High-Poly Horizon: Zero Dawn Focus

serin019

New Member
Hey,

So, there are a few nice low-poly Focus models out there, most of which store their battery in the device itself(thus increasing thickness).
I wanted to learn some new skills in zbrush and use em to create as close to a photoreal version of the Focus as I could.
Used Blender for the initial shapes and UV layout, Zbrush's surface noise modifier was then used to apply the carbon fiber weave look, then back to Blender to bring everything together and boolean it all into single lumps.
On the weave, I would note that in the game the model looks fairly flat. I wanted to achieve the same look, but even the best SLA printers would wipe that kind of subtle effect out - So it ended up a little exaggerated.

The device itself will hopefully fit a few T0603WM LED's and a CR927 battery as the other versions do. To achieve the not-quite-game-accurate look I had to move said battery to a holder behind the ear that'll clip together via a pair of 2mm magnets.
I'm actually not sure if my current design will work, having never designed an ear hook before. Any advice there would be great!

Both parts will be printed in shapeways' Smoothest Fine Detail Plastic.

FbFlDHG.jpg


fyuy6Vu.png


And the game model:

xLmoObR.png
 
Received the first prototype print.
Certainly revealed some issues.
1 The ear hook needs to position the Focus much further out.
2 The LED channel needs to be wider, which will likely require a slight scaling of the entire device if more than 2 LEDs are to be accommodated.
3 The ear hook wire tube should be open, rather than a closed loop.
4 There likely needs to be an exit for the LED channel to allow the print support to flow out easily.

Qlwf4Ip.jpg


RBxxxk6.jpg


LMWkJwl.jpg


iBNVViv.jpg
 
For a prototype this looks great already! Will you paint it opaque so that the LED only shines through the strip? There are some foil options that mimic the weave pattern, perhaps it can be useful?
 
You can def. put more leds in the row....

what is the battery specs? 3v only? how much current in those coin cells?
 
For a prototype this looks great already! Will you paint it opaque so that the LED only shines through the strip? There are some foil options that mimic the weave pattern, perhaps it can be useful?

Paint? Yes. That is the plan.
The plans to mask off the parts that need to stay clearish and spray.

You can def. put more leds in the row....

what is the battery specs? 3v only? how much current in those coin cells?

This version not so much, the channel was too small to fit more than 2 in there with some spacing. That issues been fixed now though.
As to the battery, yeah. Is very small and probably won't last long. I'm looking into alternatives, but they'd really need to be quite tiny to still fit into the ear hook.
 
maybe look into one more than one of that battery (size) wired in parallel (to double the capacity)

you can also get 0402 and even 0201 sized leds (but much harder to hand solder).
 
maybe look into one more than one of that battery (size) wired in parallel (to double the capacity)

you can also get 0402 and even 0201 sized leds (but much harder to hand solder).

Yeah, thanks. That's an option I will consider.
As to the LED's - just found some prewired 0402's on ebay. Might give them a try.
 
Hey serin019 ! If you printed the triangular part in opaque silver, and inlaid a strip of acrylic into the channel, you could edge light the acyrlic to achieve the look in the game model picture. You could even notch the acrylic to emulate individual lights.

Good Luck on your soldering! It looks like a fun project!
 
Hey serin019 ! If you printed the triangular part in opaque silver, and inlaid a strip of acrylic into the channel, you could edge light the acyrlic to achieve the look in the game model picture. You could even notch the acrylic to emulate individual lights.

Good Luck on your soldering! It looks like a fun project!

Make the back section with the triangles a press-fit kinda deal? That does sound like a great idea, it'd certainly make the insertion of the LED's easier.
However I'm not sure I'd be able to print such a thin part, even in Shapeways finest detail materials. Worth a try though, I guess.
I'd planned on just having several lit and spaced out to emulate the below pic. Not sure I could physically paint the black on though, doubly so if I did bool in some triangular little bits into that section

n13VB12.jpg
 
Hey serin019 ! Hmmm, looks like you have competing images. That first game picture looks like the light section is raised, but in that new 'side of her head/top view of the part' photo,the "black" section looks like a depressed groove.... with triangles in it.

Difficult, but doable if you have a lite touch and enormous patience.

As for the strip itself, I was thinking more along the lines of an actual sheet of acrylic...


.... and that you'd just trim off a bit. A really small, thin, incredibly fragile bit, but a bit all the same!

You could even file out the little triangles along the edge and then paint or dye the bottom of the crevasses. Down in the depressed groove the unpainted 'triangles' would be less noticeable until lit. If they were too visible for your liking, you could experiment with a lite wash of dye.

So... pick which style you'd like to emulate, or combine them a bit to make the part your own!

If you really want to play around with competing images for props you should come hang out in the Star Wars forum and jump into the deep end with the V2/V3 Lightsabers. That is of course if your inner-Trekkie will allow you to feel The Force. ;) HA!

Keep at it! It looks and sounds like you've got this well underway!
 
