After creating the final Mudbox models, I decided to push the project further by creating physical 3D printed figurines, in the style of full body figurine collectibles in popular culture. Many of these figures in popular culture represent characters from TV shows, games, films, comic books or animes, and are produced in a variety of styles, sizes and materials. Some of the most detailed brands, such as Hot Toys (http://www.hottoys.com.hk/), Gentle Giant (https://www.gentlegiantltd.com/) and Kotobuyika (http://en.kotobukiya.co.jp/) have the highest collectible price ranges and amount of detailing on the faces, bodies and clothing. They also come in a wide range of sizes, such as 4 inch, 8 inch, 1:4th, 1:6th, 1:8th and life sized, including many others. Materials that are used to make figurines range from ceramics, plastic, resin, clay, silicone and metals, but I have found that the most common is plastic resin. Whilst most figures are moulded with resin, some figures have been finely 3D printed in more recent years.
As I am interested in games and films, I have collected many figures of the characters. It is fascinating to see the vast range of sizes, shapes and styles that they come in, which reminded me of my own characters. I feel as if my characters would create interesting figurines as they are characters from a horror game that would be exposed in popular culture, and are varied in terms of sizes and shapes most notably. For example, the Jumbie is the tallest and skinniest of the three figures, whereas the Soucouyant is the most widely posed of the three figures. Finally the Douen is the shortest and most compact figure with relaxed limbs and form. These differences make a set of characters appealing to collect as it is exciting to have variation in a collection.
Therefore, I carried out a 3D printing test to see which filaments would work the best with my final models. With 3D printing I can only print one colour at a time, so I would use the same colour and textured filament for all three figures as I still want to show uniformity. I printed swatches of: Black PLA, white PLA, red PLA, transparent PLA, thermochromic PLA, glow-in-the-dark PLA and finally cedar wood PLA. I liked the black PLA the best as I felt that it would reflect the details of the characters well, as the surface was slightly glossy. I continued to research my choice in material by using 3D Hubs (https://www.3dhubs.com/). I found that PLA is better suited to finely detailed prints more than ABS, which has more mechanical purposes. Furthermore PLA is generally more affordable than other 3D printing materials and comes in a bigger range of textures. PLA also has a lower melting point so it does not take too long for the filament to heat up for printing and a higher percentage of elongation (6% to ABS's 3.5%, although it can reach much higher). It is also environmentally friendly as it biodegrades within 50 days in industrial composters. Lastly, PLA can also be finished by sanding and machining, which does require much care but is definitely possible. This will be crucial for when I am removing the supports on the models.
I also wanted to try out painting methods, incase I had time to paint the figures towards the very end of the project. I used a scrap piece of black PLA, PVA glue and acrylic paint to test paint. At first the paint and glue layer seemed as if it would not bind, but with another two layers, the paint began to appear more solid, and dried smoothly. The pros of painting would be a more true-to-screen representation of my digital models, however the cons are that it would take too long to paint each figure using 3 layers, as well as the face that the figures will be very delicate and breakable, as proven by my transparent 3D printed Soucouyant test. I carried out a test 3D print using transparent PLA initially. This was before I had made my final material choice. I found that the details of the body, particularly in the face, were lost due to the translucent appearance of the figure, and that the fingers were particularly thin and breakable. Despite this, the test allowed me to compare the size of the figure to my existing figures on my shelves, and even place itself in amongst them. It was easy to imagine the figure as an actual collectable from this perspective.
3D Printing the figures: Process and Evaluation
The first figure I printed was the Soucouyant. From the transparent test, I decided to increase the size of the figure by placing it diagonally across the printing bed using the 3D printing programme Cura. Due to the nature of the automatic supports in the programme, I decided to place the Soucouyant on its back to prevent the fingers from snapping off when the time came to remove the supports. At first the figure slipped slightly on the bed halfway during the printing process, resulting in a tangled mess of filament. I resolved this by applying white spirit to the printing bed before reprinting. This time the print was successful, but removing the supports left rough patches on the back of the head and the back and legs. I then used a sanding head on the end of a dremel to carefully smooth these rough areas out, and re-polished the whitened sanded areas with black varnish, and then glueing the feet down onto a round 3D printed base. The result was as less glossy appearance on the back of the body, which I was not too satisfied with. Furthermore it was hard to see the face on the back of the head as a result of the removing the support structure, and I was unable to smooth it as it would get rid of these features entirely. Despite this the rest of the figure looks well detailed and nicely finished. If I could rearrange the automatic supports this would be very useful but the structure of the Soucouyant makes me simply unable to do this. I tried reprinting the Soucouyant in parts this time, by separating the arms and legs from the torso. Despite taking more time the appearance of the surface of the body looked much better without the roughness left by the supports. I glued the parts together and placed the figure on another base.
The next 3D printed model was of the Jumbie. The Jumbie was too large to print in one go as it would not fit on the printing bed, so I used a slicing tool to slice the arms and legs off of the torso to be printed separately and glued back together. At first the Jumbie's torso was printed on its back, but once the print was complete I was not satisfied with the vast rough areas that the supports had left. Therefore I cut up the Jumbie a different way, this time cutting the arms and legs at the elbow so that the torso could print upright. This worked a lot better and was far neater as there were no supports necessary. I then tried to print the remainder of the legs and arms of the Jumbie. I encountered some problems with printing the these parts, as they would not stay supported at the base whilst printing, resulting in them slipping and the print being ruined. To overcome this, I rearranged the layout on Cura before beginning the print again. After the third attempt, the legs printed all the way without errors, ready to be glued onto the rest of the body. Once it was all glued I attached the final Jumbie figure to a stand. The stand was difficult to make as it was the widest and flattest of all three, and my 3D printer had a temperature problem initially, which caused the plastic layers to melt and distort halfway through printing. I fixed this issue with heat-proof tape by resetting the nozzle and the heating element. This fixed the issue and as a result, the stand was able to print neatly.
The last figure printed the fastest and with the least issues. I placed the Douen and the hat in the same file, positioned on its head so that the supports were minimal- only on the shoulders and feet, which protected the more fragile hands. The first time I printed it, the print slipped off of the mat early on in the printing process. Therefore I wiped down the mat again and reprinted the file. This time the print came out smooth and uninterrupted. It was fairly easy to remove the supports from the body and the inside of the hat, but I decided to reprint the hat as I accidentally chipped off part of the edge whilst trying to remove the supports. The second version of the hat was a lot finer. I then cleaned up the places where the supports had been, glued on the hat and glued the Douen to the show stand.
Evaluation
The final 3D prints were successful. Choosing to make the two taller figures in parts helped to increase the quality of the printing, as I was able to print them upright instead of on their backs, and to keep truer to the sizes of the monsters themselves. Organising the supports was definitely the most difficult part, and the figures were very troublesome to create with my printer due to sizing and other technical problems. Despite this, the final 3 figures are very effective and seem like real showroom pieces that could be collected. Before printing I was worried that choosing not to paint the figures afterwards would make them seem too bland and look too similar, but I was pleasantly surprised as all three figure details stood out very well on display. I asked fans of games if they would collect these figures and the responses were positive, with most people saying that they would. I also placed them on my shelves and felt that they fit in, yet stood out well amongst my other figures. The 3D printing was a relevant and effective way of pushing my project forwards a little bit further.
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