Seeing out of costume without being as noticeable?

[Marthony]

Hello,

On my next costume, Transformers G1 Devastator toy: http://i1276.photobucket.com/albums/y470/Martaxus/devastator-old_zps1tysoxul.jpg I plan to have my head & torso within the 9' robot's torso.

Presently the robot's torso is to be a frame, with the exterior detail of EVA foam attached via 2" Velcro. I plan to design gaps throughout the system so I can see out, such as many gaps in the chest's 'wing' in front, gaps so I can see down, and much of the torso's sides will be open. The thought is to paint the outside detail as desired, then all the inside edges all black, as well as wear all black clothing so as to be less noticeable. I'm also thinking to go with black face paint.

I suppose I could place near-transparent film in the gaps to reduce people's ability to see me, but that would further restrict my ability to see out and would reduce ventilation..! Similarly I've seen another run at this costume with what looked like a 2-way mirror in the center of the chest 'wing' but I think I prefer gaps there as well - it keeps closer to the original design.

This rig will have a couple 3xAAA powered fans, but I'd like as much ventilation as possible...

How does this seem to you? Would you approach it differently?

Thanks!

 

[fallimar]

I've always used stiff fabric embroidery mesh for vision. It's paintable, steam formable and you can't see in at all if the pieces are small. Paint the back black and the front whatever colour you want to match in your costume.

I used this for vision in my space pope and my friend's Deadpool mask as you can see here:


The white in Deadpool's eyes and the green under the Space Pope's eyes are the embroidery mesh.
If you do use it, get some that feels really stiff and has small, even holes. It's in any decent fabric store and if you ask for aida cloth they'll point you right to it.

Edit:
To help you out a bit more, the larger the vision ports get and the further they get from your body, the more that people outside can make out shapes inside it. Small panels broken up with opaque pieces will break up your outline so you can still have large areas for vision but people will be less able to pick up your outline inside. Larger panels also let camera flash in, magnifying the problem. This goes for all semi-transparent materials, just so you know
Think animal camouflage - break up the outline.

 

[Marthony]

Thanks a lot Fallimar!