"I find your lack of faith disturbing."
This is a little side project I've been working on and off. It all started when my parents found this neat statue of Christ at a yardsale. I had just ordered my Micro3D printer from Kickstarter, and I needed a project to develop my 3D printing skills.
Why Darth Vader? Well, for some reason (I blame the prequels' terrible attempts at biblical allegory), it was the first thing that popped into my head. I could go on imagining even deeper symbolism, combining one of the most evil fictional characters in the world with one of the most benevolent just seemed funny to me. (also borderline blasphemous-I meant no offense)
Process
I first scanned the original statue using a DSLR and Autodesk's free 123DCatch app to photogrammetrize everything in the cloud. The process was quite seamless!
After cleaning up the scan and confirming the scale, I set to work to model the iconic black helmet in such a way that it could neatly fit on the existing statue. For practice, I also retopologized the 3D scan and created a full mockup of the finished piece:
This full 3D model was also printable, so I was able to print a tiny version of the full sculpture. The actual helmet would have to be printed at Shapeways though, as it was far too large for my Micro3D. Also, I could never get the same quality as SLS.
There is some visible facetting, and in hindsight I should've smoothed the mesh a bit more before printing, but I kind of like the low-poly look, so I went with it. Also, a little amazed it all fit on the first try! Top marks to 123Catch for accuracy on a budget!
I then spraypainted the whole thing in glossy black:
And the mask is removable, so if I ever need to host a black mass at my house, it's a quick conversion.
... and that's it!
Thanks for watching.