Feb.5, 2015 | By Alec
Any gamer will tell you that video games are absolute gold mines for 3D printing inspiration, especially as the quality of graphic designs has drastically increased in recent years. It's therefore hardly surprising that we've already seen a number of 3D printed fan tributes recently, but none of them even come close to matching the quality of Thijs de Bruijn’s gorgeous tribute to the Tekken franchise: a 3D printed Yoshimitsu sculpture.
As the 27-year-old artist explained to 3ders.org, this design came about because of a long term fascination with 3D printing technology, a love for video games and a 3D modelling contest. "I was always interested in creating characters ever since I was a kid. When I discovered Zbrush, it really changed my life. I went on to get my game-art degree, but I also got really interested in 3D printing," Thijs told us. "When I had the opportunity to join a 3D modelling contest where the goal was to make 3D-fan art of an existing character from any fighting game I decided I'd make my own interpretation of Yoshimitsu."
Anyone familiar with just about any Tekken game (I believe he is a playable character in almost every edition) will know that Yoshimitsu is 3D design gold: a futuristic samurai from space, who’s design various throughout the series. It was therefore a great opportunity for Thijs to let his creativity run wild. And as you can see in the photos above, the results are absolutely stunning.
The man behind Yoshimitsu: Thijs de Bruijn.
While most of us will have tried their hand at 3D design at some point or another, Thijs’s design is obviously of an extremely high quality that isn’t easily to reproduce. This also clearly benefits from his previous experiences. "I have a background in game-art, have several years of experience in the field and went on to do freelance work since about a year ago. I also have degree in Game-Art," he explains.
The process of designing this gorgeous Yoshimitsu sculpture therefore also followed a familiar route. "When designing a character I usually start sketching out a silhouette to determine general proportions. I then sculpt that sketch in Zbrush very loosely," Thijs tells us. "After making a snapshot of the sculpt, I take that back to photoshop and overlay images of whatever I found on google that has nice lines. This way you can come up with design elements you probably wouldn't come up with yourself."
But that can be very time consuming; Thijs tinkers with Zbrush and Photoshop like that until satisfied, before refining the final design using Maya or 3DsMax. "The entire design-process (sketching/modelling/preparing for print) took me two months," he tells us, and that is clearly visible in the quality of the final design.
When preparing a 3D model for 3D printing, this brings some assembly concerns into the picture as well. In this case, ‘keying’ is Thijs’s technique of choice. "This is where you use a male/female connection to create pieces that fit together neatly. You have to do this for a couple of reasons, one is that most desktop printers don't have enough build volume to create large models in one piece, and another one is that it will make the paint process way easier. If you are interested in working in the collectible industry, the way you cut up a model is just as important to those companies as the quality of your sculpts," he tells us.
In the case of his Yoshimitsu sculpture, not only is it too large for most regular FDM 3D printers (at 9.84 inches, or 25 cm), but Thijs was also looking for a very high level of quality. He therefore sent his designs to the Ownage 3D print service in Hong Kong, where it was 3D printed on multiple machines. They also filled the model with a heat resistant plaster to give it weight and solidity.
As for the amazing color scheme, you might almost not believe that it was painted by hand, but it was. As Thijs explained, this was an arduous and time-consuming process. "The print was originally grey, I handpainted it to make it look like my computer design. The painting process took two weeks to complete using acrylic paint," he tells us. "I could only work during mid-day because sun-light is the only light that truly shows what color the paint is. If you were to work with the light coming from your kitchen table all night, I can promise you, you will cry when daylight reveals what you have actually done. Although it was a ton of work it was very satisfying to bring it to life." And we are very glad he took the time to do so.
Some of you Tekken fans out there might be itching to find out if these models are available. Well the short answer is no. ‘I don't plan on selling my prints since the market of character design is a very saturated one. In my opinion you really have to do this because you love it, Thijs answers. ‘Creating your own characters with the idea of selling them as kits is in my opinion not profitable enough.’
However, Thijs does intend to give similar projects a similar treatment in the coming months, so who knows? ‘Since this is a ton of work I don't plan on doing too many of these, but I do have a cool character that I will give the same treatment very soon! Hint, it can be found on my website and has mechanical arms.’ While we could tell you, check out his designs here and find out for yourself!
Posted in 3D Printing Applications
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The sculpture is nice, but he doesn't match Yoshimitsu spirit - at all.
Pickler of Rare Breeds wrote at 2/5/2015 8:43:30 PM:
Great attention to detail, wish I had a fraction of your talent in 3D modelling.
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