I have been a sculptor and special effects costume fabricator/designer for the past 15 years or so here in LA. In that time I have worked in many different effects shops and costume houses, with an array of different materials and techniques (check out the images from the “Fabrication/Design” section of my website and you will get a sense of the spectrum of media that I have worked in)
But after working at Legacy Effects several years ago and seeing how they were starting to use Maya/Zbrush in conjunction with 3D printing and CNC routing to create costumes and props, I realized I needed to go back to school or my skill set would slowly be rendered obsolete. For the past few years I have been taking classes at the Gnomon school of visual effects and have deeply immersed myself in the world of 3D modeling and digital sculpting. I have found that 3D modeling is especially helpful to flesh out complicated costume/prop designs, which, if were executed with only a 2D illustration would leave a lot of room for interpretation in the build. This can inevitably cause costly problems in the fabrication of the piece as the fabricators may not be exactly clear on what they are creating and/or designers changing their minds after seeing the piece halfway built, etc. Over my many years of working in shops I have seen so many problems arise over the above mentioned lack of clarity in the design. In most of these instances a 3D model would have mitigated many of these issues.
I have found that it is incredibly helpful to have a 3D model to look at before the fabrication process begins. It’s great for the the designer/client because they get a better sense of what it is they are going to have built and it is also beneficial for the shop as they can view the piece orthogonally from various angles which serves as a much more accurate reference than any 2D image ever could. Now with the advent of 3D printers these initial 3D renderings can also be printed out as maquettes to give the designer/client a scaled down physical version of exactly what is to be produced.
Because of my long and varied history of building objects in the real world, I am keenly aware of their functionality as I am modeling them on the computer. I am also constantly strategizing as to what the best technique would be to actually build the piece. “Would that shoulder plate be better as a molded piece or vacu-formed? Perhaps even leather formed on a buck?” These are types of thoughts that are running through my head as I am creating digitally. Thus making the fabricators job that much easier as I have already sifted through the material options, potential building pitfalls, etc, well in advance of the build itself.
In my personal practice, I don’t start the actual fabrication of any piece now until I build a 3D model first. Yes, it is an extra step in the overall process, but I find it ultimately sharpens the finished design, in addition making the building process go much more smoothly as elaborated upon above. I find myself discarding quite a few ideas after having made a 3D model of them. Deciding that they are cliched, unfeasible or just plain aesthetically unpleasing, after having seen them in 3D. What seems like it would work as a sketch or even photoshop composite can be completely different when looked at in a 3D format. I have ardently committed myself to mastering this technology because I believe so much in its pre-viz power. It just makes sense.