to that a host of
awards for the most innovative, detailed or elaborate,
and that was all the encouragement people needed to
spend the rest of the year working on the very best
costume they could create.
In recent times, cosplay has boomed. With gaming
becoming socially acceptable for adults and the
internet bringing global connectivity, we have seen a
worldwide increase in painstakingly detailed homemade costumes celebrating characters of literature,
games, gore, fantasy and of course, international
superheroes.
One of the trickiest aspects of cosplay is the
accessories, masks, or in some cases entire suits of
armour required to do justice to a character or superhero. Significant hours of manual construction, decoration and art are required for top cosplay creations to
be carefully crafted.
Increasingly (and now almost exclusively),
we are seeing most film props, costumes and accessories being 3D printed. This has had the knock-on
effect that digital files can be made available online,
allowing the same objects to be fitted and printed for
anyone who wants to emulate the big-screen action in
real life.
Companies like Legacy Effects have been at the
forefront of the industry using 3D printing to produce
entire suits and various props for Hollywood movies
including Iron Man, Thor, Pacific Rim and Robocop,
along with a vast range of robots and mechanical
devices. Digital design and 3D manufacture is now a
viable way to make these objects a reality, and in most
cases, it’s faster and more convenient than traditional
model making.
An X-men fan shows full commitment in an incredible
female Nightcrawler costume. © Greyloch
"ONE OF THE TRICKIEST
ASPECTS OF COSPLAY IS THE
ACCESSORIES, MASKS, OR IN
SOME CASES ENTIRE SUITS OF
ARMOUR REQUIRED TO DO
JUSTICE TO A CHARACTER..."
It's certainly not good enough to simply buy an offthe-shelf reproduction Darth Vader mask. These individuals want a fitted, working and technically refined
product that makes a statement and shares some of
their individuality and creativity. Years ago, it was
common to find guides on the early internet explaining how to use random parts and combine common
objects with more elaborate hand-made (often vacuum-formed) sections to recreate a life-sized Dalek or
entire Stormtrooper outfit.
Now that we have 3D printers, it's a little easier
and in many cases, the results can be just as good as
the movies. It's all about the details, and the individuality that comes when someone hand-makes a cosplay
costume. Sewing, painting and being inventive with
materials are all part of the creation process.
Raw 3D printed parts are rarely used on the
finished article - they will still need manual refining,
post-processing or painting before they can be part
of a great costume. It does however present a simple
way to custom fit, modify and start to define a part
digitally before trying out a 3D print to see how it fits
or feels. This process taps into the power of additive
manufacturing – it’s ideal when you want just a few
special parts, but with almost unlimited adjustment
capacity.
We have seen in recent years people who have
started using 3D printing to make outstanding reproductions of jewellery that has only ever appeared in
a TV series like Game of Thrones or movie like Star
Wars. Renee Ammon, a talented costumer and propmaker (pinterest.com/rattlechickench) who is fond
of cosplay, is one of these people. Renee creates wonderful technically detailed jewellery designs. Starting
out in Adobe illustrator to get the dimensions and
outline design worked out, Sketchup is then used to
model the design in 3D, before having parts printed
via the online service at shapeways.com.
The popularity of 3D printed parts in costumes
has been highlighted in the many outstanding outfits
created for events and shown online over the last few
years. One such dedicated designer is James Bruton
from www.XRobots.co.uk
James, who for the last ten years had a normal
day job working in IT, leads a rather amazing dual life
on YouTube, utilising 3D printing among an arsenal
of highly inventive methods to create all manner of
Cosplay suits and devices.
James Bruton produces stunning cosplay outfits and
accessories with the help of 3D Printing
James is highly skilled in design and model making,
using many different processes to develop and build
suits for various events. It’s been intriguing to see
how 3D design and 3D printing have allowed James to
create ever more elaborate suits, embedding working
mechanisms, integrated electronics and actuators
that bring his creations to life.
