3D Print Process for Marvel Thor Statue

[MalottPro]

Over the past year I have been transitioning from a traditional sculptor to a digital sculptor. Using Maya and Zbrush, I finished my first 3D sculpted and 3D printed statue a few months ago. It was a Thor statue for Upper Deck and Marvel. I’ve wanted to create a 3D printed piece for years but it seemed that the modeling technology just wasn’t very intuitive, that was until I discovered Zbrush. It is an amazingly powerful modeling program and has really made my dream come true.


STEP 1- Here is the turnaround that I recieved from Upper Deck to create the Thor statue. The turnaround was done by Miq Willmott.


STEP 2- I started box modeling the statue in Maya using the turnaround. Then this was imported into Zbrush for sculpting.


STEP 3- This is the final Zbrush sculpt. There were 29 subtools. After this was done I was able to send the files off to be 3D printed


STEP 4- Here is what I recieved back from the 3D printer. Because this was a lower quality plaster based 3D print the parts were rough and grainy, So I had to clean them up, I made some quick throw away alginate molds of these parts, then I poured wax clay in the molds to make copies of the parts that I could clean up.


STEP 5- This is the cleaned up clay parts. The cape and wings were cast in resin and sanded at this stage because of how thin they are. I also made some additional tweaks to the statue at this point per Marvels request, mostly to the face and helmet and the hammer was rotated. Once this was approved by Marvel, I made silicone molds of all of the parts. Then I poured resin in the molds to make the final parts.



STEP 6- These are the resin parts from the silicone molds that I made. I was commisioned to do 3 copies.


STEP 7- Since I wasn't commisioned to do a painted prototype on this statue, I did a quick digital paint job and screen cap to see how the final product would look. I love zbrush.



This is a fantastic community!
Thank you Pixologic for creating an amazing program that has truly made my dreams come true!
If you'd like to see my previous traditional sculpting and art here is my gallery http://malottpro.deviantart.com/gallery/
Thanks! Larry Malott

[AVTPro]

Well I hope you recorded each step, and put it on DVD? I think the procedure would make a great Gnomon DVD which I support.

Awesome job. I would like to make little toy figurines too.

Did ZB help with well form geometry?

Wonderful tutorial. thanks for the insight. I'm glad your efforts to go from traditional to digital paid off so well.

[MalottPro]

AVTPro,

Nope I didn't record it but maybe next time I should You are right, it would be a great DVD. Zbrush was great and very helpful with every aspect. I'm glad that you liked the brief tutorial.

[AVTPro]

Thanks for the response. I guess I'm partial since I sent another one of my tutorial DVDs to England. Last week it was Germany

Basic rigging.

I would be interested in an ex*****ive way to produce figurines from my animations. Heck, I could make my money back from your DVD is I could sell them on shelves of Warlmart

[Hellspawn77]

Great Tutorial and sculpture!

I was just wondering what clay you cast it in to do the clean up?

I don't recognize the colour of the clay from the photos...

Again great work and thank you for sharing!

Claudio

[MalottPro]

[MalottPro]

Thanks Claudio! I used Chavante NSP for the clay. I probably should have used wax but I was in a rush and the clay is quicker to clean up. I usually only use the NSP clay for large sculpts but it wourked out well for this process.

Larry

[Medicinehorse7]

MalottPro,

I used to work in a foundry,a a metal chaser as well as a wax chaser.

What printer did you use? How was the silicon mold done, poured or hand application?

[dk666]

Hi all,



New poster here (been lurking for a while). We have several prototyping machines in house (we do research). Here’s my dilemma we are looking to do some case studies in the art & animation sector. I would like to do a comparative analysis of suitability, feature details and un-burdened cost of fabrication. I would need from the community 3 to 4 models of various complexities. In exchange for unrestricted use of the models for the study (which will be published in academic and trade journals). I will send you a set of models.



We currently have

SLA (DSM 11120 Resin)

SLS (Duraform)

3DP (ZCorp) (130 Composite Powder)

Thermojet (Wax)

Dimension (ABS+)

Envisiontec DLP Perfactory



Let me know what you think.



Cheers,



DK

[Znub]

Excellent thread. Very good work.

[slashpot]

Fantastic stuff Larry, this has got to be a big part of the future of 3D modelling. It won't be long now before one can send a Zbrush model out and get a bronze back, that will open new horizons for everyone!


@DK,
I've been trying to work out why you didn't get 600 replies to your 3D printing offer. Did you get private messages? Anyway, I'd be happy to help if I can, do you have subjects in mind?
I kinda wish I'd seen this earlier so I could work out why no one replied...was it because of off-topic?

Anyway, many thanks for the tut Larry, this is cutting edge stuff, and your ZBrush version of the supplied art is quite amazing. Well done!!

[Sigmund Hentze]

Hi DK,

How is it going with the 3D printing tests? Any results for the users yet?

Will be following your progress....

Ziggy