Rareth said:

Roygee said:

OK - static illustrations make it a lot simpler:)

For the grappling hook, all you would need to do is put it in the right place in the scene, then draw in the filament in post, using stroked paths. That will give you more leeway than doing it in 3D. In any case, I doubt that there is any 3D software capable of doing what you have in mind.

The sliding out of the claws is also pretty simple - set the parameters on the axis you want it to slide out on and lock the other two.

What I'm interested in finding out is how the rigid part of the glove works with the flexible part - such as in body armor - I've often wondered how the pro's do body armor to get it to move with the muscles, but not get deformed.

Hope some guru pops in and reveals the secret:)

you mean if and how the part on the back of the hand moves? simple it should not be rigidly connected to the part on the forearm.
the connection should be through armored cables/tubes for power, fliament line, and compressed gass for the launching of the grabbling hook.

the back of the hand part only needs to really house the claws, the selonoids to move the claws and the grappling hook housing
all the rest, power pack, compressed gas container, motor for rewinding the filament can all be contained in the forearm.

I couldn't tell from the pics you referenced just how big is this gauntlet thing supposed to be?

heck you could always do something like this..

The part on the back of the hand only houses the blades and the mechanisms to operate them. The grappling hook and cable is fully housed within the forearm section of the gauntlet. only the trigger for it would be in the hand, along with the trigger for the claws.

The part I'm interested in is not how it would work in "real life", but in how it would work in Studio - having the rigid parts and the flexible parts modeled in the same mesh and getting the rigid parts not to deform along with the flexible parts :)

The best way I've found to avoid that is to make sure the rigid parts don't extend over a joint.

Roygee said:

OK - static illustrations make it a lot simpler:)

For the grappling hook, all you would need to do is put it in the right place in the scene, then draw in the filament in post, using stroked paths. That will give you more leeway than doing it in 3D. In any case, I doubt that there is any 3D software capable of doing what you have in mind.

The sliding out of the claws is also pretty simple - set the parameters on the axis you want it to slide out on and lock the other two.

What I'm interested in finding out is how the rigid part of the glove works with the flexible part - such as in body armor - I've often wondered how the pro's do body armor to get it to move with the muscles, but not get deformed.

Hope some guru pops in and reveals the secret:)

you mean if and how the part on the back of the hand moves? simple it should not be rigidly connected to the part on the forearm.
the connection should be through armored cables/tubes for power, fliament line, and compressed gass for the launching of the grabbling hook.

the back of the hand part only needs to really house the claws, the selonoids to move the claws and the grappling hook housing
all the rest, power pack, compressed gas container, motor for rewinding the filament can all be contained in the forearm.

I couldn't tell from the pics you referenced just how big is this gauntlet thing supposed to be?

heck you could always do something like this..

OK - static illustrations make it a lot simpler:)

For the grappling hook, all you would need to do is put it in the right place in the scene, then draw in the filament in post, using stroked paths. That will give you more leeway than doing it in 3D. In any case, I doubt that there is any 3D software capable of doing what you have in mind.

The sliding out of the claws is also pretty simple - set the parameters on the axis you want it to slide out on and lock the other two.

What I'm interested in finding out is how the rigid part of the glove works with the flexible part - such as in body armor - I've often wondered how the pro's do body armor to get it to move with the muscles, but not get deformed.

Hope some guru pops in and reveals the secret:)

Just to define a point here, for people who have never tried this sort of thing... when we talk of 3D printing, resolution and material are EVERYTHING.
The lower the resolution, the less smooth the surface... Depending on the machine, a low resolution surface may come across looking "gritty" or even "griddy"(not a real term but the surface will have grid like marks sort of like machining marks from a CNC milling machine or those seen in early bubble jet printers that had poor alignment).
The material/method also make a huge difference...
Granular materials binding- (there are a few ways to go about this) fuse little granules of material together to form the model, this usually results in a model that has anywhere from a velvety eggshell finish (in best circumstances) to something that looks like fine sandstone.
And Extrusion deposition,(also called Fused deposition modeling or "FDM" ) this is the best choice... which as KorvisBlack mentioned, works using a plastic filament which is unwound from a coil, melted and fed out an extrusion nozzle. these type machines usually produce the smoothest surfaces.

Granular materials, are okay if you just want to make a quick demo of something or if you have the skills to do some sealing, finishing and painting on your own... But if you want something that comes closer to what you see on the screen, than you want FDM.
When going to 3d printing companies, it is very important to be sure what you need/want and what the printer will use/produce.