I super need an airbrush for this.
And something better than 3M painters tape, I think.

lHAx0Dm.jpg


9CpdeZH.jpg



Hey serin019 ! Hmmm, looks like you have competing images. That first game picture looks like the light section is raised, but in that new 'side of her head/top view of the part' photo,the "black" section looks like a depressed groove.... with triangles in it.


You could even file out the little triangles along the edge and then paint or dye the bottom of the crevasses. Down in the depressed groove the unpainted 'triangles' would be less noticeable until lit. If they were too visible for your liking, you could experiment with a lite wash of dye.

So... pick which style you'd like to emulate, or combine them a bit to make the part your own!

If you really want to play around with competing images for props you should come hang out in the Star Wars forum and jump into the deep end with the V2/V3 Lightsabers. That is of course if your inner-Trekkie will allow you to feel The Force.
;) HA!

Keep at it! It looks and sounds like you've got this well underway!

Yeah, I was always combining a few different LOD's of the model. Though I am fairly certain the strip is sunken in in each version and that its basically just lighting bloom in that first pic that makes it look level.
In any case, I had to raise it up a bit anyway to give the internal LED channel more room and stay without Shapeways material spec guidelines.

And as to star wars, lol yeah. I built my own neopixel saber a before TLJ came out. That was an interesting dive into that community.
 
Hey serin019 ! That's looking great! Did you set the 0402s in at an angle? Or is it the printed surface helping you get their light to appear that way?

I noticed that the 'carbon-fiber look' is different in the game pictures than what you modelled up. You have it modelled in a 'twill weave', whereas the game version is a 'plain weave'. Their's looks to have 14 squares down the length of the overall triangle. You're at about 9 rectangles. I think if you switch to the 'plain weave' and make your squares smaller you'll have a spectacular replica underway! Not that what you have done so far isn't pretty awesome, ya know, it's just that with your skill level... you can clearly make this replica perfect. I say go for it!

Also, one more way for you to accomplish the ultimate replica, is that the 'carbon-fiber look' of the game piece can be created by simply alternating small groove lines along an object's surface. They don't even have to have any mounding to achieve the effect. SHOEI Helmets uses this technique in their RF-1200/X-14 shield base plates. Though it looks like carbon fiber at first, when you get a close up view of it, you'll notice it is completely flat and that the 'weave' is just hatchmarks! They go one step further in the illusion of making it look like the parts are made out of carbon fiber by skewing the 'weave' to and fro a bit in order to replicate the stretching/shifting of the fabric that carbon fiber shows when it is laid out and pulled across surfaces.

Like this...
SHOEI - RF-1200 - X-14 - BASE PLATES - 001.jpg

SHOEI - RF-1200 - X-14 - BASE PLATES - 002.jpg

For your model though, keep it tight and unwaving, just like the game model. I don't know how many lines you'll be able to print per square, but if you could get 7 to print out, I think that would be a tight enough set of grooves to still have each square look solid, and it should reflect the light you need it to in order to achieve the 'carbon-fiber-effect'.

I'd be willing to bet that the SHOEI lines are laser cut, but 7 lines ( +/- ) in a 1/16" square out of a 3D printer just might work! Or you could just sit there cross-hatch-scoring a smooth surface with the tip of an X-Acto blade for the next couple of weeks! ;)

Top it off with a little metallic silver paint from Tamiya and I'll bet you'll have a winner. As for masking tape, what about a little vinyl or even heavy packing tape?

Stoked to hear that you made a neo-pixel lightsaber! That's awesome! Did you make a build thread for it?

I hope this helps or gives you some ideas if you plan to really push this model even further!

OH~! One last thing... I remember seeing some Ebay? prewired SMD LEDs that had clear casings. It would be less visible than the red/black wires in your final prop. May be a bit tricky remembering which is positive and negative if you have 30 0402s, but you probably wouldn't be able to fit all those wires down that wee little tube anyhow, so a few wouldn't be too difficult to keep track of!

Good Luck! And keep at it!
 
Hey serin019 ! That's looking great! Did you set the 0402s in at an angle? Or is it the printed surface helping you get their light to appear that way?

I noticed that the 'carbon-fiber look' is different in the game pictures than what you modelled up. You have it modelled in a 'twill weave', whereas the game version is a 'plain weave'. Their's looks to have 14 squares down the length of the overall triangle. You're at about 9 rectangles. I think if you switch to the 'plain weave' and make your squares smaller you'll have a spectacular replica underway! Not that what you have done so far isn't pretty awesome, ya know, it's just that with your skill level... you can clearly make this replica perfect. I say go for it!

Also, one more way for you to accomplish the ultimate replica, is that the 'carbon-fiber look' of the game piece can be created by simply alternating small groove lines along an object's surface. They don't even have to have any mounding to achieve the effect. SHOEI Helmets uses this technique in their RF-1200/X-14 shield base plates. Though it looks like carbon fiber at first, when you get a close up view of it, you'll notice it is completely flat and that the 'weave' is just hatchmarks! They go one step further in the illusion of making it look like the parts are made out of carbon fiber by skewing the 'weave' to and fro a bit in order to replicate the stretching/shifting of the fabric that carbon fiber shows when it is laid out and pulled across surfaces.

