Oct 26, 2015 | By Kira

I’m not the first person to say it, and I won’t be the last: Mondays are the worst. You’ve got to reset your body clock, drag yourself to the office (or class, or lab, or wherever you spend your days), and then somehow dive into the five-day-marathon of non-stop emails, texts, meetings and projects ahead. To help ease your brain’s transition into the workweek, we’re launching a new weekly feature: The 3Ders Monday Warm up, a topical roundup of 3D printing trends, projects, products, or ideas, published every Monday when you need it the most.

This week, we’re starting with the movie franchise whose newest chapter is breaking records, blowing minds, and teeming with 3D printable props, costumes and characters. The trailer for Star Wars VII: The Force Awakens was just released last week, but it has already broken worldwide viewing records. According to StarWars.com, it was viewed 128 million times in the first 24 hours. At the same time, fans around the world flooded to advance ticket sellers, spending more than $6.5 million in the US alone and buying up 200,000 tickets in the UK, setting the record for the biggest-ever 24 hours advance ticket sale ever. Though to be honest, nobody’s really surprised—we’re talking about one of the biggest movie franchises in the world, with a global following that has been waiting for this moment for over seven years.

We also won’t deny that there’s quite a bit of cross-over between the maker community and Star Wars fans, so whether you were lucky enough to snag a pre-sale ticket, or plan on waiting-out the lines on December 18th when the film is finally released, there’s no better way to show-off your fandom than with a 3D printed costume, prop or even your own BB-8 robotic companion. Check out our list below for ideas, inspiration and instructions:

Full size BB-8 Robot

BB-8 as shown in the trailer

One of the newest and most exciting characters to be revealed in The Force Awakens’ trailer is BB-8, an orange and black spherical droid, reminiscent of (and almost certainly related to) R2-D2—though whether friend or foe, nobody knows. Developed by Disney Research and Sphero (a connected robotics toy designer), an original app-controlled BB-8 toy can be purchased online for $149… or you can 3D print your own-life size version at home.

Though still ongoing and closed to the general public, members of the BB-8 Builders Club on Facebook have created a private, downloadable repository of all the files needed to 3D print and assemble a full-scale BB-8. While this is definitely more than a weekend project, we’ve seen some very promising progress reports over at Micke Askernas’ blog Building R2-D2, and the mystery surrounding both the character, and ‘secret’ Facebook group only make this even more interesting.

If you’re not a part of the private group and/or want to tackle something a little more accessible, we also covered this great mini 3D printed BB-8 droid, whose STL files are completely free and user-friendly.

Cross Guard Lightsaber

What would Star Wars (or the Star Wars Kid) be without the classic Lightsaber? It is without a doubt one of the most recognizable icons within a universe of globally recognized icons. Yet The Force Awakens’ trailer has revealed a somewhat controversial, ‘dangerous and ragged’ new design: the Cross Guard Lightsaber, weapon of the Sith. To find out just how useful the new configuration would be, French 3D printing startup LeFabShop designed a 3D printable, modular and customizable Cross Guard Lightsaber that you can easily 3D print and test out at home. Just remember that if you’re going to practice with it, you might want to think twice before posting your outtakes to YouTube.

Kylo Ren Helmet

That Cross Guard Lightsaber is owned by none other than the dark warrior Kylo Ren, another new addition to the Star Wars Roster. Obsessed with the fallen Sith Lord Darth Vader, Kylo is sure to be a worthy villain. Despite knowing almost nothing about him, 28-year-old engineer Lukey Daley spent five weeks and 100 hours designing and 3D printing this impressive Kylo Ren helmet (previously featured in our Top 3D Printed Halloween Costumes Roundup), and the results do not disappoint. But what we love most about Daley’s creation is his passion both Star Wars and the maker movement:

“After I saw that first iconic trailer I knew I wanted to have a great involvement in this particular character, ever since I've been obsessed with all things Kylo, this mask believe it or not only represents a small fraction of the time I’ve put into researching all the elements of the character…Star Wars is something we can all share and love together, through collaboration we can all lift each others costume quality this helmet certainly isn’t 100% accurate but if enjoy my work then please spread the word maybe you even want to modify my work and make it even better!!”

TIE Fighter and X-Wing

Poe Dameron, new X-Wing Pilot from The Force Awakens

Though neither of these flying battle ships are new to The Force Awakens, they classic feature quite heavily in the trailer and are a staple of the Star Wars universe. In fact one of the new main characters, Poe Dameron, is himself an X-Wing pilot, and Oscar Isaac, the actor portraying him, even went so far as to describe Poe as "the best fricken pilot in the galaxy." In light of that, you can 3D print your own TIE Fighter and X-Wing ships based on these free and easy-to-assemble Thingiverse designs(TIE Figher here, X-Wing Here). And, for an even more detailed 3D printed TIE Fighter model, check out this truly impressive model from designer Mikoyan99.

Fully Wearable 3D Printed Storm Trooper Suit

Just in case those four 3D printable projects haven’t already awakened your Force, we’ve saved the best for last. 3D printables platform MyMiniFactory and U.S based tech Youtuber Barnacules Nerdgasm have collaborated to design the first ever fully wearable 3D printed Storm Trooper suit printed entirely on desktop 3D printers (some parts were printed on an Ultimaker 2 Extended because they were so tall). Tailored to fit Barnacules’ body to a T, the project is a huge undertaking, and the ultimate in 3D printed costumes. A team of designers, including Lloyd Roberts and Ricardo Salomao, created the outfit, while Kirby Downey handled the blaster. Though the official Storm Trooper VII specs haven’t even been released, they were able to design move-accurate models based on the trailer and multiple photos of costumes worn at the Star Wars Celebration in Anaheim, California.

You can watch the entire design and printing process on Barnacules’ YouTube channel, and head over to MyMiniFactory to get the files for the 3D printed TFA Blaster and Storm Tooper Helmet — hopefully, the rest of the pieces will follow soon.

These are just a few of the latest 3D printable projects that focus specifically on characters or props from highly anticipated The Force Awakens, however there are hundreds (if not thousands) of other Star Wars themed 3D prints all over the web, including this adorable Speeder Bike Rocking Horse, these awesome personalized Star Wars action figures by D-Tech Me, or my personal favourite, Storm Trooper foosball heads. There are also sure to be many more The Force Awakens 3D prints coming out soon--Rey is a very exciting new female character, and a thread over at RPF is already discussing how to 3D print her staff.

There are still roughly two months until Star Wars: The Force Awakens comes out in theaters, and if you’re the anxious type, setting yourself to one of these on-theme 3D printed projects would be a great way to make the time go by faster. Whether you’re on the Dark Side or the Light, the Force is Stronger with 3D printing.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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Brian wrote at 10/27/2015 4:40:36 AM:

In the same vein, this was kind of cute. 3Doodled BB-8 heads. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A3z6Lo5CcCU



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