Best Of
Re: Veterans of this forum, I need your help
Hi Yassine,
For things like a batman cowl our lesson on silicone mask making would be a good fit. Many cowls are made out of silicone, or a urethane rubber that would work in the same type of mold.
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/silicone-mask-making-part-1-epoxy-fiberglass-molding-a-sculpture
We also have a lot of sculpting videos that could help you learn how to make your own cowl sculpture. For that I would recommend going to our Learning Pathways ( https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/pathways ) and exploring the pathways focused on sculpture.
We also have courses on foam fabrication which is used a lot in cosplays. This learning pathway is a good starting point for foam fabrication: https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/pathways/fabrication-fx-online-courses-for-intermediate-to-advanced-character-special-effects-fabricators
/Chris
For things like a batman cowl our lesson on silicone mask making would be a good fit. Many cowls are made out of silicone, or a urethane rubber that would work in the same type of mold.
https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/silicone-mask-making-part-1-epoxy-fiberglass-molding-a-sculpture
We also have a lot of sculpting videos that could help you learn how to make your own cowl sculpture. For that I would recommend going to our Learning Pathways ( https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/pathways ) and exploring the pathways focused on sculpture.
We also have courses on foam fabrication which is used a lot in cosplays. This learning pathway is a good starting point for foam fabrication: https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/pathways/fabrication-fx-online-courses-for-intermediate-to-advanced-character-special-effects-fabricators
/Chris
Re: Eco friendly casting resin
Thanks so much! Trying to do what I love, but I’m starting to try keep the environment in mind too!
Re: Eco friendly casting resin
Hi John,
You may want to reach out to resin manufacturers and let them know about your concerns, as well as what use cases you have for the resin, and they may be able to help you.
Here are a couple:
Reynolds Advanced Materials (makers of Smooth-On)
https://www.reynoldsam.com/
Silpak Inc.
https://silpak.com/
/Chris
You may want to reach out to resin manufacturers and let them know about your concerns, as well as what use cases you have for the resin, and they may be able to help you.
Here are a couple:
Reynolds Advanced Materials (makers of Smooth-On)
https://www.reynoldsam.com/
Silpak Inc.
https://silpak.com/
/Chris
Re: Can encapsulated silicone prosthetics be made only on flat surfaces?
Hi Daniel, You're in luck! We offer an in-depth course by master FX Lab Technican Cory Czekaj where he shows you how to run encapsulated silicone appliances out of prosthetic molds here: https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/tutorials/character-makeup-how-to-run-silicone-appliances Enjoy!
Re: Safe mold making material options?
One option would be to make stone molds, like Ultracal 30. You could also make silicone molds with a stone mother mold. If you only need one casting, alginate with a plaster bandage mother mold is another non-toxic option. And for some applications, you can do a brush-on silicone "glove mold" or a silicone box mold. It all depends on the type of object you need to cast, how many castings you need, what material you want to cast in, etc.
While these options are safer, they are still messy, so working in a bedroom may still pose a challenge. And even with safer materials like Ultracal 30, you would still want a respirator or mask while working with the powder, especially in an enclosed space.
/Chris
While these options are safer, they are still messy, so working in a bedroom may still pose a challenge. And even with safer materials like Ultracal 30, you would still want a respirator or mask while working with the powder, especially in an enclosed space.
/Chris
Re: Software Engineer of 20 years want to know... Where should I start?
Pathways are great as the team at Stan Winston put them in logical order. From here click on the Stan Winston logo at the top, then the pancakes on the left... three stacked lines. Then click pathways and on the next screen, scroll to what you want to start in.
Re: What's On Your Workbench? (Summer 2022)
Not quite done, but it's a 1:1 endoskull build (printed, aluminum, and steel components, plus LED's) with articulated neck, semi-functional mouth and neck pistons (including ball and socket joints at the top of the neck pistons). Should be done by the weekend- going to touch up the teeth a smidge, and adding the final LED's into the eyes. Figure this is the first project I've done that I thought was close enough to the quality of things I've seen on these forums :-) 
Re: How should an absolute beginner learn mechanics?
Hi Morgan,
It can all be a bit overwhelming, so I find it helps to focus on small goals first. I would start by picking a single simpler project to make, figure out what skills and materials are needed to complete it, and work towards that goal.
For animatronics, I would start by looking into microcontrollers like the Arduino. There are a lot of resources and documentation for them to help get you up and running. Then you can start learning about servos, linkages, joints, etc. Make something simple first, then start adding more complexity over time.
There are also build systems out there to help make prototyping a lot easier. I'm a big fan of actobotics. https://www.servocity.com/actobotics/
For stop-motion you would want to look into basic machining, wire-based armatures, ball and socket joints, etc. You can do a lot with hand tools since the scale is so small.
I would also recommend our learning pathways, which help guide you through a series of courses focused on a subject like animatronics. Here is a good starting point: https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/pathways/mechanical-effects-basics-online-courses-for-beginner-animatronic-fx-mechanics
That should help get you started!
/Chris
It can all be a bit overwhelming, so I find it helps to focus on small goals first. I would start by picking a single simpler project to make, figure out what skills and materials are needed to complete it, and work towards that goal.
For animatronics, I would start by looking into microcontrollers like the Arduino. There are a lot of resources and documentation for them to help get you up and running. Then you can start learning about servos, linkages, joints, etc. Make something simple first, then start adding more complexity over time.
There are also build systems out there to help make prototyping a lot easier. I'm a big fan of actobotics. https://www.servocity.com/actobotics/
For stop-motion you would want to look into basic machining, wire-based armatures, ball and socket joints, etc. You can do a lot with hand tools since the scale is so small.
I would also recommend our learning pathways, which help guide you through a series of courses focused on a subject like animatronics. Here is a good starting point: https://www.stanwinstonschool.com/pathways/mechanical-effects-basics-online-courses-for-beginner-animatronic-fx-mechanics
That should help get you started!
/Chris
Re: Jurassic Park 1 Velociraptor Suit Spiral Neck Mechanism
Thanks for the tip! funny enough I made the decision last night to use velcro tabs and it's going well, I'll probably post my progress tonight.