Hulkbusting
James has been working for the last year on his largest
and most audacious project to date: the Iron Man
Hulkbuster suit. This colossal robotic exoskeleton
appeared in Marvel comics in 1994 and recently made
it’s way onscreen during Avengers: Age of Ultron,
and it’s been a true journey to watch him refine and
rework it into an incredible cosplay outfit.
All that remains are the tweaks and refinements
needed to keep the suit lightweight enough for James
to climb in and operate it. I say ‘operate’, because it
features electronically and mechanically-activated
panels where a variety of shoulder-mounted cannons
spring out and move around. In the chest panel of the
suit, James has also fitted a 3D Printed Unibeam and
Arc Reactor - powered by an Adafruit set of Arduino
compatible electronics and Neopixel LED's.
James' own Arc reactor. Tony would be proud.
Along with the 3D printing process, the entire design
can first be 3D modelled before for an overall better
fit and finish. James uses standard desktop 3D printers from LulzBot for his models, which often need to
be cut down into sections to be printed.
This sounds like a limitation, but does have
benefits as many parts are being printed in ABS.
Material warping during a print is very common for
large ABS parts. Splitting a model into smaller sections can often also make it significantly easier to
print out. Assembly of sections can be glued or chemically welded by using acetone to melt the surface of
ABS plastic.
A further treatment of acetone on the re-assembled object can smooth the surface, hiding most
traces of the layering seen on 3D printed parts. This
can then be painted or further filled and finished if
required. Parts are also often made with two types
of materials: a hard plastic for structure and softer
rubbers like Ninjaflex for parts that need to flex /
bend with the user, or as seen in the R6 droid, rubber
wheels for motion.
Interactive elements, whether mechanical or electronic, help elevate
James' work to the highest levels of cosplay creation.
Adding mechanical and electrically operated functionality is becoming a common theme for many
cosplayers. Simulating the fantastic (and often impossible) mechanisms created to look good in
games or onscreen is a challenge for real-world components, even when 3D printing is available.
In episode 36 of his YouTube series, (yes, 36 - and it's not finished yet) James has just added
smartphone control for his Hulkbuster suit. This allows control of the various working parts from
anywhere (via the Internet) using a smartphone or web browser. It sounds complicated, but in reality
it's another easy-to-use, off-the-shelf electronics and software building block called The Photon,
supplied by Particle.io. Using The Photon, you can get almost any device, appliance or indeed robot
connected to the Internet of Things.
Another of James’ extraordinary creations is
a fully 3D printed Star Wars R6 droid. This project
leverages one of the key benefits of 3D printing,
namely lightweight strength. 3D printing this robot
droid using a low level of plastic infill reduces the
weight considerably - similar robots made using
metal materials can weigh around 100Kg, making
them hard to move or transport to events.
James has created amazing replicas of the Star Wars
R6 Astromech droid and the eye catching BB-8 droid from
the upcoming Epsiode VII 'The Force Awakens'.
Happiness, rather than fame and fortune is usually
the goal of a hobby, but persisting with projects and
openly sharing ideas in this online digital age (where
every niche can be a significant opportunity) can
open up all sorts of doors. This is obviously much
more than just a hobby for James. Being self-taught
in many of these techniques and sharing his creative
process so openly has inspired many more people to
get involved in making, cosplay and other applications
of 3D design and model making. In addition, James
has been able to quit his IT job and is now working as
a toy designer, spending much of his time doing the
very thing he enjoys the most.
It’s worth highlighting that having a project,
goal or reason is a great way to learn about the use
of a new technology. It could be 3D printing, model
design, electronics or just using new hand tools. Quite
often it can be a first step to other things, maybe starting a business in jewellery creation, architecture or in
this case, a new career in toy design. If you’re someone
who’s wondering ‘why invest in this new form of personal manufacturing?’ I can't think of a better reason
to justify buying a 3D Printer. If the things you create
with a desktop 3D printer can inspire even one more
person to design and make things, that's good enough
for me.
You can subscribe and follow James’ progress
on the Hulkbuster suit and his many other 3D printed
creations by visiting XRobots.co.uk or on YouTube –
youtube.com/user/jamesbruton. I would also highly
recommend following the series of videos on the fully
3D printed Alien Xenomorph suit that is now finished
and has had a number of outings at Cosplay events.
