3D printing promises to be a game-changer in the fast paced and deadline-driven world of the film industry. Not only does it unlock all the benefits of a digital workflow, reliably and accurately reproducing those assets in the physical world, but it also frees up the workforce so that they can focus on more creative tasks.
Dreamsmith Studio believes that the Form3L 3D printer from Formlabs will “revolutionise” props and make-up effects in the film and TV industry after deploying the machine during the production of Raised by Wolves season two.
For 3D printing to be of value to the studio, it needed to match the details that could be achieved with traditional techniques, but also reproduce them at a big enough scale for it to be useful.
It also had to be reliable, accurate and easy to use. With short deadlines and budget constraints, failures and troubleshooting needed to be at a minimum. For Dreamsmith, finding a printer that met all these requirements that wasn’t prohibitively expensive proved extremely difficult.
Dreamsmith
Form 3L printers at Dreamsmith's workspace in Cape Town, South Africa
The Form 3L printer ticked all the boxes for the studio. It has a 33.5 x 20.0 x 30 cm build volume with a resolution of 25 microns, all supported by the PreForm software that makes the package more reliable and easier to use. The machine also uses a variety of resins that make it a powerful tool, one that revolutionised the workflow of Dreamsmith in two years.
Dreamsmith tried for a number of years to incorporate 3D printing into its workflow, but after a lot of trial and error, the team became resigned to the fact that for the time being 3D printing would just be another tool in the arsenal of the studio, and not the revolution it was hoping for.
Here are five examples of how the Form 3L machine helped enhance the workflow for Dreamsmith Studio. Beware, some of them may contain some gruesome details about props made for the show.
Example 1: Replacing Life-Casting
Dreamsmith
Decima hanging - Raised by Wolves
The designers were tasked with producing a hyper-realistic silicone replica of an actress’s body. One that needed to be hanging from her neck, with half of her face missing.
Traditionally, a lengthy process would have been used here, one that involved a silicone life-cast where the actress’s face would be covered with silicone and plaster to create a disposable mould.
Afterwards, a clay cast would have been made from the mould, which then would have extra details needed for the scene sculpted on by hand.
The clay sculpture would then be remoulded using epoxy resin and fibreglass. From this, the silicone replica head would be created, which would have been a three-week process. At least three experienced artists and technicians would have been needed to oversee the process.
After the replica head is created, it would then have to be painted, and to achieve the hyper-realism required, the painstaking task of punching in each hair on the head would be given to an unfortunate member of the team.
This process would have taken around a month in total from start to finish.
Jaco Snyman, a prosthetics designer at Dreamsmith Studio, talked about the new method of creating the replica head using 3D printing. He said: “This enabled us to switch to a digital pipeline, working from a highly accurate 3D scan of the actress. It eliminated the need for the invasive life-cast process, making everything far more comfortable for the actress.”
Digital sculpting solution ZBrush was used to digitally add the extra sculptural details required. By making the process digital, the entire process becomes non-invasive and repeatable, and is entirely fluid. Allowing big creative changes if needed after feedback from the director.
The mould is printed overnight and is then ready to be processed the next day. The new workflow allows for the team to spend more time on the most important step in terms of final production value, the finishing touches. The final stages of the product now no longer have to be rushed, which often used to be the case with traditional methods.
Example 2: Creating complex shapes
Dreamsmith
Vrille's face cover - Raised by Wolves
The Form 3L has allowed the studio to produce in-house rather than outsource parts to a machine shop, which was often the case when using traditional manufacturing techniques.
The biggest hurdle for Dreamsmith now is the limits of creativity, which is an exciting place to be at for the studio.
In the above image is a mask that would have been a very difficult prop to make without 3D printing.
The mask needed to combine both organic and geometric detail. It required a pristine outer layer of geometric shapes, all based on the organic and asymmetrical shape of the actress’s face.
There was also a material problem, the final mask had to be made from silicone, requiring the need for a mould as the studio is unable to print in silicone.
For the final outcome to be achieved, a 3D scan of the actress was required and the team also needed the software to create the digital asset and design the digital mould, and a 3D printer large and accurate enough to print the mould.
The studio was able to fit the entire mould onto one build plate, drastically cutting down print time. By using Formlabs Rigid 10K Resin, the final mould was extremely precise, resulting in the near-perfect final mask.
