Monsters in the dark…
Monsters in the Dark look very cool. Was there a 2D concept for those, or did you concepted them directly as you sculpted? Realy liked your How to Make Toys link too. Lots of info
Yes, there were a few sketches done before sculpting, usually just plain old pencil and paper.
Hi Scott,
I like your style, and from what I see here you are fairly free to produce really complicated shapes in your process.
I am curious though, because I don’t see any work here that looks like it could be molded with a reuseable tool like injection molding, (although lost wax or investment casting would work, where the mold is destroyed to remove the part). … Do you have a different workflow for molded parts, or do you not use molding at all?
If you do have work that requires molds, how do you handle the polygons to nurbs issues, since most tool makers will only accept nurbs files?
Great questions.
Regarding mold-making. Yes the output from rapid-prototyping is rigid so we make a silicone mold and recast it in wax. The wax is electroplated, and then melted out of the resulting metal mold. Since roto-cast vinyl is our material of choice for designer toys, and it’s flexible, it can be poured into the metal mold through a single smallish opening, and pulled out again after cooling/curing. The vinyl then becomes more stable and rigid after it’s removed from the mold. So undercuts, flanges, limbs within reason, can be pulled from the rigid mold, because the material is soft.
Regarding polygons and NURBS. Most of the work that I do is polygon based, it’s organic and doesn’t need tooling etc. If a project does need tooling down the line to become injection molded ABS for electronics or whatnot then the engineers handle that. I’m a designer, and you might look at the work I do as being the initial design stage, the same as if I were a traditional sculptor working in clay. At some point engineers will be rebuilding a NURBS version in Solidworks if the project requires it. Most of the time, no NURBS are needed - a straight up STL gets printed and we’re on to making the molds.
If you’re curious about making your own designer toy, and would like to know a little about what it takes… here’s a brief rundown on getting started:
http://www.shinbonecreative.com/i-want-to-make-a-toy-where-do-i-start/
Previsualization sculpt and render for a client who is jumping into the world of 1/6 scale action figures. This is the end result of the design stage and the beginning of the proto-typing stage for making the toy. This one isn’t 100 percent my work, I was part of a small team who put this, and the other characters in the series together, for the client.
I’m sharing a new free downloadable character model for anyone who’s interested in taking a look and having some fun with it.
Grab it here:
http://www.shinbonecreative.com/free-stuff/
And a closer view of the basey base mesh, all quads, clean topo, and water tight. It should print, if anyone has a 3d printer to test it on. Please let me know how it works out.
Download the OBJ here! http://www.shinbonecreative.com/free-stuff/
Attachments
This boy model is so freakin’ cool! I love the way he looks in wire frame. Beautiful! It would be great if everyone who prints him out sends photos back to you and you set up a page of all the different renders. Very well done!
Sharing another model. I tweaked Cheebs a little bit and reuploaded him.
Visit http://www.shinbonecreative.com/free-stuff/ to download the mostly quad-based, watertight geometry!
Attachments
Another free downloadable base mesh. Gloria is mostly quads, watertight and very easy to modify.
Grab her here, if you dare: http://www.shinbonecreative.com/free-stuff/
And if you do anything fun with the geometry, please let me know!
Great job! I love your style.
SGB from DFW
That’s cool! Thanks for that. I like how you say ‘mostly quads’. Some people are afraid of tri polys in a subdivision mesh but sometimes you can’t avoid them or they are beneficial.
Well Done.
Cheers,
Paul
(mix_mash)
thanks for sharing !
Hey! You have been busy! Have loved, still love, all your work, and thank you for sharing the meshes as well as the clear information about making toys on your website, very helpful.
What JonFoster said-
“I like how you say ‘mostly quads’. Some people are afraid of tri polys in a subdivision mesh but sometimes you can’t avoid them or they are beneficial.”
The triangles are in the eyes. The back of the outer eyeball has a pole, and the inner eyeball structure has 2 poles. The eye don’t need to be sub’d to work well.
On Cheebs, the back of his hands have a few 5-sided polys, nothing that’ll wreck the mesh.
I sculpted up a series of monsters over the past month and although I couldn’t do one a day because that would be completely insane, cough, I did manage to get 17 out the door. Here’s a few of my favs, starting with “Anklien”.
Attachments