AxiomUltra's Mass Effect Project

Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

Amazing work, looking forward to seeing more !:thumbsup
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

Looks outstanding! I hope I can stop by whatever Mass Effect group meetup/photoshoots are planned for this year's D*C.
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

Awesome build, and awesome model work. Any chance you could take a stab at the Cerberus Armor from ME 2? PM me if you want.

Cerberus_armour.jpg
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

This looks amazing. Can't wait to see it all painted and finished!
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

Thanks everyone!

Here is somewhat of an update on the project/s:

So while also working on another 3D rifle, along with the two costumes I need to get done, I have slowly been working on developing this little guy.

The model was sculpted in ZBrush and broken down into several parts. Each part is a Dynamesh 3D object. I plan on laying them out as a sheet and combining them together with smaller dynamesh cylinders - forming a layout similar to a model kit.

M3_Sheet_1_by_AxiomUltra_low.jpg


So, hopefully that will all work out. I have ordered one of Zander's AMAZING Mattock kits, bought all of the painting supplies, and am anxiously waiting to get started on that.

The N7 Armor is halfway sealed and ready for painting. Not much to show on that front. I will be uploading images of everything once I get the new ear parts installed on the helmet. Speaking of which..

I sculpted (the biggest breath mints in the world) as one friend said and had them printed up.

411770_312022118883696_1732502393_o.jpg


The price was good and the quality was better than expected. I had to sand everything down before casting the parts but everything came together perfectly.

I have also had to start on the Ashley armor for my girlfriend. All of the patterns are unfolded and ready to go. We actually got the arms finished in a couple hours. Pics on that are coming as well once we can do a test fit.

467063_10150970899332193_785410127_o.jpg


Thanks all!
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

AxiomUltra said:
I have been receiving a lot of messages about my N7 armor progress, how it was built, and what I used to make it. So I decided it would probably be a better idea to just post that information here for all to see rather than continue to answer messages one by one! I don't have a blog or another build thread, but if you like my work, would like to see updates on what I do, and have a facebook account you can find me here:


So I have been wanting to make a set of this armor for a long time, but I just never had a moment to sit down and actually start it. In fact, this project actually began by accident. I was able to acquire the game model rip of part of Shepard's armor from Mass Effect 3 and was trying to develop a workflow that would allow me to source texture information from photos and imbed it into a 3D object's texture space. Long story short, I wanted to compare ME2 texture to ME3 then decided to see how good a 1024 resolution image actually printed via Pepakura.

Yes, I know - another "pepakura" build. Not REAL prop building, blah blah or whatever elitists say these days. To each their own - I've been adapting all sorts of software I use in my career to help me build cool things on my free time (including digital sculpting packages) and Pepakura is a very useful way to quickly bring templates to scale and print off. While I could use illustrator to create beautiful vector images and scale them to print, with an established scale between my 3D modeling software and Pepakura already set up I don't have to double check my measurements. So to be honest, I've stopped using Pepakura for paper builds and actually only use it to develop full scale templates for other materials - in this case, foam.

Which at this point I should mention that I DID NOT MODEL any of the original 3D objects mentioned in this project. As far as I know these were sourced directly from the game. Typically, I prefer to do my own modeling because I find that sourced models do not have the proper edge flow for real world building. But in this case, I was provided the texture maps with a model that still had UV texture information. So it turned out to be an invaluable resource to use in construction. And because these aren't my original models they are available for free
smile.png


Before I go into the details I would like to thank EvilFX and the rest of the talented artists who pioneered this build method and sharing their discoveries with the materials used. Here is a link to the blog of EvilFX and Volpin which I used for research before starting my project. Thanks!

N7 Armor Build by Evil FX
N7 Armor by Volpin

What is the goal?

This
ME2_Shepard_N7_MASTEREdit1.jpg

Alright, cool. Now lets talk about how to get there. I used those EVA interlocking foam mats you keep hearing about. They really aren't that rare, they just seem to be overlooked a lot and placed in different departments of different stores. Mostly because no one seems to have any clear knowledge of how or when they are supposed to be used. I've found them in Target, Walt-Mart, Harbor Freight, Ebay, and Amazon.

Templates, Blueprints, & Patterns

So you have patterns and foam. Wait, you don't have templates you say? Evil FX and Volpin made their own? Oh yeah, there is a really cool guy on the RPF (and 405th I think) Named Narayas that was kind enough to do that for you...


Be aware that he created those in illustrator/photoshop and he has detailed a way to scale and print those properly on his blog mentioned in his thread. So you'll have to do more reading, sorry bro.

