Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - starting the uniform (Page 6)

[Rubber Slug]

So far I'm primarily working on the helmet. I decompiled the in-game model and edited it to make it more suitable for making and wearing, then made a pep file from that. I put together the pep, resined it, glassed it, put rondo on the inside and smoothed out the outside with bondo (and ended up doing quite a bit of reshaping in certain areas as well).

Here's where I am right now, the thing is basically done and primed, ready to be painted and have additional parts added (filters on the front and other greeblies on the back of the head).

Here's the in-game model: http://i.imgur.com/oIRTkec.jpg

Some people expressed an interest in copies of the helmet. I'm considering it, but I want to know if it's safe for the master copy to create a mold if it's already fully painted. From what I've seen, molds are usually made from clay sculptures, or pepped objects that are only primed--not painted. Basically I want to continue working on what I have so far and read up on molding and casting in the meantime, but if making a mold could risk damaging the original or its paintjob in some way, I'd want to make the mold and casts first.
To sum up: is there any possibility of harming the (fully painted) master copy in the process of making a mold?

Thanks for reading! You are all an inspiration!

 

[Robmcn]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

That's awesome..always thought it was a cool design. Got any more pics?

 

[NormanF]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

I have made a mold of something painted with automobile paint without any problems. I do not know how the paint you plan to use will hold up. You could do a test by making something small out of the same material, paint it with the same paint as the mask, and them make a mold of that.

Sent from my Etch-A-Sketch

 

[Diegator]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Yes, I've primed and painted and then molded with no problems. The paint turned yellow-ish in some areas, but you can just re-coat it.
Also: want! I was planning on making this helmet after my current build, but since you've already done the hard work, I won't mind getting a pull instead let me know if you put up a JY thread.

 

[msleeper]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Definitely on my list! Do you have the back half built already? I'd love to see some WIP shots.

 

[Rubber Slug]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Thanks for the interest and words of advice! I took a bit of a hiatus with the beginning of school, to make sure I hit the ground running, but now I've made a little progress. Specifically, I've started working on the back end.

http://i.imgur.com/cw3nkso.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/z2NskLh.jpg

Msleeper, since I see you have experience with laser cut pieces, do you think that would be a good way to go for the "ears" on the side of the collar as seen in the reference? It's a really complicated little shape, so I was thinking I might try to get them 3D printed. Your gravity gun pieces look pretty similar, though a bit bigger, and that got me wondering.

 

[msleeper]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Without any other reference as to the depth of the ear pucks, what I would do is build the cylinder piece (without out the top detailed part) to be apart of the actual helmet. Once you cast the part, put down 2 layers of laser cut acrylic: the top part with the details, and the under part out of clear where you can put lighting in. That's assuming you want to light the piece.

Again without better reference shots, I don't think 3D printing it would be the best route. But it all depends on what you want to do there entirely.

 

[Rubber Slug]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Without any other reference as to the depth of the ear pucks, what I would do is build the cylinder piece (without out the top detailed part) to be apart of the actual helmet. Once you cast the part, put down 2 layers of laser cut acrylic: the top part with the details, and the under part out of clear where you can put lighting in. That's assuming you want to light the piece.

Again without better reference shots, I don't think 3D printing it would be the best route. But it all depends on what you want to do there entirely.

Here are the two best references I have at the moment.

I like that idea a lot. How expensive is laser cutting?

 

[msleeper]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

It's hard to tell how much it's supposed to be beveled along the edge. That material file is great, you could literally just trace off of that to design your laser cutting vectors. Assuming you don't decide to make the edge beveled then it should be super simple to put together.

To me it looks like the center detail is supposed to be standing off of the center green area, and that would be flush with the rest of the puck. And then the little nub on the front is covering both. Is that making sense?

Laser cutting is a lot cheaper than you'd think, getting just a couple of pieces like this done would be maybe $20 from Ponoko.com. It all depends on the size and complexity of the vectors though.

 

[Rubber Slug]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Awesome. I definitely see what you mean about the bevel complicating things a little bit, but I might be able to figure something out. Looks like laser cutting is the way to go, since I wasn't really looking forward to creating a high resolution model of the ear puck for 3D printing anyway.

And yeah, the ease with which you can access HL2's art files is really invaluable for a project like this.

 

[msleeper]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Sometimes! Materials can still be useful, but looking at the 3D models it really is obvious. I mean, look at the Gravity Gun, I had to remodel the entire thing just to figure out what I even had to make. The Metrocop/Civil Protection helmet benefits because it's full of sharp edges, but something like the pulse rifle? Forget it, the models are WAY too low fidelity. It's really sad to think that the game is 9 years old.

If it were me, I would take the artistic liberty of deciding to do the puck with a sharp edge rather than a bevel. Or sculpt the bevel the way you've done the rest of the helmet, and leave the flat part in the middle inset, where the laser cut pieces will go into.

 

[Rubber Slug]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Sometimes! Materials can still be useful, but looking at the 3D models it really is obvious. I mean, look at the Gravity Gun, I had to remodel the entire thing just to figure out what I even had to make. The Metrocop/Civil Protection helmet benefits because it's full of sharp edges, but something like the pulse rifle? Forget it, the models are WAY too low fidelity. It's really sad to think that the game is 9 years old.

If it were me, I would take the artistic liberty of deciding to do the puck with a sharp edge rather than a bevel. Or sculpt the bevel the way you've done the rest of the helmet, and leave the flat part in the middle inset, where the laser cut pieces will go into.

I was thinking I would do something like that, with a three-piece puck where it's the flat, laser cut bit on top, bevel, then the cylinder.

And has anyone ever attempted an AR2 build? I'd love to see one of those in real life!

 

[Diegator]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Do you have the bump map for that piece? It might shed some insight as to how raised those details are suppsoed to be.

 

[msleeper]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Yeah a normal map would help build the vectors for it too.

Regarding the AR2, it's actually the next on my list of things to do after the Gravity Gun gets finished up. There was a build here a few years ago that was absolutely gorgeous, the builder was going to do a JY run but then some film company purchased the master.

 

[Diegator]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Oh man, i'd be really excited to do a group cosplay with 3+ CP officers. Would either of you be down for that? So if Rubber Slug is making the helmet and msleeper the AR2... I can make the vests?

 

[msleeper]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Honestly, my goal is to work up to do a very specific Elite. But I would not complain at all if I had two Metrocops with me.

Diegator, if you are interested in doing a sculpt/cast of the Elite helmet, or even doing the soft parts (the vest, and modding the shirt and pants) I would 100% be down for doing a trade for an AR2 cast.

 

[Diegator]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Oh yea, Elites are fun! I can do that helmet... In fact, I had an Elite sitting in my living room just the other day
combine elite in living room by ~Diegator on deviantART

 

[msleeper]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

HDR rendering is fun.

 

[Rubber Slug]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Unfortunately, the metro cop has no normal map. Diffuse all the way.

I'd totally be down to group up if we could organize that. I plan to make the whole suit myself, including the vest, but I'd be happy to sell you guys helmets. And by the way Diegator, I love your cyborg ninja mask. It seems like perfect practice for an elite, haha! Also, I was amazed you got such clean cuts from a dremel, because I kept making my lines wobbly. I ended up doing everything with a file instead.

 

[msleeper]

Re: Half Life 2 civil protection WIP build - first costume, have questions

Depending on price I would almost certainly be 100% interested in getting a helmet from you. The Metrocops are my least favorite of the Combine troops but by no means do I dislike them. My goal is to have my Elites ready for Dragon*Con 2013, barring any unforseen disasters I should hopefully meet that goal. And I would absolutely love to roll as a group.