1:6 Darth Vader 3D Laser Scan & Print Project

[Too Much Garlic]

Yeah, I'm really getting the Hayden vibe when working on the hair. Though Prowse's wasn't quite as long and curly, and was parted on the other side... they still fit well together.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Hopefully sometime this year.

Yeah, that turned out to be a complete lie. Things haven't exactly been working in my favor... it's kinda always half a step forward and three steps backwards with this project. Been working on the project some more to perfect things and try to find ways to start actually producing them. With the advance in 3D printing technology and near perfect quality that requires almost no work on the prints themselves other than priming and painting becoming more affordable, this route is preferred over getting prints made and then mold and cast those in the traditional way. More on that later.

This however means that the models has to be made print ready and this is what I've been working on for a while now. Most of the work is easy enough, just aligning surfaces so everything ends up creating a solid model, but some means I have to go down and manipulate the models on the polygon level (the points that make up the model geometry) and that is a bit trickier and I've had to learn new techniques and sometimes had to ask for help.

Basically, the parts I'm working on right now are the face masks - ANH, ESB, and the Truly Symmetrical version - fitting them all with grills and tusks. For the most part much of that work was done already, but some of the models or some parts of the models had inverted surfaces, so I had to go in and align things correctly and fixing excessive geometry and simplify things, as some of the previous work I did added extra unnecessary connection lines in the geometry. Still have a lot to do on that account. Though you can't see it in the picture there is a lot of cleanup still needed on the grill models, and I'll probably tweak the position and angle of the tusks as well, trying to get it as screen accurate as possible.

This is the line-up so far:
, on Flickr

Here's a glimpse of the Truly Symmetrical face mask in a more close-up view with tusks and grills attached. Though it could be cool to keep it clean, so ESB configuration is possible, I am not working on that - maybe some day.
, on Flickr

Next up is the ESB belt box. I'm not entirely done with it at this point as I would like to try and get the lines on the hose part more accurate (a mistake I made when I had them made originally to ask for them to be made farther apart than accurate - a decision I regret now, but I was afraid it might look weird once printed to go fully accurate. Unsure whether I can achieve it myself)
The first picture shows the box already in a state of rework. In the earlier version the edges of the box were sharp with no curve, but I always wanted to incorporate the curve to the edges and was helped by Paul Carson on how to achieve it, so thanks mate. But all the rest of the details on the box are still the earlier version.
, on Flickr
In comparison I reworked the green lights and the red light and the tops of the metal studs to make them more accurate. I am not done with the tweaks yet, but I'm fairly satisfied with the outcome so far. Of course, because I'm an idiot I didn't work on the same box, so sorry if that is confusing.
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Then I went on to the ANH belt boxes, in order to take a break from the "at what I thought at the time as being hard work" ESB boxes... to the "OH MY EFFING GOD I'M OUT OF MY MIND THIS IS DIFFICULT" type of work the green lights turned out to be. Those alone was a whole days worth of work. Mainly because I suck and am a complete newbie in regards to this kind of 3D modeling... but man oh man... I DO NOT envy 3D modelers and I bow down to their patience and skills. But... I'm kinda pleased with the result. Is it perfect? NO! Was it needed and will it actually be worthwhile in such a small scale print... hmm... tough question, but in my mind the answer would have to be yes. Frankly, my mindset has always to go über accurate, even if it won't even show up in the print, so I'm still debating with myself whether I should even put knurling on the metal studs or not. I'm aiming towards: absolutely. Will I be able to do it? At this point: unknown. Skill not learned yet.
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And here are the green lights on the belt box. Everything else is all earlier version - much of it all the way back from the Eric Chan days at the early days of the 3D project, with rework by Jesse McClear who's the guy who has helped me greatly with this project. Thanks man.
, on Flickr

Lastly, taking a stab at fixing some inaccuracies on the ESB chest box that I may have caused when it was being remade by Jesse and trying to incorporate some things that were pointed out to me after it was made that I really had no clue about, such as the sticking out light covers on the coin slots and when it was pointed out that the red and blue light covers might be too large. I made them a little smaller and more rectangular - they were more square before. Reworked the spacing between them and the greeblies above and between the lights. Will probably have to make the lights stick out more from the box, as they are currently pretty flat compared to the reference. I think it turned out looking okay.
, on Flickr

Let me know what you think and if you spot something that could need a fix, please let me know. I can't go super accurate, as I'm not skilled enough. Down the line I hope to scan all original parts or cast from original parts for these as well.

 

[Waste Time Continuum]

Thanks for the update. Everything looks amazing!

Really looking forward to this.


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[paulcarson]

Always a pleasure to help Carsten. I love this too.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

Thanks guys. Taking a break from the project due to illness, but I'll be back soon.

 

[Honj]

Looks great！ I'm waiting for someone to do the ROTS helmet also⋯⋯

 

[generalgrevious]

I do hope these mask`s are for sale once there finalized it`s looking great so far.

