www.3ders.org

Feb 7, 2016 | By Kira

Fantasy 3D mask and jewelry designer Melissa Ng teamed up with Shapeways and CoKreeate 3D scanning to design a stunning, custom-fitted suit of armor worthy of actress and queen of counter-culture herself, Felicia Day. Despite never having taken on a 3D printed project of this scale before, Ng poured more than 228 hours of passionate, dedicated work into the Dreamer Regalia Armor to bring it to life, and has now shared her inspirational creative process with the 3D printing community to show that the work that goes into a project is just as important as the finished product that comes out.

The 3D printed Dreamer Regalia Armor is an intricately detailed body-suit shaped entirely out of ornate, flame-like details. 3D printed by Shapeways, the Dreamer Regalia “was created to inspire people to fight for their creative ambitions and to believe we have what it takes to make something amazing.” As a symbolic figure within all of us, the Dreamer pushes us to make a difference, follow our ambitions, and never conform to the status quo.

Perfectly embodying this figure is actress, gamer, entrepreneur, and geek activist Felicia Day. Known for her roles in Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Supernatural, Day is also a New York Times Bestselling Author and founder of Geek & Sundry, a site dedicated to gaming and all things counter-culture.

“Day encourages people, ‘Embrace your weird,’ which is also a campaign to stop bullying. She fights for diversity in gaming, empowers women to be more proactive, always seeks new challenges, constantly breaks away from the norm, and empowers people to fight for their dreams. Shapeways and I believed Day was the perfect person for the Dreamer Regalia armor,” said Ng.

To begin with the demanding, 228+ hour process of designing and 3D printing the armor, Ng began with:

• 10 hours of research and inspiration gathering
• 12 hours for sketching the armor details by hand
• 10 hours of 3D modeling the armor base shape and design in Blender
• 13 hours sketching the intricate armor pattern
• 16 hours of editing the base design, adjusting the armor to Felicia Day’s 3D scan and beginning to apply the pattern in Blender

..and that’s was just the very beginning! “Ever have one of those projects where you look back and think, ‘I can’t believe I finished that…’ Yeah, well this was one of those projects,” she said.

Along with her dedicated 3D design work, CoKreeate, the LA-based 3D scanning company known for 3D scanning celebrities such as Stan Lee, Larry King and Christina Milian, provided their 3D scanning services to create a high-quality full-size 3D body scan of Felicia Day, using a state-of-the-art Artec Eva 3D scanner and Artec Studio 10 software.

Shapeways then stepped in to 3D print the final Dreamer Regalia Armor in white, strong and flexible plastic. As with Ng’s 3D printed masks, the Dreamer Regalia Armor uses SLS 3D printing technology to achieve a flawless level of detail. The finishing touches included resin-casting the gems, painting and finishing, and installing glowing LED lights.

As a self-taught artist, Melissa Ng knows very well the inner-battle one can have when presented with a new challenge, yet that is precisely what encouraged her not only to take on the 3D printed Dreamer Regalia Armor, but to document and share her creative design process.

“Yes, we all love experiencing the magical wonder when we see the finished piece from someone we admire. But it’s even more fun when we get to see and appreciate the work that went behind it. Because when we dispel the magic and see what it takes, it makes it feel more real and gives us hope that we might be able to make something awesome too,” she wrote.

“So, I created the Dreamer Regalia project in collaboration with Shapeways to create something magical-looking while sharing my entire not-so-very-magical process every step of the way. We hope it can inspire you to fight for your creative ambitions and to believe you have what it takes to make something amazing.”

Ng has previously used her Lumecluster blog to share not only her 3D modeling and 3D printing processes but the important life lessons she learns along the way. Previously, she shared the personal stories behind her 3D printed Solitude & Innovation jewelry collection, the 3D printed Dreamer/Nightmare masks.

Despite it being ‘emotional roller coaster’ from beginning to end, the 3D printed Dreamer Regalia Armor turned out to be a dream of a project. “I didn’t know how to do everything I needed in order to accomplish the project, but I knew I could at least start with one little challenge at a time to get there,” she said.

The final 3D printed product is truly stunning and indeed worth the effort. To view her step-by-step process as well as additional photos and videos, you can read her full Creative Process post here. And stay tuned for additional photos soon, as Geek & Sundry is preparing a full photoshoot with Felicia Day wearing her one-of-a-kind, custom-fit, 3D printed Dreamer Regalia suit of armor.

 

 

Posted in 3D Printing Application

 

 

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