101% accurate Iron Man Helmet

[Pannaus Props]

Yep, exactly that! I understand perfectly. And I also know that it's not that easy to finish and refine either.

But I'd like not to see a ton of posts where you can see the pepped helmet, the refined helmet and that's it. I mean, it's like watching the same movie 50 times with the same special contents too.

 

[tk1055]

Pep has been around for a while now, but was really only big in the Halo circuit. Then people figured out that it would be good for other props as well. I would have to disagree with you on the lack of research. It is very difficult to pull a game model and convert it, but once it is there, you are correct. At that point it becomes widely available to everyone. While Pep looks easy it still only gives you a base shape as all detail must be sculpted on later. I don't see pep as the death of traditional prop building but another tool that can be used.

 

[Pannaus Props]

Not talking about death Just talking about seeing the same thing over and over
About research, you're right! But my very praise goes to those guys who make the models, they have some talent and skill!

I'm just talking about the average guy to cuts, pastes, takes pictures and that's it
Anyways, I've given the same answer many times and I'm sure you guys now know exactly what I mean.

I also fear I'm de-railing (lol) this thread, so feel free to get back in-topic

 

[sharkhead7854]

Heheh, I understand what you're saying but I must disagree! Oh, and I would hope the pieces line up, during the modeling process I laid pictures of the piece over many pictures of the real bust to ensure accuracy.
But anyway, pepakura is just the start of a new great era of prop making!
Yes, everyone should have an artistic interpretation but some people, like myself, are poor and can't afford mediums like clay, molding materials, etc. It can cost me around $30 to make a whole helmet and have material left over. Besides, not everyone is artistic, and just wants to have something that looks great and they can be proud of. This gives them an opportunity. But it does not go without effort. Whereas clay may require you to give or take a little, working with bondo is no such picnic. The proportional mixing, applying before it starts hardening, and then sanding it (geez, it's like sanding concrete!). And even before that, mixing all the messy resin, using multiple layers, then using it again with fiberglass. I may have the hardest job of all though. The model you see before you has taken me over a YEAR to complete. :lol Starting off from a single plane and looking like something that a 5 year old modeled, learning things along the way and finally churning this piece out, definitely a good amount of work. So I see this method as a great, (relatively) new way for people to be introduced to the prop world.
Oh, and don't worry about de-railing, anything related to props is good enough for me lol.

 

[Pannaus Props]

Dude, don't talk to me about bondo, sanding and all this stuff...don't know if you've seen my helmet and I truly know what you're talking about I'm talking about the after-pepping part. That's hard as everything else. But how many threads have been started showing only a pepped helmet? I'm talking about seeing different things, not about how hard it is
Takes time and effort to do ANYTHING in this hobby, but if you take away diversity, then it gets boring and you lose interest

 

[sharkhead7854]

You won't have to worry about losing diversity, even if EVERYONE switched to pep it's not like every person who wants a prop is going to use one pep file. It seems to me that most of the people who use pepakura are the ones who wouldn't have used any other medium if pep didn't exist. I mean if I didn't have pepakura, I probably wouldn't attempt any way of making an Iron Man helmet. As I was saying earlier it's an opportunity. But even with the same pep files, I've seen different people use my helmet files and come out with totally different looking helmet. Because of the bondoing stage they all come out looking different. Maybe not as different as pure scratch sculpts but there is still some interpretation to be seen. As far as incomplete helmets, eh, it's going to happen with any medium. Sometimes people get lazy, pepakura just makes it easier to have something cool that's incomplete lol. *cut, glue, BORED, stop*. So you can look at it as a loss of diversity, or as a chance for people to make something cool that they couldn't have made otherwise.
I'm not trying to change your mind, just sayin' what I think ^^
I started props when I turned 17, and I just became 18 this month. To be honest I'm not the most knowledgable prop maker.:lol

 

[Dark asylum]

Is dfinitely one of the better pep files and congrats on your great work but I think 101% is a little over stepping it cause there's always some room for improvement to any well made design also look towards the original references from the movie more cause as nice as the side show bust is there are minor differences and one other thing to remember there's 3 different versions of the Mark 3 (CGI, Hero suit, stunt) all have small difference so by that stand makes if hard to even be 100% in the long run it's all about taste I like the CGI details but the stunt suit function all opinionated. Great work I'm sure people will some amazing things with your design and welcome to the RPF.

 

[dmurphy]

Wow, I wasn't expecting so many replies so quickly, what an active forum!
Thanks for the kind words. As for the "how is this 101% accurate? where's the 1% bonus?" lol, it's just a term I use with all my files. It gets peoples' attention, as I see it has here!
@dmurphy it should already be scaled for your head, if that's your hat size. I'd look around the internet for a Windows program emulator, if you ever really want to run something made for Windows.

