3d printed action figures
objective: environment render
client: personal project
process: 3d sculpting
For an action figure design class I created poseable insect action figures based on insects native to Oregon.
process
I chose insects because I wanted to avoid subjects that are squishy in real life. I dislike how the pants and arms on this GI Joe figure need gaps for the joints. But with insects, their joints already look like ball joints.
I started by designing and 3D printing dozens of joints with different joint types, sizes, and tolerances, and materials until I had parameters I was happy with.
From there, I created whole skeletons of my figures in Rhino3D and resin-printed them to test how all the joints would work together.
I used Blender to model the bugs. I blocked them out with SubD objects, and then remeshed and sculpted all the details and textures. For the joints, I used boolean operations to ensure accuracy.
I then 3D printed and hand-painted all three models.
Takeaways
This project was so much fun, but also so much work. The most difficult part was figuring out the correct joint tolerances to give the perfect amount of resistance for each part. If I were to do it again I would start by finding working joints online and adapting them for my use case.
Because the models were 3D printed with PLA plastic, the joints slowly loosened over time so this would not a suitable manufacturing method for these products. The joints would last far longer if the joints were printed with TPU or injection molded.
Thanks to these cool local bugs for inspiring this project!