It’s worth noting that 3D Printed Cosplay
armour (including wearable tech with smart sensors,
lighting and maybe even a little added bionic actuation) is only a few steps away from robotics and
life-changing prosthetic development, all using 3D
printing as a rapid development tool for custom-sized
and fitted devices. As familiarity with 3D design and
3D printing increases, we’ll see people developing
even more sophisticated systems as their imagination
and creativity becomes real. It's certainly going to be
disruptive and is becoming increasingly accessible for
whoever wants to join in.
Looking awesome, doing good: This incredible steampunk influenced Iron man gauntlet
could help disabled users while increasing their cool factor by about 400%
Cosplay robot suits today, life-sized
3D printed robots tomorrow?
The InMoov Robot presents a strong indication of
what could be possible. InMoov is the world's first
OpenSource, 3D printed life-sized humanoid robot
project. It's creator, Gael Langevin, a sculptor living
in Paris, has been working on the design and sharing
his progress for a number of years. When this technology eventually matures at a low cost, we may even
see walking robots joining their creators at Cosplay
events around the world.
A wealth of truly inspiring Cosplay and robotic projects have appeared within the time it’s taken me to
write this article. One that really piqued my interests
was a Steampunk-inspired prosthetic Iron Man hand.
Designed by Valcrow of www.redicubricks.com, it's a
very interesting design that manages to combine both
the functionality of a usable prosthetic hand (similar
to the eNable designs), but with a fun and pleasing
outer aesthetic that kids who need these fantastic
hands will be dying to wear.
"Not surprisingly, it's an ever-greater
extension of crafting, hobbies and
making that's emerging as the first real
killer app for desktop 3D printers."
Costumes and props: In 2015, Cosplay has grown
into a global phenomenon. Image by Gage Skidmore
In my research, I was not at all surprised to learn that many of the
thousands of local 3DHubs are receiving increased requests for
the printing of movie props, like the adult-sized Iron Man helmet,
Star Wars lightsabers and many other home crafted accessories
for cosplay events.
Talking to some of the London Hubs operators at 3D
Printshow London, many have already invested and custom-built
larger 3D printers for precisely these purposes. Over the last few
years, they’ve received more and more requests to print commonly shared cosplay models, as well as custom creations from
creative individuals without 3D printers of their own.
This network is well placed to see emerging trends with 3D
printing and at last we are seeing what individuals want to do with
readily available machines. Not surprisingly, it's an ever-greater
extension of crafting, hobbies and making that's emerging as the
first real killer app for desktop 3D printers.
You might automatically think that all movie and TV
studios would take a dim view on people creating, printing and
sharing 3D models of their creations. Some will perhaps take time
to realise that designs by superfans and the use of a likeness by
cosplayers generally helps to grow the fanbase further and can
spread the passion these dedicated individuals show for their
hobby.
It's clear to see that this pastime is not only growing – it’s
becoming more socially accepted as a way to express both great
creative skill and individuality. In Japan, cosplay is now mainstream, with dedicated districts in major cities like Tokyo catering
for all tastes and requirements. It's very common to see people in
cosplay walking around these areas, both day and night.
It's now big business - one that will probably find a wider
audience in western cultures too. 3D printing is helping to drive
this and many other hobbies, and with that, people's desire to
make things.
I believe we are all born makers – unfortunately, it's so
much easier to fall into the trap of being consumers rather than
imagining wonderful things and creating ourselves. I have high
hopes for a future where our children will learn to consume less
and make more! 
Richard Horne
Richard Horne is well known in the 3D
printing community as RichRap. Rich is a
highly passionate advocate of 3D printing
for all uses in industry, education and the
desktop. Since joining the open-source
maker movement and then the RepRap
project in 2009, Rich has been blogging,
developing and sharing ideas for the greater
global interest in 3D printing.
