Pattern Advice/Suggestions Please

[Slackbot]

Oh, the things I would do with a 3-D printer. I'd make glasses that didn't look cobbled together, for starters. Er, it 3-D printer plastic strong stuff?

 

[Buck-Beaver]

That's a good question. I don't think many people think about that.

I'm still somewhat new to 3D printing, but as I understand it most use some kind ABS (Acrylonitrile butadiene styrene) plastic. ABS is usually not considered to be carcinogenic as far as I know, so you're probably OK if you just occasionally print something. The risk is probably comparable to using hot glue.

The problem is, since 3D printing is such a new technology there hasn't been an opportunity to really study and understand it's long term effects on health or the environment. A lot of materials that puppet makers once assumed were safe - like the old formulas for Plastic Wood and Celastic - are now known to be so toxic they have been banned.

My advice would be to read the MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) on any material you print with. If I started 3D printing all the time, I would probably run the printer under a fumehood as a precaution. I also usually use a respirator with anything that melts (including hot glue) as a safety precaution. Better safe than sorry!

 

[D'Snowth]

I heartell Jeff Dunham uses 3D printing a lot these days, but I could be mistaken.

 

[propologist]

As long as your 3d model is made right your 3d printed parts will very strong. I currently have 6 3d printers that I use in my business. Yes you do need to have ventilation but you need that for almost anything that is used in puppet making as well as any thing that we use in the film making jobs. As to you problem of shape I would be happen to look at your drawing and make a few suggestions. Just PM me and I will see if I can help.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, after brainstorming the problem for a little while, I finally decided to do what I normally do whenever I build puppets: I just ad-lib and pattern as I go, like a lot of people do when they fabricate, as seen in my YouTube videos.

I started with the little snoot-like protrusion that was giving me such a hang up in the first place; I cut the snoot to the shape I wanted it, but I also darted the inside of it to give it a little better front curvature, especially when viewed from the side.

So then, from there, I moved on to the back of the skull, and took a similar approach I take even I work on the front of the skull: I usually have a problem with my patterns whenever I build puppets, I can't usually retain a shape with the heads, and they always come out flat-looking, so I usually go ahead and glue a wedge of foam to the mouthplate, then pattern from there by folding the foam and figuring out the size and shape I want, then mark the foam where I would cut it, and glue it from there. That's pretty much what I did here, attaching a wedge of foam to the foam snoot, and figuring out where to cut; since I wasn't sure, I marked off two possibilities, and started with the larger cuts, that way if I need to, I could still cut down, otherwise I may have cut too much.

And this was the result:

And I took the same approach with the front of the skull.

Unfortunately, because I'm not a particularly good puppet builder, I ended up making mistakes, so I have to look for ways to remedy them:

Same approach with the jaw, and I tend to have problems with jaws when I have flexible mouthplates such as this, but I recently learned from a mistake I wasn't aware I was making: the edge of the foam that's going to be glued to the mouthplate needs to be slightly curved, so by doing that, I avoided having another puppet with a permanent double-sided sneer like Ella the Elf ended up with.

And the results; not quite cut right, but I don't believe that little open notch will be that big a deal... hopefully.

After trimming up any excess foa and dried glue, I was finally ready to fabricate; to help accentuate the shape of the snoot, I dabbled just a smidgen of glue onto the top of the foam snoot, and the bottom of the front of the skull.

Apparently the right lips didn't come in as they should have to match with the left; the lips were intended to thin out as the reach the front of the mouth.

Side view. I also added just a tiny piece of a foam wedge between the snoot and the skull, so the fabric wouldn't cause the face to look too smooshed.

And since I have to build two of theses, I copied the final results of this ad-libbed pattern so building the other one will be easier.

 

[cjspiteri]

Thanks for that step by step of your FAB-lib. I have been learning from videos and pictures and I do appreciate the step by steps.

Does the snout feel heavy?

 

[D'Snowth]

Not at all, in fact, because these are considerably smaller than most puppets I build, the snoots work very well at keeping your four fingers in place in the top of the head.

 

[D'Snowth]

And finally, here's the overall base of one of the puppets.

I've only recently patterned the torsos as well, this was the second time I've ever done so (last year when I built a new Steve D'Monster, I patterned and shaped his torso), before that, I pretty much lazily just rolled foam into a cylinder and glued it together, and boom, torso.

But at this point, I need to get additional fabric and material to finish.

 

[ma0298]

I know you finished him already, but an amazing patterning/building tutorial are these http://www.playsoup.com/#!product/prd1/355485371/"sketch-to-show:-the-complete-process"

I bought volumes 1 and 2, and i'm working through them now, and its amazing how I, the guy who couldn't pattern to save his life, just made a really awesome pattern! i really recommend these videos.

 

[D'Snowth]

And, much like I predicted, since I knew what I was working with, the second head turned out considerably nicer-looking.