RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pics)

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

It looks good! That looks like SirPalesAlot's unfold, so he'll probably be interested in seeing the photos for how his files turned out. I put more edges into my unfolds (and arranged the flaps/parts for compatibility with cutting machines) so the two unfold versions will definitely look slightly different after assembly. I use Google images for my hosting because it's free, has no capacity limitations, can organize photos into "albums", easy to share, and uses the same login as my YouTube account (Google owns both). You can add spaces to posts simply by pressing the Return key for inserting a line-return. You can use the Preview Post option under More Reply Options to see how the message will look before posting.

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Well, I'm doing everything you said, hiting the return key and spacing everything like I want it to be, but as soon as I press the ''preview'' button, all ''returns'' disapears and everything lines back up in 1 line... And yes, this is the forearm you are doing from sirPalesAlot that I got from your profile file folder. BTW when I go download some files from you, the files I previously downloades often say ''updated 6 hours ago'' etc.. does this mean you make changes to the file and that basicaly, this means I already have an older version of your build?? and if yes, are thes changes worth looking into or they are simply minor ajustifications???

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

I dunno - you might need to post the issue over in Site Issues to get help with that. I type in Source Mode instead of WYSIWYG since I'm a programmer and I prefer seeing all the formatting tags, and horizontal space between photos is achieved using the space key (which also then allows for potential line-wrapping) and vertical space (between anything - photos, videos, text, etc) is achieved using the return key. This has worked for me on both iPod (mobile version of the site) and MacBook (desktop version of the site).

I did update all the PDO files this week to fix inconsistencies in the comments and file properties, but no changes were made to the unfolds or parts layout so your downloads are probably current. Also, due to bugs in the archive code, screenshots/thumbnails aren't displaying properly when the same uploaded image is used as both a Screenshot and a Thumbnail, and due to more bugs in the archive code images cannot be modified in existing posts so I had to delete all the posts and re-upload everything to workaround the glitches and get things looking proper (it bothered me and I didn't want to wait until who-knows-when for the code to be fixed). I also updated the archive posts' titles yesterday to make them all singular rather than plural (i.e. "Forearm Suite" instead of "Forearms Suite") to be consistent with posts not having left and right files in them (hand plate, helmet, torso, cod, etc). Updating the post details doesn't impact the PDO files themselves. Probably more information than you were looking for, but I'm simply explaining why the posts were recently updated multiple times over the last week. The dust is all settled now and none of the updating involved changes to the unfolded parts.

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Perfect! I'd rather have more info than less, it shows you care about the forum members On another issue... I'm very stressed about the sizing and scaling of everything since a few centemetres can make a big difference, and seing how much time one single piece takes to make, I want to get the sizing right on the first try. I'm even having dougts on my first forearm: the elbow part extends an extra 1.5 inches but on some reference pictures, depending on the position it doesent extend that far... he oubviously has more muscle than me that might be the main reason + underarmor... But the point is, I have a feeling I'll have to hope for the best and check if everything fits perfectly only once the hand plate and shoulders are made and everything is at least resined AND only when I found what underarmor I will be wearing... There our to many variables and to many things that can go wrong.This is very frustrating for me! I wish there was a chart, that you could enter how tall you are.. The sizing file you provide helps but I always have dougts. Any suggestions?

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

The size testers are much quicker builds to check the sizing with. You're right - as much time as the UD models take to build, you probably don't want to pep them more than once. (I've made 3 sets now, and by golly that better be the end of it!). You probably want it a little on the large side because (in my experience anyway) the models shrink a little as the resin cures. (Not in the magnitude of centimeters, but then also not zero either.) HaloGoddess seems to be the resident "expert" on armor sizing (I'm not making fun of her - she really does seem to know!) so maybe take a look at her tutorial thread: http://www.405th.com/f19/halogoddess-how-scale-more-tutorial-31627/?highlight=sizing+tutorial. Consider yourself lucky that your body isn't changing size while you're building and thus not chasing a moving target. You wouldn't want the doubts associated with building a kid's costume.....they're even more stressful.

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Haha! was actually ready her tutorial right now, (+other tutorials) and looks like I'll have to start a 5th version of a forearm, right now it exceeds an extra 2 inch.. (330cm height) ill restart a final version (hopefully) of 315 cm of height... think its worth it for perfection! anyways, all the previous models i've built will be put to use once I start resining/fiberglass/bondo.. i'll be needing some test subjects hehe. Quick question, I cant figure out how you are printing everything BLANK, no numbers/lines etc and how do you build them afterwards.. I've checked through the printing options and all other options and cant figure it out?? want to try the same because you final product looks mint!

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Quick question, I cant figure out how you are printing everything BLANK, no numbers/lines etc and how do you build them afterwards.. I've checked through the printing options and all other options and cant figure it out?? want to try the same because you final product looks mint!