Thanks for the heads up (not an intentional pun). I've been thinking about doing parallels on my mac, but I have so many programs on it that i don't know if I have the space.

And as far as the concern about losing individuality because of pep:
the pep files are just a base. Each of us has our own sculpting and finishing styles. Yes, we may all be starting from the same point, but it's almost a guarantee that we will all end with our own final point

 

[TheNickFox]

It seems to me that most of the people who use pepakura are the ones who wouldn't have used any other medium if pep didn't exist.

If pep didn't exist, I'd be sculpting on an armature right now to make my Iron Man suit. I'm a big fan of using "the best tool for the job." And it doesn't get much better than pep if only for the sheer amount of group effort that goes into researching and refining them. That's not to say it replaces traditional research for me. While pep makes things easier, I still keep plenty of reference materials handy, even while just gluing, so that I make sure I get each angle as close as possible.

This isn't even my first Iron Man attempt. I have made helmets from everything from my own, eyeballed paper patterns, cardboard, matte board among others. So I'll be propping regardless of pep's existence...it just saves me some time overall.

It's not the be all end all, no technique is. A lot of people fail to move past the paper stage in pep because they realize how difficult it becomes after that, rather than diminish our art, I think it build respect for it by showing people the skill involved. I mean if you were to show someone a pep file, then show them Finhead's build, they'd assume it was easy. But print it out for them and let them try it for themselves, and suddenly they'll realize how much skill it takes to make an accurate prop or costume...regardless of your method.

-Nick

 

[Pannaus Props]

You won't have to worry about losing diversity, even if EVERYONE switched to pep it's not like every person who wants a prop is going to use one pep file. It seems to me that most of the people who use pepakura are the ones who wouldn't have used any other medium if pep didn't exist. I mean if I didn't have pepakura, I probably wouldn't attempt any way of making an Iron Man helmet. As I was saying earlier it's an opportunity. But even with the same pep files, I've seen different people use my helmet files and come out with totally different looking helmet. Because of the bondoing stage they all come out looking different. Maybe not as different as pure scratch sculpts but there is still some interpretation to be seen. As far as incomplete helmets, eh, it's going to happen with any medium. Sometimes people get lazy, pepakura just makes it easier to have something cool that's incomplete lol. *cut, glue, BORED, stop*. So you can look at it as a loss of diversity, or as a chance for people to make something cool that they couldn't have made otherwise.
I'm not trying to change your mind, just sayin' what I think ^^
I started props when I turned 17, and I just became 18 this month. To be honest I'm not the most knowledgable prop maker.:lol

Hey, a discussion board is a discussion board! I'm just glad we can exchange our points of view I also think your points make sense My thoughts were just that....thoughts I'll keep using my own methods and I'll end up having an amor in 2070 ahahahhahaha

Not giving up to the pep side of Iron Man!

 

[sharkhead7854]

Is dfinitely one of the better pep files and congrats on your great work but I think 101% is a little over stepping it cause there's always some room for improvement to any well made design also look towards the original references from the movie more cause as nice as the side show bust is there are minor differences and one other thing to remember there's 3 different versions of the Mark 3 (CGI, Hero suit, stunt) all have small difference so by that stand makes if hard to even be 100% in the long run it's all about taste I like the CGI details but the stunt suit function all opinionated. Great work I'm sure people will some amazing things with your design and welcome to the RPF.

Oh, of course it's not perfect! Read post above, "it's just a term I use with all my files. It gets peoples' attention, as I see it has here"
I'm also aware of the different suits, I chose the Sideshow bust to use as reference because to me it looked a lot like the stunt suit, my favorite version. Unfortunately you can't really rely on screen shots for clear, closeup references.

If pep didn't exist, I'd be sculpting on an armature right now to make my Iron Man suit. I'm a big fan of using "the best tool for the job." And it doesn't get much better than pep if only for the sheer amount of group effort that goes into researching and refining them. That's not to say it replaces traditional research for me. While pep makes things easier, I still keep plenty of reference materials handy, even while just gluing, so that I make sure I get each angle as close as possible.

This isn't even my first Iron Man attempt. I have made helmets from everything from my own, eyeballed paper patterns, cardboard, matte board among others. So I'll be propping regardless of pep's existence...it just saves me some time overall.

It's not the be all end all, no technique is. A lot of people fail to move past the paper stage in pep because they realize how difficult it becomes after that, rather than diminish our art, I think it build respect for it by showing people the skill involved. I mean if you were to show someone a pep file, then show them Finhead's build, they'd assume it was easy. But print it out for them and let them try it for themselves, and suddenly they'll realize how much skill it takes to make an accurate prop or costume...regardless of your method.

