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September 21, 2014

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Home » Sunday » Technology

3D printing makes a splash in film world

By Zhu Shenshen | September 21, 2014, Sunday | Print Edition

JASON Lopes is a veteran 3D printing master for film special effects. His name is attached to Hollywood blockbusters like “Avatar,” “Terminator” and “Iron Man.”

Lopes even printed out a 3D suit for the robot hero in “RoboCop” (2014), which was shown in both China and the United States.

3D printing is revolutionizing special effects during film production and regarded as an unsung hero behind the scenes. Lopes calls himself a “bridge” between digital technologies and traditional model making.

With a 3D tool kit and skills, Lopes and his team can create stunning visual effects including dragons, dinosaurs and metal costumers for heros in the films we are familiar with.

Though it’s relatively new to many, 3D printing has been widely used in the automotive, aerospace, medical and manufacturing industries. It’s often regarded as the third wave of the Industrial Revolution.

Now 40 companies have developed 3D printers for industry applications and more than 200 start-ups are developing 3D printers for consumers and families, with costs starting from several hundred dollars, according to Gartner, a US-based information technology research firm.

Films, games and cartoons are the most common applications for 3D printing in the cultural sector, according to Harry Wang, China’s general manager of Stratasys Ltd, the world’s biggest 3D printer vendor.

Lopes, who attended a Stratasys-held 3D printing forum in Shanghai recently, spoke with Shanghai Daily about the technology, which has helped him “enable dreams to come to life.”

 

Q: When was 3D printing used in the film industry for the first time?

A: We are the first (studio) to utilize 3D printing (in the industry). Our first films that adopted 3D printing was “Jurassic Park 3” (2001) and “Terminator 3” (2003), but both were on a small scale. Then we gradually used it more frequently. The metal suit worn by Robert Downey Jr in “Iron Man” (2008) was 100 percent made by 3D printing. It then became a phenomenon in the industry.

 

Q: Among films that have utilized 3D printing, which have impressed you most?

A:  “Avatar” (2009) is 100 percent digitally shot. We used 3D printers to create physical characters including Navi residents. They are physical characters who are 3D printed rather than blue dolls (digitally in computers). It has helped bring life to a number of recognizable movie characters on the big screen.

The ultra-sleek suit in “RoboCop” (2014) consisted of patterns or pieces made by Stratasys 3D printers. These pieces were then molded and cast into other materials to create variants of the suit depending on the requirements of each scene.

 

Q: How do you use 3D printing during the film production process?

A: The technology is becoming increasingly integral to filmmaking, covering 3D tool kits along with 3D scanning, 3D design and 3D modeling. I play a bridge role connecting digital technologies and traditional modeling.

Take “RoboCop” for example, today’s 3D printers have allowed us to print at the actual size for the suit. For other areas that feature an extremely high level of detail, such as the police badge and other logos, we needed to retain the molding process, also offered with advanced 3D printers with features of hard surface modeling of the shells. Sometimes we need to add fine details for feathers and eyebrows, which still require hand modeling.

 

Q: What are the advantages of 3D printing?

A: 3D printing offers smoother workflow and greater flexibility over traditional production methods. 3D printing allows us to work in symmetry, which enables us to build an entire left side of a suit, then mirror it and output the right side as well, all from one file with the click of a button. Therefore, it normally saves about 50 percent of the cost and time compared with traditional methods.

We can do many things we can’t do before, such as testing models in many ways and times, conducting case-study of digitalization and fast decision-making. It benefits each level.

If we’re asked to make a design change with time pressure, we can make another iteration, go to an open 3D printer and be printing two simultaneous tests within an hour. We go to lunch, come back and it’s done.

 

Q: What’s the future of 3D printing in film production?

A: The multi-material use of 3D printing enables us to bring more visions to audiences. In the special effects world, fine detail and true-to-life models and parts are the industry standard. FDM (Fused Deposition Modeling) technology also represents the future. It offers more layers during 3D printing to create fine details from a wide variety of materials.

SundayTechnology


 

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