Watch my Silhouette Cameo video (link in my signature) to see how that's done. The short answer is, I'm not printing anything. The vector data from Pepakura Designer is being sent to a cutting machine for automated cutting of the parts. I skip all the Edge ID and highlighting steps and do only the scoring and cutting. I then use the computer model while pepping for identifying parts placement (when I don't already know where they go - being involved with the models' development and having done the unfolding, I have an advantage with already knowing how most of the parts go together). I'd say my parts look okay, but when comparing them to the insanely mint look of 3D-printed parts, well, the cardstock is probably experiencing "awesomeness envy".

I too used my sizing failures for resin test subjects, and now my kid has them because he thinks they look neat. He's also planning on taking them to school on his next share day along with prototype models in various phases of pep (I sometimes check how well an unfold will work out by pepping part of the model) for demonstrating to the other kids how costume armor is built (and how crazy dad is) from showing the partially cutout pages through pep to resined and rondoed parts. The hands-on "exhibits" might even help inspire another generation of 405th members!

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Just watched your video, amazing tutorial! Happy to put a face on ''Robotchicken'' haha. Though I still rather cut my own pieces, not worth effort and money to buy equipment required. I think I found my solution tu minimize the possibility of mistakes. I'll put the pepakura program/cutting aside for now and start with what I logicaly should of started with from the begining: UNDER ARMOUR. Got to find/buy every piece of equipement ill be using first, I want something thats going to slightly ''beef'' me up because I see a lot of pictures and videos of people and their armours and find the whole look weird because the have this huge armor and you still see their fragile body under it... I'm already a little built since I'm a firefighter but I feel like I still need to add size to my silouete to resemble the real master chief. Also,I have to think of temperature: I live in Montreal, Canada. so I'd like it to be weather frendly NOT to hot for our summers (+25-35 Celcius) and still be able to wear it if its +10 Celcius outside... Don't want do sweat like a pig inside it I'll keep you posted on this!

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

We had already bought a Cameo a few months earlier for my wife's crafting before I started coming to the realization that it could be used for cutting Pepakura parts. But considering how fast and precise it cuts the parts I probably would have bought one anyway, because like the saying goes - time is money! It's pretty awesome getting several days (or weeks) worth of scoring and cutting done in just a few minutes with no strain on the fingers and no mistakes.

Under-armor won't change the location of your body joints, so it doesn't really matter if you start with the inside or start with the outside - either way the parts would be sized about the same to "look right" while having reasonable mobility. The problem with a lot of costumes is so much time and effort is put into the armor and then they just wear black shirt and trousers underneath. Carpathia's build is a great example of undersuit done "right", and I'll be doing something similar with my build. (In fact, I just got the vinyl a couple weeks ago on clearance at a local shop - $35/yd soft vinyl marked down to only $9/yd, so I got a couple yards of it.) If your undersuit base is breathable and enough of it is exposed (not covered by vinyl or armor) along with ventilation (small fans in the helmet and torso) then it should be comfortable. And besides, it ain't about how comfortable you are, it's all about how you look!

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Thanks for the tip! Just looked up Carpathia's video/build, it's great. But you still have to be confortable because if you take 15 minutes to put on your suit for a party/comicon or whatever event, there is no taking it off after 2 hours because your sweating balls inside If completing the whole thing takes 1000 hours, what's a little 50 extra to make sure your confortable in it?

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Out of curiousity, what is the next piece of equipment you will be working on for the ULTRA-HIGH DETAIL version? so far you have both arms done (Forearm, bicep/shoulder, and the recent handplate). Will you be attacking the chestplate ? hehe I'm curious because I'm hoping that I don't outrun you and get to a point where I have to wait for the next piece to be done before starting (no pressure haha, I have to restart everything anyways with the ajusted measurments)

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Well, building with no edge number makes a cleaner final product. Unfortunatly, there is a big problem, the numbers are a perfect alignment method. Each number is printed to be perfectly aligned with his counterpart. Without those numbers, some parts will look perfectly in place but the angles will be slightly off, a few wrong fit and you will end up with a stretched/compressed/deformed final product.

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Well, building with no edge number makes a cleaner final product. Unfortunatly, there is a big problem, the numbers are a perfect alignment method. Each number is printed to be perfectly aligned with his counterpart. Without those numbers, some parts will look perfectly in place but the angles will be slightly off, a few wrong fit and you will end up with a stretched/compressed/deformed final product.

....If you use Edge IDs for alignment. I interpret them to be just as they're named: Edge Identification numbers. The fact that they're each centered along their edge in my opinion doesn't automatically imply their purpose is for alignment. From a programming implementation perspective, it's simply more practical to place the numbers centered on the edges than at some other arbitrary location. Whether the numbers line up or not, vertices are what must be aligned. As long as the edges and vertices are aligned, the model will not be deformed. I have plenty of photos in this thread showing that to be true.

 

[Chernobyl]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

As long as the edges and vertices are aligned, the model will not be deformed. I have plenty of photos in this thread showing that to be true.

I've found this to be true myself, just to echo and support what you're saying. When I first started working on my builds the emphasis of the day was always on getting the edge IDs to align properly - nowadays I've learned better.