-Nick

Yup yup, never said EVERYONE
I'm from 405th.com. Most of the people there like pep because they don't want to use other methods or actually can't, due to money or physical restrictions.

 

[sharkhead7854]

Hey, a discussion board is a discussion board! I'm just glad we can exchange our points of view I also think your points make sense My thoughts were just that....thoughts I'll keep using my own methods and I'll end up having an amor in 2070 ahahahhahaha

Not giving up to the pep side of Iron Man!

Heheh, I don't expect ya to! ^^
To be honest, if I could I'd rather use oil based clay, easier to tweak, get the correct size, and see the finished product in real time. Also wouldn't have to use a dremel for detailing.... If only I could get my hands on it.

 

[BRRogers]

Heheh, I don't expect ya to! ^^
To be honest, if I could I'd rather use oil based clay, easier to tweak, get the correct size, and see the finished product in real time. Also wouldn't have to use a dremel for detailing.... If only I could get my hands on it.

Pepping has been an interest for a while for me now, I've just never found the project that I wanted to dedicate the time to.

If some of the newer models from Halo Reach get ripped and put into Pepp format, I think I might try those as well eventually.

Gemini, I do feel you on your point. In fact, I was thinking that exact same thing last night while I was cutting, folding, and gluing the pepp file.
I know for me that If I had the time and more importantly MONEY, to be able to get clay, molding compounds, and casting supplies, I would absolutely love to do it from my own vices. But alas, I live paycheck to paycheck, and I don't have experience with molding and casting. So to have something like this ready to do in a "pick up" format is very attractive!

Point being. It's a fun project, it's kind of like a really big puzzle that you work on over time, and then when you're finished you do some more work with filling, sanding, finishing... and I can have a decently inexpensive 1 off, personally sized Iron Man armor. I don't plan on molding it or selling it... it'll just be for me to enjoy as a 1 off project.

On the other hand... I can agree that all the "here is my pepp Iron Man" threads ARE getting pretty crazy out of hand, with the exception of people who are really dedicating their skill beyond the pepping process (Finhead's armor comes to mind), but this is how the internet fads work. When TDK came out EVERYONE was working on cowl sculpts it seemed....
This too shall pass

 

[STEALTH]

it all comes down to cost. Most of us cant afford to mold clay sculpts so pep is great way to get a good strong base.

anyways. most people dont have the patience to even finish a full pep project. so thats dedication in its own.

9/10 people never even finish a full project so that tells you something.
Tons of threads with projcets that are never completed.

Everyone has the right to make thier own props. Pepping is a great way for people to save money and have a decent result people are happy with.

Buy a finished helmet $300+
pep one and finish yourself $15-20?

What people do to the pepped parts is where the differences come into play.

A great example is Finhead's build. He added all the detail and modified everything himself. It's not all turn key.

Anywho if I had the money I'd sculpt full projects but like everyone else who dosen't have access to funds or doesn't like the look of scratch built stuff. They go this route

what bugs me is when people start asking if a modeller can model pipes/tubes,bolts etc and accessories to helmets and stuff. They take the pepping part too far when their own creativity could come into play. They are in the minority though.

You're going to be seeing this spring up so live with it is all I can say.

its not the end to sculpting or scratchbuilding
because like I said not everyone has the patience to do it in pep.

This is just annoying beause its Iron man and everyone wants a suit now. They have full right to be making one in the cheapest method possible.

The Storm will eventually pass

 

[sharkhead7854]

Well put guys!
Although I must say, my pep files aren't a creation of fad that will pass, rather an obsession that I have with that smexy suit.
20 years from now I'll still be making Iron Man props. :lol

 

[TheNickFox]

The Storm will eventually pass

And a new storm will be right behind it.

-Nick

 

[Pannaus Props]

Yeah, you all have good points
I'm glad someone feels the same way I do about all this IM pepping storm brewing

Capitan America could be next

 

[STEALTH]

And a new storm will be right behind it.

-Nick

lol yeah pretty much

 

[BRRogers]

Yeah, you all have good points
I'm glad someone feels the same way I do about all this IM pepping storm brewing

Capitan America could be next

I'm all over Mass Effect 2 armor if it's out there! (i haven't seen any yet) O_O

 

[Dark asylum]

Yeah preference is what helps cause no one wants to build anything they aren't a tuned too there's a good few shots of the stunt suit that was the best reference when the movie came out the wider jaw line and broader fore head is a better arrow dynamic look and the head on the hero suit looks way to small no real room for animatronics, also nothing wrong with a little change in the design even small ones, art should be in variety if it was all the same it would be very boring accuracy is like quality and is what satifies you and your goals that's accuracy and quality met when you are happy with your own work.

It is a great work of art and I think you hit the nail on the head so just build it to your preference cause it's working.