Example 3: Printing Impossible Shapes
Dreamsmith
Grandmother - Raised by Wolves
Some designs are made easier with 3D printing and some are enabled by it entirely. The image above is of a life-size biomechanical skeleton, an intricately detailed prop with a geometric flow that would have been an agonisingly difficult item to sculpt out of clay and near impossible to mould with traditional techniques.
The studio decided to create this design, named the “Grandmother Skeleton”, purely because the crew were able to 3D print it. 3D printed impossible shapes and interlocking gears have been possible for a while, but the studio needed the ability to be precise at a useful scale.
A life size skeleton was needed, which was made possible by the Form 3L. The build volume of the machine allowed for the entire prop to be printed in practical chunks at high resolution. Dreamsmith say that the prop would have been practically and financially impossible to create without the use of the Form 3L.
Example 4: Printing Big Parts Fast
Dreamsmith
Mother - Raised by Wolves
One of the prerequisites the studio had when choosing a printer was that it needed to be able to print an entire human head.
The head of the Mother duplicate mummy which can be seen in the image above was printed on one go on the Form 3L. This left the team with a perfect resin replica of the actress’s face that could be painted carefully to match.
The prop would not have held up in a close-up however and was especially made for the final shot as seen above. Being able to use the resin print straight from the printer, which was just detailed enough to hold up at this distance, saved a huge amount of time, materials and money.
Even though this dummy would have taken the same amount of time to create using traditional methods, the cheaper price made it the best option in the budget-conscious world of the film industry.
Example 5: Hybrid Workflows
Dreamsmith
Paul's bio-attack make-up - Raised by Wolves
Although Dreamsmith have fully replaced certain traditional methods with 3D printing, they combined it with some conventional techniques to create hybrid workflows in some instances.
The Paul Cocoon is an example of how the studio combined traditional fabrication techniques with 3D printing. The cocoon required a malleable scaley skin that could move with the articulated dummy inside.
Normally to achieve something like this, a very large and costly mould would be required, but the scales are organic and can be fitted together like a puzzle. This meant it made sense to fabricate skin over the dummy by hand, eliminating the need for such a mould.
A large supply of scale texture pieces would be needed however. 3D printing was the obvious solution for Dreamsmith Studio because of the ability to accurately and quickly reproduce intricate details.
A series of flat-scale texture moulds of different sizes which could be used to cast silicone scale tiles were printed. The tiles were then used to fabricate the cocoon.
The film industry is a very demanding one and working in it throws up a variety of problems every day. Having a hybrid workflow made possible by the Form 3L proved to be a powerful tool for the studio when coping with the demands of the industry.
Behind the scenes
Raised by Wolves season two was the first time that Dreamsmith Studio had heavily relied on 3D printing workflows. Most the methods used had only been considered in theory prior to being attempted this time.
After having such a successful run using the Form 3L printer on season two of the show, the prop studio has said that it will be applying what has been learned in bigger and more demanding projects in the future.
Four Form 3Ls are now in the fleet of Dreamsmith and now there is a level of productivity at the studio which would have previously been impossible.
The completely digital workflow allows the team to work remotely. Full character prosthetics can be scanned, designed, sculpted and moulded, then sent anywhere in the world without the need for the team to physically travel or the client having to wait for fragile packages to arrive.
A look into the future
Dreamsmith
Experimentation with Rigid 10K Resin and Form 3L 3D printer to make prosthetic make-up moulds
After adopting the Form3L and experimenting with multiple materials from the Formlabs resin library, Snyman and his team have begun to create prosthetic make-up moulds for what is currently a secret project, due to release some time in 2023.
The design team has moved on to a completely digital process for making prosthetic makeup effects. This starts with a 3D scan of the actor, digitally sculpting the prosthetic makeup and using a hybrid silicon casting technique with a thin layer of silicone sandwiched between a 3D printed mould shell and 3D printed corrected base.
Dreamsmith have emphasised the fact that the method is completely revolutionising the way the studio works. The crew can now produce make-up prosthetics in one-sixth of the time, at an affordable price.
Other benefits include being able to scan actors’ faces from anywhere across the globe, which facilitates remote work in advance of the busy shooting schedules.