It's common for printers to print your IDs slightly out of alignment, and so it's always far better to work by aligning the ends of your sides together properly and making nice, clean cuts.

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Thanks @Arcanine. JMRoach, for the sake of clarity, let me repeat something I had mentioned very early in this thread when I made the switch to building without Edge IDs. The reason why I turn them off isn't for achieving a cleaner build, it's because at the scale I started building at (and even now it's still smaller than most everybody else is building at) smaller faces cause Edge IDs to overlap with each other, with the fold lines, and sometimes with the cut lines. (Imagine the forearm's antecubital detail faces with Edge IDs on - some of the faces would pretty much be black from all the overlapping numbers.) This was long before I started using a Cameo to do the scoring and cutting, so I was relying on the printed lines for manual scoring and cutting. Having multiple Edge IDs overlapping with the lines made some of the lines completely, as in 100%, obscured and made it unnecessarily difficult to assemble small parts. This is also why I configure the fold line dash patterns with finer resolution in my unfolds (the Cameo versions, which incidentally are also usable for manual cutting if you don't mind the higher parts count). Pepakura Designer's default settings will sometimes cause the length of a dash to be as long (or longer) than the length of short fold lines and I couldn't tell whether they were mountain or valley folds. Having the dashes and their gaps shorter alleviates this issue on smaller faces.

FIRE!! (Now I've got the firefighter's attention, "eh"? hehe - sorry, couldn't resist.) I switched off the Edge IDs so I could actually see what was more important to me - the fold lines and cut lines. As a result, yes the builds did end up cleaner because their folds and edges were assembled more accurately than when Edge IDs were getting in the way. After moving to automated scoring and cutting I still assemble without printed numbers because it removes several steps from the workflow, enables me to use larger paper (without needing to buy a larger printer), and I prefer how much "cleaner" the assembled models look without all the printing on them. (That's just personal preference and has nothing at all to do with the quality of anybody's build.)

Another very important thing to keep in mind is this: you are probably not truly finished with the parts after they're assembled - most people paint them (whether or not the surfaces are sanded smooth beforehand) so it's not really going to matter if Edge IDs are present or not underneath the primer and paint. Look through the various threads to see what "trailblazers" have done and then choose a methodology that works well for yourself.

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Hand plate construction is underway and I've updated the first post of this thread with sizing information for my build in case any parents out there might be curious about the values I used. The kid's grown 3" over the last year, which normally would be exciting for a parent but with regards to this project it's a bit concerning. The assembled parts are still large on him (they almost fit me) so I'm still hopeful it's all going to work out.

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Ok thx for specifications! Another question came to mind, while i'm building my final product, everything is perfectly glued/aligned, does anybody have tips on how they manage to keep specific angles in place that arent held back by glue and edges? Take this example, when I manualy hold/squeeze the model the way its supposed to be with the most accurate angles, nothing is forced/stretched and looks perfect... But it naturaly doesnt stay that way and stretches back when I let go... Right now it does not realy matter but when ill put my first coat of resine to prep for bondo/fiberglass, ill need to apply the resin with the correct angles.. Any suggestion? popsicle sticks?

 

[Crimmson]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Ok thx for specifications! Another question came to mind, while i'm building my final product, everything is perfectly glued/aligned, does anybody have tips on how they manage to keep specific angles in place that arent held back by glue and edges? Take this example, when I manualy hold/squeeze the model the way its supposed to be with the most accurate angles, nothing is forced/stretched and looks perfect... But it naturaly doesnt stay that way and stretches back when I let go... Right now it does not realy matter but when ill put my first coat of resine to prep for bondo/fiberglass, ill need to apply the resin with the correct angles.. Any suggestion? popsicle sticks?

http://i166.photobucket.com/albums/u96/JMRochon/tester_zpsc0f64868.jpg

look at flap 664/98 in pepakura it is concave and you glued it flat. it might pull it the way you need it if you were to fold it in and crease the corner right next to 664.

 

[RobotChicken]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Did you score the fold lines so the folds hold their shape better? Can't really tell in your photo if they're scored or not. Also, are the support bars in yet? Those will also help, as their whole purpose in life is to help the model hold its shape. If you've got the time and patience, you can apply a thin layer of white glue (Elmer's) to the inside and hold the angle until the glue sets (about 10 minutes). The ones I built hold their shape on their own:

I think this is largely due to how I unfolded it for Cameo cutting - I put the glue seam along the bottom of that trench instead of along the top, which then makes for a cleaner valley edge at the bottom of the trench and also has it hold its shape better because the glue hardens at the bottom instead of the top and sets that angle nicely:

 

[JMRoach]

Re: RobotChicken's Halo 3 Mk VI Master Chief, Ultra Detail, First Build WIP (many pic

Yes the 664/98 is perfectly glues in sync and when i hold it in the right position everything works. But no, the support pillars arent there yet, so this might help and ill try your white glue trick if the pillars dont do the job! THX