Shapeway has a materials page that shows some material examples:
http://www.shapeways.com/materials

I'm very intrigued by the $1299 Cube printer mentioned earlier, but before buying one I'd like to see how much trouble prepping some of my simpler models would be. Does your company work with consumer-level clients, and if not would you be willing (for pay) to help prep a file for someone like Shapeways or Cubify?

Thanks,
Walt Sterdan

Hi Walt,

The company I work for sells the Cube printer, but the layer thickness is similar to the device that Staples has picked. Details will be lost in the layers, unless you were to do something like a 1/4 scale model of a V4/V5 head, and even then you would see the stair-stepping of the layers. It would not be pretty. Unless you are really wanting to play with 3D printing, I would not suggest getting one. The 3D Touch would be a better device (larger build envelope, two heads, multiple materials, slightly better model quality) but they are around $4,500.

The Cube, RapMan, 3D Touch, MakerBot, UltraBot, and UPrint all use the same technology (FDM) which is essentially a filament of ABS plastic that is heated and deposited into layers to build a model. A better device would be the ProJet 1000 or ProJet 1500 since the layers are thinner. A complete setup of a ProJet 1000 is around $15,000. Still, the results are not optimal for high quality D|S modeling.

Going up to the $60,000 range would get you a good quality color ZPrinter which is what FigurePrints uses for their WoW models. Models produced by this device would be what I would consider the minimum quality level for 3D character models.

Moving up the scale to the $90,000 price point gets you a ProJet HD 3500 Plus, which will make some really detailed models. Our company has the ProJet HD 3000 which is last year's version of the ProJet HD 3500. I believe that the best 3D printer for character modeling would be the ProJet 7000, but at close to $275,000 it is just a bit pricey.;-)

Our company does work for college students who need solid models for their projects, so we could certainly do a print for you.

Or if you want to use Shapeways, I could correct your model. Depending on what errors are present, it could take me between 15 minutes and several hours to remove the errors in the .STL. The model I made from my Genesis girl took about 1 hour to complete once I had it exported into .OBJ format. I was able to remove 99.8% of the errors, which is considered acceptable. Let me know if you would want me to do that. I have no idea how much to charge so make me an offer. Of course, I would need to see your file to determine just how hard it would be to correct.

For a point of reference, the company I work for for would charge about $400 for the model I built; she is 7.25" tall. Keep in mind that it takes about 10 hours to build the model and do the initial finishing on it; that amounts to about $350 of the cost. My employer is considered to be one of the cheapest places to get high quality, 3D printing done. Most Canadian service bureaus charge 10% to 50% more than what we do.

@BjornLO

Sorry I didn't reply sooner. Had to replace the PSU in my PC.

I agree. I am mystified that DAZ put their new website up with so many issues unresolved. Even a week or two of testing would have revealed how screwed up it is. Doesn't make any sense and no doubt their revenue stream has suffered because of it.

I agree with you regarding Ken Rockwell as well. However I do believe the particular link I posted is valid. It doesn't matter how much you spend on a camera system or what its specs are if you can't see photographically. I remember a few decades ago a woman won the Pulitzer for best photo using a Kodak Instamatic with a plastic lens.

The "old school" adage was "f/8 and be there" attributed to Weegee in the 50's I believe. While the f stop is for the most part irrevelant in this age of digital photography the being there part still applies. Weegee captured some amazing images using a 4x5 Speed Graphic camera with wire filament flash. Another of my favorite photographers is Henri Cartier-Bresson who coined the phrase "the decisive moment". For much of his career he used a 35mm Leica camera with only a 50 mm lens with which he worked wonders.

My point, as well as Ken Rockwell's, is simply that the equipment you use doesn't matter. What does is your mind's eye and your imagination. Learn the limitations of whatever system you are using and maximize its potential as well as your own. That's how you make great photographs. Plus being in the right place at the right time with the right light.

Every digital camera has hot pixels. Most of the time they are mapped out by in camera processing and may not be noticeable unless you use long exposures and high magnification, but it is simply the nature of digital sensors. See these links:

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2507

http://www.anandtech.com/show/2529

http://www.anandtech.com/show/1619/2

Nonetheless, my G12 is showing hot pixels in short exposures when it shouldn't so I plan on returning it to Canon under warranty.

Here are a few photos I took using my G12 in macro mode handheld. When I shot film I always shot macro on a tripod but with image stabilization I'm getting good results without one. These are full frame jpeg's with miminal post processing in Photoshop, mostly resizing for this forum.