 

[Waste Time Continuum]

I do hope these mask`s are for sale once there finalized it`s looking great so far.

My fingers and toes and legs are crossed.


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[Too Much Garlic]

Looks great！ I'm waiting for someone to do the ROTS helmet also⋯⋯

The only one I know with a production made RotS is not interested in getting it scanned. However there is a pretty decent RotS style 3D model on Thingiverse.

I do hope these mask`s are for sale once there finalized it`s looking great so far.

Thanks and that is definitely the plan. It's just hard to get to that point.

 

[Too Much Garlic]

More work on the ANH box. Worked on the grill, trying to replicate the look of the found part grill. Was damn difficult. Then I worked some on the metal studs. Think it looks much better now. I'll have to study up on how to do knurling on 3D models and I think that will be the last thing I do. Other than simplifying the geometry on the box I haven't really worked or altered that, as well as the red light.

Let me know what you think.

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[Too Much Garlic]

Okay... after looking at the reference I got annoyed with the red light. Will probably tweak it a bit more, but it's much closer to the found part now.

, on Flickr

 

[Too Much Garlic]

This has been in the planning stage for a long time, but I finally got the latest scans for the v2 scaled Vader project. I honestly never thought it would be possible, but talking with the owner of the pieces he was open to getting his stuff scanned, so I then involved Mike, vadermonkey on The Prop Den forum and other forums, to do the scanning for me, as I wouldn't be able to do it myself. A trip was planned, the scanning session took place, and the scan slices were meticulously put together to create the final models as they are seen below. I'm really appreciative of the owner and I can't thank him enough for being willing to get his pieces scanned and I can't thank Mike enough to go on the trip to scan them for me. I really appreciate it, both of you.

Anyway, on to the pictures. I will work on the scan models and make the shoulder bells separate, add edges where they are missing in the scan and make them ready for 3D printing along with the rest of my v2 project. Enjoy.

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[Waste Time Continuum]

This has been in the planning stage for a long time, but I finally got the latest scans for the v2 scaled Vader project. I honestly never thought it would be possible, but talking with the owner of the pieces he was open to getting his stuff scanned, so I then involved Mike, vadermonkey on The Prop Den forum and other forums, to do the scanning for me, as I wouldn't be able to do it myself. A trip was planned, the scanning session took place, and the scan slices were meticulously put together to create the final models as they are seen below. I'm really appreciative of the owner and I can't thank him enough for being willing to get his pieces scanned and I can't thank Mike enough to go on the trip to scan them for me. I really appreciate it, both of you.

Anyway, on to the pictures. I will work on the scan models and make the shoulder bells separate, add edges where they are missing in the scan and make them ready for 3D printing along with the rest of my v2 project. Enjoy.

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Wow. Thank you for putting in the time and effort required to get this done. This really looks amazing.

Are you putting it up on Shapeways or something like that? How can we purchase this from you?






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[Too Much Garlic]

Thanks.

I will probably produce it myself, eventually. I just need to save up for the 3D printer. It's a $500-$800 investment + shipping and import tax which I really don't have the money for at this time. Sure, there may be better resin printers, but they are also that more expensive. And I'm a little anxious whether I can even tolerate working with the liquid resin, as I've had problems with resin and other products in the past.

 

[TaliBane]

Wow, amazing.

Hope this happens sooner rather than later.

 

[McHaleyArt]

This is looking fantastic!! It’s been interesting to follow your progress after all this time!

 

[Too Much Garlic]

The helmet and chest armor belong to a former employee at ILM and a long time member of the prop hobby community, and I can't thank him enough for being willing to get his pieces scanned.

 

[Waste Time Continuum]

The helmet and chest armor belong to a former employee at ILM and a long time member of the prop hobby community, and I can't thank him enough for being willing to get his pieces scanned.

Yeah, that’s extremely cool.



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[Too Much Garlic]

A little update. Haven't done much since I've been suffering from a stomach infection. Hasn't been a great couple of weeks. In the last few days I've been feeling better and started working on the scans again. I'll probably run the face mask through the fuse again as I may have set the resolution a bit lower than I would have been able to fuse it, so I'll take another stab at it. I also worked on the old print models, trying to fix them, and I think it turned out pretty great. Will need to run the ESB through the fuse again to see if I can get it just a bit better, so I won't be showing that off. Due to the new fuse I was able to set the mouth grill deeper in the mouth - more accurate - than I was able to do before, so that's a plus. Had to go back to the original grill models as I had butchered the ones I fixed previously and it was easier to start from scratch rather than trying to fix the mistakes I made.

First off is the DJ armor and helmet scans.
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And next is the v2 ANH print model fixed and looking nice.
, on Flickr

 

[generalgrevious]

looks awesome hope these will be made for sale in the future