Aug 5, 2015 | By Alec
Anyone who has been to cosplay convention in recent years will know that 3D printing is increasingly becoming an indispensable technology for making a fantastic costume. Of course, you don’t always have to 3D print a full Iron Man suit to benefit from a 3D printer; as one Dutch designer reminds us, 3D printing a few parts can make the entirety of a costume so much more incredible. Designer Yuri Schuurkes emphasizes this with an amazing Spider-Man costume based on the movie franchise, for which he used 3D printing to get the mask just right.
As Yuri explains to 3ders.org, he wasn’t even a big Spider-Man fan growing up, but became inspired when the movie franchise kicked off way back in 2002. ‘Seeing Spider-Man come to life on the big screen back in 2002 made a big impression on me, and I really wanted a suit like that. I never particularly was a fan of Spider-Man, but there was something about this costume that amazed me,’ he explains. Being just 18 at the time, he was very interested in media design and began looking for a suit like this. ‘After looking everywhere for a movie-quality suit, I got my hands on a costume kit. It was a partially finished suit that I had to finish myself. When I finished it I didn't really like it at all, so eventually decided to build the entire thing myself from scratch,’ he explains.
The final and truly amazing suit.
The now thirty-year-old Yuri, who has since graduated in Media Design at the Dutch Art Academy, has spent years developing various Spider-Man suits – for as far as his budget enabled him to. Though his earlier creations were very impressive (just watch the 2007 clip of one of his earlier suits below), Yuri was never quite satisfied with Spidey’s mask. ‘For years I was unable to add the face shell to the costume, as my research showed me that making a shell to my required standards was not possible with the budget I had available,’ he explains to 3ders.org. ‘But then new 3D printing technology arrived and it opened all the doors. Not only could I keep fine tuning the design until it was exactly the way I wanted it to be, it also made it possible to easily create multiple sizes so everybody could wear one.’
The earlier version of the suit – still pretty good.
Though obviously a pretty good designer himself, Yuri still teamed up with a professional 3D designer and spent about six months in Max 3DS software to get a facial mask he was happy with. In doing so, he also came up with a very clever solution for the one part of Spider-Man costumes that often frustrates cosplayers: the eyes. While they can be uncomfortable or unclear, Yuri has instead come up with separate eye frame designs that can be magnetically locked into the face shell, with fabric of the costume in between the lenses. This can be clearly seen in the clipb below . ‘This way the person wearing the costume has the comfort of taking out the eyes whenever he wants. Small holes are added to the designs, that allow magnets to be glued in,’ Yuri explains.
And to get a high quality result, 3D printing was done by (the incidentally also Dutch) Shapeways. ‘It's printed in their black strong and flexible plastic on an SLS printer. The shell is only 2 millimeter thick, yet it's very strong and the slight flexibility it has makes it comfortable to wear,’ Yuri says of the results. ‘The raw 3D printed material however is damaging to the spandex fabric of the costume, therefore the shell is thoroughly sanded before use.’
Assembly of the 3D printed Spidey mask.
Like the mask itself, the eye frames are also 3D printed in strong and flexible plastic on an SLS 3D printer, though these were more challenging than the mask. Originally printed in white, they need to be very smooth and painted metallic black. ‘It actually took me and a professional airbrush artist dozens of trials and errors to find out how to make them this perfect. First it's important to have them polished by Shapeways, to take off some of the rough surface. Then we paint the frames with surfacer after which the frames are sanded by hand, using 3 different grits to get it real smooth. Once it's smooth enough it's airbrushed in a metallic black color,’ he explains.
And though having been some twelve years in the making, the final suit is truly impressive and will doubtlessly steal the show at any cosplaying event. If you’re interested in doing your best Spider-Man impression yourself, you can order the mask through eBay here or through Shapeways here. Spidey enthusiasts will doubtlessly also enjoy checking out Yuri’s website here.
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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Can I have a suit for 100$
Rontay Boyd wrote at 6/4/2017 11:20:55 PM:
How much for the 3d plastic web Only? Thelordslions123@Gmail.com
JesusRodriguezJr1991@Gmail.com wrote at 4/6/2017 1:16:09 AM:
How can i buy one costume like that from you?
Mason menefee wrote at 11/3/2016 6:12:00 PM:
Can I have the materials I really want to make one
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