61 | News Round-Up | Rachel Park
NEWS
COMMENTARY
By the Editor
Barely a month goes by without some sort of legal battle between big players and
August is no exception..... Add to that interstellar applications, a direct manufacturing
summit, drama on the stock market and it's turned out to be quite the month for news...
Let’s get legal:
Memjet Vs.
Hewlett Packard
Legal battles continue to rock the 3D printing
world, with the latest hitting out at none other
than computer hardware giants Hewlett-Packard.
Printing tech manufacturer Memjet asserts that
HP are in breach of eight patents that protect
their page-wide ‘waterfall’ printing tech.
The waterfall process delivers ink via 70,000
individual nozzles and is capable of producing fullcolor prints at a rate of one page per second. HP’s
entire line of 2D printers have started to feature
this kind of tech and their new full-color Multi Jet
Fusion 3D printer is set to incorporate it too. If the
court finds in favour of Memjet, it could result in
significant delays for both their new line of PageWide 2D printers and their hotly anticipated 3D
printer. All eyes are on the United States District
Court for the Southern District of California…
In space, no one can
hear you 3D print…
Made in Space have been continuing their efforts
to develop 3D printing process for extra terrestrial
applications. Following on from successful printing projects on the International Space Station,
Made in Space have stepped outside, exploring
options for printing in the vacuum of space.
Last month saw them successfully complete a round of tests, with preliminary results
suggesting that their vacuum-based 3D printing
process is working as expected. This bodes well
for the creation of larger and more ambitious
pieces in zero-G conditions, particularly looking to
later this year when their completely commercial
Additive Manufacturing Facility (AMF) will fly to
the International Space Station to begin work.
Statasys Direct
Manufacturing
Media Summit
Disruptive’s own Faith Robinson was one of a
select group of journalists invited to tour the
Statasys Direct Manufacturing facility in Austin,
Texas and contribute to their media summit.
Addressing current applications, as well as
projecting for the future, the summit provided
a fascinating glimpse into the current state of
high-end Additive manufacturing, delivering the
outcomes of a 700-strong survey of professionals
in North America engaging with 3D printing.
Filaments to trust
Embedded
electronics: Voxel8
receives a new
round of funding
One of the most exciting players in multi-material
printing, Voxel8 took a major step toward their
vision of fully 3D printed electronics products. The
company received a Series A round of finance totaling $12 million, led by Braemar Energy Ventures
and ARCH Venture Partners and joined by Autodesk
through its Spark Investment Fund and In-Q-Tel.
A pioneer in the 3D printing of electronics,
Harvard professor Dr. Jenifer Lewis and her
team have been moving quickly, developing their
hardware having successfully launched a pre-order
program and developers kit at CES earlier this
year. As disruptive technologies go, this machine
looks set to have a massive impact on how electronic devices are manufactured in the future.
• Premium 3D printing filaments manufactured to very tight tolerances
Financial
struggles
• Made from the highest quality materials to ensure consistent feeding
and stable prints
It’s been another quarter of poor results from the big
public companies, although voxeljet & ExOne did
better than expected. Interestingly, 3D Systems’ stock
has continued to rise for the second straight session,
despite reporting second quarter earnings that were
below analysts’ expectations. It would appear that
perhaps the hype machine, (coupled with people
purely trying to sell stocks) have created an unrealistic timescale for the growth / maturing /adoption of
certain technologies. Investment-types seem disillusioned, with all kinds of doomsaying in their reports,
but the industry is evolving so rapidly, it can be hard
to predict where things will sit in just a few years time.
• PRIMALLOYTM – flexible, rubber material
with outstanding heat, oil and abrasion
resistance and mechanical strength
• ABS / PLA in a range of vibrant colours
www.verbatim.com
Untitled-1 1
5/12/2015 12:48:09 PM
HIGH ALTITUDE
APPLICATIONS
3D PRINTSHOW DUBAI 2015
IN PARTNERSHIP WITH
DUBAI AIRSHOW
RESERVE A STAND:
EMAIL [email protected]

3D printing For The Entertainment Industry

Transcription

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