Like this...
View attachment 1031636

View attachment 1031637

For your model though, keep it tight and unwaving, just like the game model. I don't know how many lines you'll be able to print per square, but if you could get 7 to print out, I think that would be a tight enough set of grooves to still have each square look solid, and it should reflect the light you need it to in order to achieve the 'carbon-fiber-effect'.

I'd be willing to bet that the SHOEI lines are laser cut, but 7 lines ( +/- ) in a 1/16" square out of a 3D printer just might work! Or you could just sit there cross-hatch-scoring a smooth surface with the tip of an X-Acto blade for the next couple of weeks! ;)

Top it off with a little metallic silver paint from Tamiya and I'll bet you'll have a winner. As for masking tape, what about a little vinyl or even heavy packing tape?

Stoked to hear that you made a neo-pixel lightsaber! That's awesome! Did you make a build thread for it?

I hope this helps or gives you some ideas if you plan to really push this model even further!

OH~! One last thing... I remember seeing some Ebay? prewired SMD LEDs that had clear casings. It would be less visible than the red/black wires in your final prop. May be a bit tricky remembering which is positive and negative if you have 30 0402s, but you probably wouldn't be able to fit all those wires down that wee little tube anyhow, so a few wouldn't be too difficult to keep track of!

Good Luck! And keep at it!

Hey!
Thanks for all that advice, I'll take it into account for a possible run.
So on the weave and the numbers of - there was a reason I went slightly larger: a completely game accurate set would likely be washed out completely in the final print, even in the very highest detail materials. That was surface detail even in the one I printed that was washed out.
Some of that may have been due to the angle at which shapeways printed the thing(and thus which surfaces had support material on them, usually meaning detail loss), but a lot of it was just due to the smallness of the thing.

The other issue is that generating the weave itself relies on either a completely procedural approach using zbrush's noise plugin, or by using seamless textures. One can make ones own, but its a pain.
This is the one I used for it. As you can see its a bit messy. But, it was the best I could find and then modify.

r8Ahz9v.jpg


I think perhaps you may be onto something with the manually cutting lines. That might be the best option out of the bunch.

Oh and no, the LED's aren't set yet. Just free floating around in the little channel down the middle of the thing. Waiting for the smaller ones to come in the mail then I'll glue em in somehow. Think this print might become something to hang off my uni backback and have lit via one of the battery banks I lug around.
 
The other issue is that generating the weave itself relies on either a completely procedural approach using zbrush's noise plugin, or by using seamless textures. One can make ones own, but its a pain.

Ah-ha! You're cheating! And here I thought you'd modelled in all the lumps. ;) O.K. so your further along than I am with the 3D modelling, but I know a bit enough on how it works that I think I have another work around for you.

I'll throw something together for you tonight to try and illustrate my idea.
 
I converted your twill weave to a plain weave, if you want it. Resized one of the twill rectangles from 600x300 to 300x300, and then just copy-rotated it into a pattern. (The full image looks a lot better than the thumbnail.)

Plain Weave.png
 
Hey serin019 ! Here ya go, this is what I'm thinking will give you the printable pattern you'll need to get the 'carbon fiber effect'....

Carbon Fiber Pattern for Serin019 by Ridire Firean.jpg


I've never done an image map for Zbrush, so this may not be 100% what you need, but I hope it gives you what you need to realize the concept! Make the individual squares 1/16" x 1/16" in your model.

Hey Zlosk ! Nice patterning! But I think the issue serin019 is having is that the 'pattern' isn't showing up in the 3D print because the 'carbon strands' are too many/too thin.

With fewer, and thinner 'carbon strands' the 3D printer might just be able to print the detail necessary to give the 'carbon fiber effect'.

I hope this makes sense, if not, I can try and take some close-up photos of the SHOEI and Scorpion base plates that have the 'carbon fiber effect' scoring on them so that you can have a better understanding of what I'm thinking you can try to print.
 
Thanks for both of those examples, peeps.
Here they are applied.

RpOBo8T.jpg


dRsGA1j.jpg



Ah-ha! You're cheating! And here I thought you'd modelled in all the lumps. ;) O.K. so your further along than I am with the 3D modelling, but I know a bit enough on how it works that I think I have another work around for you.

I'll throw something together for you tonight to try and illustrate my idea.

If you wanna learn to do the same stuff, just google Zbrush Surface Noise.
There are a number of vids, and its really only a few clicks worth of work once you have the model and UV's set up.
Its output is a bit messy, and you'll likely need to run it through zremesher to get the right filesize(meaning detail loss again), but its a fantastic tool.
 
WOW! Hey serin019 ! Is that from the image I just posted up? Frack'n' BRILLIANT! I can't believe that worked so well! It's a little peaky, but with some tweaking, that might actually print correctly!

Try it again for me, if you have a second, with the squares small enough to fit 14 or 15 squares down the centerline. And apply a silver surface to it just for kicks. I've gotta know what that looks like!
 
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