Total industry game changer hiding under the title of 3d printing

Darrell Green

I just watched another course... I feel a bit dazed

Modern Miniature Effects Part 1: Project Planning & Acquiring 3D Models

​I am not easily overwhelmed by tech or new gadgets and I don't stand in awe over most techniques, though I will give kudos to creative solutions and will openly praise true craftsmanship and skill. That said, I am a bit "bird hitting window" at the moment. I swear I just blinked and the 3d printing world went straight to replicator without asking my approval. Fon Davis was demoing four printers they have in their shop. They can print in cmyk without the need for sanding after (or very little, very very little) Fully finished sculptures with voids, in cmyk color (as though it were already painted with just touch up left). They can print in flexible materials... meaning, they can print the actual skins to put over animatronic skeletons (also printed), in color, so, no need for final painting or very little. They printed a human mask in a rubber compound that was completely flexible.

They did not mention this but in all honesty, this eliminates the sculptor, the prosthetic departments, most of the fab shop (for non makeup parts), the painters and leaves only the makeup department applying the final print to the actor. Scan the actor, size the target computer captured character face to the actor, negate one from the other and you have a prosthetic disguise mask, ready to print with correct color. You could use anime/cgi, a real world person or an aged rendition, younger or older or even just added weight, as the intended mask. None of this did he mention but it is all right there, ready to run, in the room he is standing in while giving the lesson. The actual lesson was about an octopus and a boat but you don't show a flexible printed prosthetic mask without dropping Alice down the rabbit hole of possibilities. I am completely stunned.

Alexander H

I've seen online the printers that can print extremely high resolution and vibrant coloured prints (even with transparent materials), but I've never heard of anyone printing in materials with the right properties to replicate skin! My Half Life 2 headcrab puppet last year was an experiment to see if flexible filaments could be a substitute to having to cast latex or silicone. While the filament is very flexible, it doesn't have the important stretch and compression properties to be a suitable alternative. So, I'm very surprised to hear the technology exists to do that - and in colour, too.

It might seem like it can replace a lot of the roles in different departments, and I can't speak for what the future holds, but these machines are VERY expensive, and take a lot of experience to get right. Maybe very large studios can afford to take them on, but smaller or mid size ones probably wouldn't be able to justify it.

Darrell Green

Fon said these machines were not even available to the common market yet but would be likely to be on smaller scale. His were commercial units and he didn't even start down the cost conversation.

In that first section of lessons he is actially holding the floppy mask they printed and the entire project in the course hangs on the fact that this prosthetic skin for the octopus is just a printable item. No involved casting or injection, just send it to the printer.