New Vader ANH helmet

[Brent M]

Rich, maybe you'd best just buy one then?

I'll be making final revisions tomorrow, then taking some pics. The only problem is at the minute I have enough orders that I would not feel comfortable taking on more, so these may be a week or so before being offered for sale.

I'll be anxiously awaiting more pics and info. :cool

 

[bookface]

Here's some more pics for you, this is the finished piece. No more alterations to be made at this point.

I picked up an eFX dome in trade a while back, mainly just to study it but also just in case it worked with one of my Vader masks. It doesn't, sadly, as you can see here. Mac asked me to take a shot so we could do a comparison, and not to try and say that one is better than the other, but just to make the point that a fan made item can replicate the movie look really, really well. It's not always about lineage, sometimes it helps to just make sure the mask and the dome work well together (which is also why I won't part out pieces).

And on to the finished pics!

And finally, I had a go at matching the close up of Vader on the Tantive IV and was partially successful. I suspect my camera lense is holding me back from getting it just right.

 

[Brent M]

If this is the pic you were trying to copy I'd say damn fine job. :thumbsup

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

It may not be right but I really like the look of the larger eFX helmet on your mask. It's like the typical caricature of Vader come to life, like what everyone thinks how Vader looks like in their mind: the steel cold face and the large helmet.

 

[CSMacLaren]

It may not be right but I really like the look of the larger eFX helmet on your mask. It's like the typical caricature of Vader come to life, like what everyone thinks how Vader looks like in their mind: the steel cold face and the large helmet.

If you stand back about 20 feet and photograph Vader, you get exactly that large-dome-small-face effect. If you photograph 4-5 feet closer, the face becomes proportionately bigger.



(Above: Same helmet, photographed at different distances. Notice the face-to-dome proportions change.)

That's why I ask people to consider photographing Vader, Fett, Dark Knight Cowls and Iron Man helmets at 6 feet distance to minimize perspective distortion.

 

[clancampbell]

Firstly,

Mac, that is a truly eye opening example of how perspective is so deceiving! Brilliant!

Guys...these new pics are simply astonishing.....absolutely identical to Tantive Vader as he lives in my mind.

The paintjob is phenomenal.....not just the mask, the helmet/dome is now the PERFECT finish for ANH. Too many folks do the dome quite dull, including efx, yours is bang on the money.

Bravo, now i'm just off to sell a kidney.

Rich

 

[R2Dan]

It's not just perspective, but also the lens distortion. I made a similar picture once where people were debating about how wide the original Stormtrooper helmets were, and that all replicas seem to be so narrow... while the originals of course vary in width due to assembly, here is what cameras do to these helmets as well. Left shows close up without zoom, right from about 6 feet away with zoom. Not Vader related, but worth sharing I guess

 

[CSMacLaren]

We're getting somewhat off-topic, but I did want to address it quickly. Over the years, vendors increased the size of their domes because they were challenged by rear-of-head coverage. Lengthening flanges and over-sizing the domes was actually not necessary, and a lot of that is corrected by proper dome orientation. The proportions of the mask to dome have thwarted people over the years, and some of that is due to mask and dome sources available at the time.

The closer you get to the helmet, the face will be bigger in proportion. The farther you pull out, the lens (assuming 35mm+) will pick up more lateral detail, so Fett, Vader, Stormtroopers, etc. will appear wider. You'll see a bit of this even with consumer cameras.

Here is a comp of Quasimodo: 18 feet vs 6 feet. I think Poopa will like the big dome look if he stands far enough back.

However, if at 6 feet, a helmet has the proportions on the left, then I would propose that the helmet is inaccurate.

Here is an additional read: http://bakerdh.wordpress.com/2012/05/05/face-distortion-is-not-due-to-lens-distortion/

Okay, let's get back on-topic.

 

[mikkonator]

Awesome work as always bookface, really love those distortion pics too. That's really wild!

 

[PoopaPapaPalps]

Thanks for the photography lesson!

Now I feel like a dolt.

 

[CSMacLaren]

Thanks for the photography lesson!

Now I feel like a dolt.

No, please don't feel that way. You've learned in 7 seconds what it took many of us 7 years to learn. These are thankfully different times, with better prop information available to us. :cheers

To me, the comparative exercise by bookface shows that as a fan effort, Quasimodo's dome achieves a closer movie look than the eFX dome, and it's not just paint but structure as well. There are a lot of surface texture I sculpted in to emulate the beat-up appearance of the character in the Tantive IV scene.

This isn't to knock the eFX product, which is amazing in its own right and has superior lineage to a lot that's out there. But I point this out because, vendors have already been eyeballing the eFX for illicit recasting, and hopefully Quasimodo proves that fans don't have to go the illicit recasting route to get a great movie look.

 

[T-VIRUS]

Wow guys, what a fantastic job you have done. Great work ! Excellent job on the finish work bookface, it really looks sweet!!

 

[ataru72ita]

We're getting somewhat off-topic, but I did want to address it quickly. Over the years, vendors increased the size of their domes because they were challenged by rear-of-head coverage. Lengthening flanges and over-sizing the domes was actually not necessary, and a lot of that is corrected by proper dome orientation. The proportions of the mask to dome have thwarted people over the years, and some of that is due to mask and dome sources available at the time.

The closer you get to the helmet, the face will be bigger in proportion. The farther you pull out, the lens (assuming 35mm+) will pick up more lateral detail, so Fett, Vader, Stormtroopers, etc. will appear wider. You'll see a bit of this even with consumer cameras.

Here is a comp of Quasimodo: 18 feet vs 6 feet. I think Poopa will like the big dome look if he stands far enough back.

http://i18.photobucket.com/albums/b...o/quasimodo-18-feet-vs-6-feet_zpsb37d660c.jpg

However, if at 6 feet, a helmet has the proportions on the left, then I would propose that the helmet is inaccurate.

Here is an additional read: Face distortion is not due to lens distortion | Daniel's Visionarium

Okay, let's get back on-topic.

Really really instructive, I red it several time on the Prop Den repeated by You but I somehow forgot!!
Thank You very much!:thumbsup

Regards,

Alberto

 

[bookface]

Helmet is now available in the Project Runs section of the classifieds!

 

[gobler]

Sweet!!! I just love the Vader helm.


Sent from somewhere in time & space...

 

[banthapoodoo]

Beautiful helmet guys. Nothing ugly about your sequel that's for sure! I'm mostly a ESB Vader fan but there's many details in the ANH Vader can't help but appreciate how many you've capture here. Nice job!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[CSMacLaren]

Thanks for the encouragement! Yes, for me my past projects have been trying to force distorted castings into something accurate, so it's a lot of fun to finally have a great sculpt to work with so we can re-create the character to greater levels of realism. ESB is definitely my second favorite, So I'm excited to see how this will work out in ESB and ROTJ flavors. I'll be calling upon bookface's skills more than ever before.

 

[CSMacLaren]

Bookface, ready when you are on developing the ESB and ROTJ helmets!

 

[Wolfsburg]

This thing is absolutely gorgeous! The ESB helmet has always been my favorite for whatever reason and I would looooove to see a Quasimodo ESB! Guessing that's a ways off though!

 

[bookface]

Not that far off! Hopefully less than a couple of months.