In the past few years, 3D printing has been recognized by more and more people as an excellent tool for making special Con cosplay equipment. You are lucky to get the special sword, the darts, and even the helmet. In many cases, 3D printed accessories are a perfect addition to any outfit, but some makers, such as the item expert Bindi Smalls, are a step closer. For her outstanding Gwen, the Grand Marshal in the upcoming game "Embers of War", for this role Cosplay, she invested 11 1D printers for a total of 1,700 hours of printing time.
If you think Bindi looks familiar, it may be because you have seen her before in some animation conventions. As a professional prop designer and cosplayer, Bindi Smalls became a strong believer in 3D printing power three years ago. Since then, most of her amazing cosplay has been made with 3D printing. However, before this, there was no project that required so much 3D printing as Grand Marshal Gwen's armor.
It is worth mentioning that it is based on a game that has not even been launched. "Embers of War" is a highly anticipated action, sci-fi tower defense game, and players have countless power customization options. Developed by Dark Rift Entertainment, the game is currently being resounding at the ongoing PAX 2016 conference in Boston. But Dark Rift still didn't know enough, so she invited Bindi to use her Cosplay suit to catch her eye.
In addition, it took her only a month to do this. “It seems to be an impossible deadline, but we did it, and I am very happy with the result,†she said. It sounds like an impossible project, and most of the 3D printed clothing such as Iron Man or Batman clothing takes at least a year, but these projects often use only one 3D printer. This time, through GeekFabLab in Colorado, Bindi used the power of up to 11 3D printers to complete the project, running a total of 1,700 print hours.
This exciting project clearly requires a reliable 3D printing platform. According to Bindi, they rely on nine LulzBot TAZ 3D printers, one LuzBot Mini, and one Form 2 3D printer. In order to make the project as efficient as possible and to minimize the need for repetitive printing, they only use eSun's easy-to-produce PLA wire. “Compared to ABS, we prefer PLA because ABS tends to be distorted when printing such large parts. In addition, the prints are set to a 6-layer boundary and 20-40% fill rate will be very strong,†she revealed.
However, the challenge for Bindi is not just a short time. Since "Embers of War" has not yet been released, there is very little data that Bindi can use for design. “The game company provided me with a 3D model of the characters in the game, but their resolutions are relatively low,†she said. This means she needs to do a lot of work to create more detailed parts, all in the Blender software.
However, Bindi has a big advantage. She used Shapify to perform a full-body scan at CES last year and built her own 3D digital model. Since then, she has often used this as a basis to create her own 3D printing. clothing. "If you want to 3D print your own armor/props, I highly recommend that you do a 3D scan of yourself. You can even use Microsoft's Kinect to do a scan," she said. Thanks to its precise 3D scanning files, Bindi is able to achieve the perfect proportion of armor components. Due to the limited size of the desktop 3D printers, the size of each 3D printing component is limited accordingly.
Eventually, according to her design, she 3D printed out about 80 different parts. But the harder part is still behind, all of these parts need to be post-treated, first filling the gap between the layers with a fill and then sanding with sandpaper. After sanding, apply a primer to the primer, then sand it, then spray it, then sand it, and gradually change it to a finer sandpaper – usually about five coats. “This process is the most time consuming,†she admitted.
When all is smoothed, add a primer, then a darker paint. “I wiped the dark paint with a loose perfume to reveal the bright primer below. I really like this method of treatment, it really likes it. It looks more natural," Bindi said. Then use glue to hold all the parts in place and leave for 48 hours. Finally, add a variety of clothing linings, belts, etc. to make them wearable. Such a mighty armor is complete.
Although the entire Cosplay took only one month to complete, the effect was absolutely amazing, and this is one of Bindi's biggest projects to date, truly demonstrating her manufacturing talent.
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