3D printing props

3D printing in the film industry | 3D Print Expo

3D printing is changing the film industry. Shooting props, mock-ups, and even parts of character costumes can now be made faster, more accurately, and cheaper. Of course, this does not mean that props and designers were left without work: on the contrary, they received a new tool that is in many ways superior to the usual ones.

It's cheaper to blow up a printed car than a real one

In adventure films, we often see spectacular explosions of vehicles: cars, planes, helicopters. If you use real vehicles for filming, the budget of the film will grow noticeably. And what if it doesn’t come out to shoot from the first take? Then the costs must be multiplied by two, or even by three.

3D printed models made in real scale (eg 1:3 or less) fly just as spectacularly but save the crew thousands of dollars. And they can always be reproduced at a lower cost, because the most difficult part of the work is drawing a digital model on a computer. It only needs to be done once. Next will be printing, assembly of modules and finishing of models. This also takes time and effort, but in the end it is cheaper than buying a real car. Or make a model in traditional analog ways.

It was 3D printing that was used by the filmmakers of Skyfall 007 for the Bond car explosion scene. They assembled a 1:3 scale model of a car from 18 printed parts. And the labor was justified, because today this legendary premium car, Aston Martin DB5, costs over $400,000. Previously, layout decorators worked with cardboard, plaster, plywood and wood; now they have a universal material - plastic for 3D printing.

Night props

3D printers have revolutionized props making. Now unique items and artifacts, unusual dishes, weapons, armor and interior items can simply be printed. This saves time, especially if you need to make several identical things. Now even the most caustic blooper hunter will not find the difference between the two swords in different scenes: objects made on a 3D printer from the same model are always identical in shape.

Plastic in the film industry is often used to print “secondary” props that appear only briefly in the frame: for example, filling the shelves in the heroes’ room; table setting in the background. They require minimal finishing and can be printed faster due to their poor surface quality.

More time is spent on props of the first plan. After printing, it needs to be painted, varnished; apply texture. But still, 3D printers save props a lot of time and money.

There are printed objects in films that are included in the golden fund of world cinema: for example, in The Hobbit, elven swords, artifacts (the key to Erebor), parts of armor (bracers, helmets) and even parts of plastic makeup: ears and noses are made in this way orcs. In "Harry Potter" they printed a spider for one of the scenes. And in Iron Man 2013 - a superhero costume: for a perfect fit, the creators of the model scanned the body of Robert Downey Jr.

Creative space

Since 3D printers have become available not only to film studios, but also to ordinary people, they have also been used in amateur cinema. For example, in the movie Jurassic Park: Origin , which fans are making based on the famous blockbuster movie about dinosaurs, all prehistoric animals are 3D printed models. Volumetric printing allows you to take non-professional films to a new level, making them more complex and spectacular.

Learn more about the possibilities of modern 3D printing at exhibition 3D Print Expo in Sokolniki! 3D printing workshops, demonstrations of the latest printer models and the opportunity to meet manufacturers are waiting for you.

3D printing applications

Aerospace engineers use 3D printing to produce high quality products. Now the most popular printing methods are being actively introduced: stereolithography (SLA), deposition method (FDM), selective laser sintering (SLS) and printing with metals.

The technology enables the creation of topologically optimized structures with a high strength-to-weight ratio and the ability to combine multiple components into a single part.

Optisys is a supplier of micro antennas to the aerospace and defense industries. They used metal 3D printing to reduce the number of individual pieces of tracking antenna arrays from 100 to 1. With this, Optisys was able to reduce the lead time from 11 months to 2 months, while achieving a weight reduction of 95%.

There are also 3D printed parts in the systems that propel the aircraft. As a rule, these are metal products made by laser metal sintering. So, in the Boeing 777, the compressor is connected to the temperature sensor using a 3D-printed adapter. In the F-15K Slam Eagle military aircraft, 3D printing is used to make the casing of the turbines, reducing the cost of the part from $34,000 to $2,550 and cutting its production time in half.

Automotive

3D printing is taking over the automotive industry with its speed and ease of change.

Volkswagen has traditionally used CNC machining to create custom fixtures and tools. But using CNC machines usually means longer production times and higher costs. The same fixtures can be printed within hours and tested on the assembly line. The test results will be instantly taken into account and the engineers will make adjustments to the 3D model of fixtures the very next day.

Robotics

In the field of robotics and automation, non-standard parts are often required to develop new mechanisms. 3D printing has become one of the main manufacturing technologies in this industry due to its speed, great design freedom and ease of making adjustments to the product.

A team of engineering students from the University of Antwerp have created a robotic arm that can translate speech into sign language. They used 3D printing to produce most of the custom parts for their robot.

Industrial tools

The emergence of new materials with high heat resistance and rigidity in the 3D printing market, combined with the ability to quickly and inexpensively create custom geometries, has pushed manufacturers to widely use the technology to create industrial tools.

For example, today 3D printing is used to make injection molds for the production of short run products. These molds are used to make several hundred parts (compared to 10,000+ using metal molds), but they cost less than "traditional" molds and can be made in a day. This makes them ideal for low volume, low cost production or testing before full scale production.

Health

The use of 3D printing technology in global healthcare began in the 2000s. Since then, the use of 3D printing for medical purposes has evolved significantly.

The first area in which products printed on a 3D printer were involved was dentistry. Dental prostheses, for obvious reasons, are the easiest to replace with products made of plastic and similar materials. To date, there are examples of implantation of whole jaws made of titanium. The first such operation was carried out in 2012 by the private dental company LayerWise.

3D printing has proven to be extremely effective in creating prosthetic bones. In addition to high speed, modern technologies help to ensure the desired weight, and most importantly, the porosity of the product. The latter is extremely important for reducing the duration and improving the quality of osseointegration. There are many examples of successful pelvis, scapula, collarbone and other commonly operated bones performed around the world.

Product design

3D printing allows designers to easily make changes to the product they are developing at no additional cost. They can also create high quality functional prototypes to test new concepts. The use of 3D printing speeds up the design cycle and reduces risks before the product is introduced into full-scale, high-cost production.

Paul Kohlhaussen designed and built a functional prototype of his latest camera. He combined camera parts from different models under one printed body.

Entertainment

3D printing has found widespread use in cinematography due to its ability to create believable props. The near-limitless possibilities of 3D printing to create intricate designs allow entertainment professionals to bring objects from their imagination to life. Thanks to technology, this can be done quickly and at a much lower cost than in the past.

One example is Vitaly Bulgarov, a concept designer whose resume includes work with film studios such as Paramount and Dreamworks. He used 3D printing to quickly turn his computer sketches into props for a movie he was working on.

Education

3D printing technology can be widely used for training specialists, for example, to create copies and mock-ups necessary for understanding. Such a visual aid gives students a practical and very valuable experience.

Aerospace engineering students at the University of Glasgow collaborated with Rolls Royce to create a functional model of a jet engine using 3D printing. The model gives instant feedback to students about the changes they make as they work.

Developers

For developers who are constantly exploring new ideas, 3D printing is the perfect tool.

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