My contribution to this years RPF Secret Santa was a 3d-printed architectural model of the OCP headquarters from RoboCop!
Research
I am sorry to say I had never actually need the original RoboCop until recently. It was listed as one of my recipients interests so as part of my research process I sat down to watch the movie to get some inspiration. It did not disappoint! I have been working on some architecture-related projects lately and while watching the film I was taking notice of some of the skyline shots and matte paintings of Delta City and in a couple shots the OCP headquarters literally sticks out like a sore thumb. Ive been really into architectural models lately and this seemed like a really great opportunity to try to recreate the building in a minimal, clean and simple model.
To get started I gathered up as many screenshots and references as I could find. I couldn't find any production art or photos of the entire building so I had to guess on the overall height and proportions. But taking reference from screenshots, production art, and appearances outside the film like the animated series and various other sources I was able to start a rough model.
The base of the tower is actually the Dallas City Hall building in Texas. I was able to get a ton of good reference photos for this which gave me a lot of the key proportions i needed for the windows, columns, etc. and the overall length and width of the building.
Modeling
Using a satellite image screenshot I was able to get the basic dimensions of the base and the locations of the 3 columns that run up the front of the building. I pulled this into Fusion 360 and used the screenshot for my base sketches.
From there it was a lot of repeat shapes and patterns to build up the rest of the tower. I referenced the source material as much as I could and made filled in gaps in the design wherever needed. These are some early renders:
Once the model was complete everything was cut up for printing:
The build
It took me a while to get the print setting dialed in just right. With all of the fine details around the windows and lettering most of the parts had some very thin walls and fragile details. All of the parts were printed on an Anycupic Photon DLP resin printer. I would not have been able to get this level of detail from a traditional FDM printer.
LOTS of trial and error before getting the print settings just right.
From there it was just a lot of printing, sanding gluing, painting, sanding, filling, etc. for several days.
Research
I am sorry to say I had never actually need the original RoboCop until recently. It was listed as one of my recipients interests so as part of my research process I sat down to watch the movie to get some inspiration. It did not disappoint! I have been working on some architecture-related projects lately and while watching the film I was taking notice of some of the skyline shots and matte paintings of Delta City and in a couple shots the OCP headquarters literally sticks out like a sore thumb. Ive been really into architectural models lately and this seemed like a really great opportunity to try to recreate the building in a minimal, clean and simple model.
To get started I gathered up as many screenshots and references as I could find. I couldn't find any production art or photos of the entire building so I had to guess on the overall height and proportions. But taking reference from screenshots, production art, and appearances outside the film like the animated series and various other sources I was able to start a rough model.
The base of the tower is actually the Dallas City Hall building in Texas. I was able to get a ton of good reference photos for this which gave me a lot of the key proportions i needed for the windows, columns, etc. and the overall length and width of the building.
Modeling
Using a satellite image screenshot I was able to get the basic dimensions of the base and the locations of the 3 columns that run up the front of the building. I pulled this into Fusion 360 and used the screenshot for my base sketches.
From there it was a lot of repeat shapes and patterns to build up the rest of the tower. I referenced the source material as much as I could and made filled in gaps in the design wherever needed. These are some early renders:
Once the model was complete everything was cut up for printing:
The build
It took me a while to get the print setting dialed in just right. With all of the fine details around the windows and lettering most of the parts had some very thin walls and fragile details. All of the parts were printed on an Anycupic Photon DLP resin printer. I would not have been able to get this level of detail from a traditional FDM printer.
LOTS of trial and error before getting the print settings just right.
From there it was just a lot of printing, sanding gluing, painting, sanding, filling, etc. for several days.
And finally, it was done ...
There was a lot of trial and error along the way, and although I didn't quite get all of the detail I was hoping to feature in the model I'm really pleased with how it turned out. It was sent off to the UK a few weeks back and made it safely to its recipient. Now I'm just debating if its worth it to re-create one for myself...
What's the scale/measurements? It's nice to see architectural models here from time to time