But if you don't want to use those and aren't above using the primitive build-by-numbers ways of Pepakura then I guess you can use the plans that I slaved over..


They are pretty simple. There are NO TABS, this isn't a paper build. The only tabs that are active are only active because you are supposed to attach those two parts together to make a larger template to trace on your material.

I didn't pay attention in school and can't measure, TELL ME HOW!


Well, I can't help you with that. But for me I just made a 3D mannequin based off of my own nearly naked body (sorry, you gotta use your own) and scaled that within Maya. Then I take whatever object, in this case the entire N7 Shepard Armor and scale it up to my height. I actually didn't scale the parts individually to fit me. I find that if you scale each part to fit specific areas of your body then you always end up looking like an alien grey. So I took a chance and scaled the entire armor grouped to 72 inches and prayed that it would fit. Turns out that at my height, Commander Shepard and I have similar builds except he has a much smaller head and feet, sucka.

adsfaaa.jpg

I should also mention that I didn't just take the model as is and scale it up. The model imported triangulated, and since Maya's quad function NEVER works for me I had to clean up the parts manually. I also took the liberty of deleting the under suit and "soft" parts that weren't going to need templates. There were also times where I had to split polygons and change the actual 3D model to properly follow the texture. Thankfully these are problems that you don't have to worry about
smile.png


ChestRef.jpg

Using the first image of the thread, along with other turnaround sheets that I made, I was able to print off reference pages to have available as I worked in shop. These gave me good visual ques on how far parts should sit from one another.

Build Time

5N7Build1.jpg

As I mentioned before. The project kind of took on a life of it's own. I started with a gauntlet and biceps using left over foam from another project. The next thing I know I'm stealing my girlfriend's dress form to keep all of the parts off of the floor.

As far as building it, there is no trick to it. The templates only really give you an outline and you have to figure out how to get the part to look the part and fit where it is supposed to. There are no easy answers unfortunately. The best advice I can give you is to take your time, try to build one part every 1-2 days, and constantly look at your reference.

helmet.jpg

And yes, that helmet is made of foam. The only reason I decided to go with the open face helm initially was so that I could drink my beer comfortably at DragonCon. But, turns out I don't really like wearing an oven on my head very long anyways and I thought that I might be able to upgrade it to the "Breather" version.

N7HelmFoam.jpg

Which I could, neat! That helmet is about 118 different parts and took about six hours to build. The entire suit is at about 104 hours for the main assembly.

It kind of feels like building with LEGOS, only you have to measure and cut out your legos and sometimes they don't fit perfectly together so you just have to force that s*** to work - actually, it's nothing at all like LEGOS. But DO think of each small part as a puzzle
smile.png


TestFitIII.jpg

ProfileN7.jpg


And so over the weekend I began the 2nd phase of the project. Next up is sealing, painting, and weathering. Only because I want a darker look and the foam was a bit too light for me.

Updates to come. Thanks for reading and good luck on your projects!
Click to expand...

Did you use a template to make your helmet? That thing is INSANELY good and I want one to... :cry I don't have photoshop so that website is pretty much crap to me at this point! grrr
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

Thanks! Yes I used a template. There is actually a link under Narayas' patterns for the ones I did in the first post. They are pepakura files without tabs, designed for foam.

New helmet pic! Installed the new ear parts. Looks much better!

Helm_WIP.jpg
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

AxiomUltra, Now that I have that software I will try to download those patterns from that website... hopefully I can get the Fem-Shep stuff!
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

AxiomUltra said:
Thanks! Yes I used a template. There is actually a link under Narayas' patterns for the ones I did in the first post. They are pepakura files without tabs, designed for foam.

New helmet pic! Installed the new ear parts. Looks much better!

Helm_WIP.jpg
Click to expand...

Am I just blind? Why can't I find the link you mentioned? :facepalm
 
Re: AU - Mass Effect II N7 Armor

Thanks everyone!

New Updates! Paint'n'stuff

CoverPhotoN7.jpg


First attempt at the N7 logo. Just colored construction paper covered with clear resin and then cut on the scroll saw into the properly sized rectangle.

WIP1L.jpg


Finally, a use for the super lame double sided tape I've had sitting around. This emblem was just a test to see if the size was correct. I'm working on a second draft with brighter colors to be permanently attached.

TestFitIV4.jpg


So for this weekend's To-Do's:

-Finish sealing the legs & shins then give them a base coat
-Install the belt connecting the upper legs to the chest core
-Create N7 emblems for the helmet
-Create a new visor for the helmet
-Figure out how to install the new LEDs I bought
-Paint the signature stripes down the arm
-Begin weathering all parts
 
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