Beautiful work all around. The food labels really came out spectacular.
The food trays in "2001: A Space Odyssey"
- Thread starter Markus
- Start date
Markus
Sr Member
Thank you very much!
Markus
Sr Member
Thanks a lot for your nice comments (I do not visit this page that frequently anymore, so it took me some time to see these). I really love my finished trays. However, I must admit they take quite some space - and I still have not found the perfect location where to put them.
Canewell
New Member
Would you consider making, and selling a couple sets of the white trays?
joberg
Legendary Member
I'm afraid I couldn't do those now...too many things happening (real life and such) I'm still looking for the appropriate tray and cup to modify.
That could also make this prop more expensive because of that.
heyvern
New Member
Ever since I first saw this movie decades ago when I was quite young, I have LOVED that food scene on the Discovery. Far more than the prop, I WANT THAT FOOD! Because of this, my goal is to make a "food safe" 3D printed version of this prop and then create or find recipes or prepackaged food to put in the little trays.
I realize this specific topic has been "dead" for quite a while, and I will start my own separate thread on my project progress, but wanted to comment here on how this project has inspired my prop build. Quite honestly, this was one of the only references for people creating this prop. I am sad to find that, as far as I can determine, the original food tray props weren't saved and are most likely lost forever, unless the tooling for the original thermoforming is still available, possibly created by a third party and saved in an attic. Nevertheless, I am moving forward.
I have already "finished" a 3D model of the tray and dish using Onshape. During my research and comparisons here, I have found some slight potential errors in the two prop builds I've seen so far. I have watched that "foodie" sequence on the Discovery a bazillion times. There are, of course, the well-known reference shots, but more importantly, there are TWO shots that are critical to getting the dimensions.
The white food tray is very, VERY thin. Very much like old school cafeteria trays from my youth. Those trays are only an inch deep. In one scene, Dave pulls the tray out of the food dispenser, and you can see how thin it is. I'm guessing they used school trays as a basic reference to start from. Old trays are also very close to the same size. From my calculations, I am approximating the tray at around 22mm (.86 in) (total guess). This makes the "dish" about an inch or so, or 26mm deep. This can all change easily, of course, as I'm using Onshape with variables controlling everything.
One thing I use as a judge of accuracy is that after printing out a test of the dish (starting small part first), I will zoom in on a screen capture from the movie and hold my 3D print up to the screen and match the perspective. Believe it or not, this works pretty well.
There is one more critical shot in that scene for size guestimating. At the very end, there's a slightly overhead wide shot of both Frank and Dave eating. This shot is much more accurate because Frank's tray is viewed more "from the top" than in other scenes with less distortion. I used that scene to "undistort" the perspective to get better measurements.
I also tried to use the size of the utensils to get the measurements. The utensils can still be purchased and are identical (mostly) to the originals used in the movie. The company selling them has measurements of each utensil, and in scenes with those utensils, I tried to use them as measurement gauges. Eh, well, easier said than done. The measurements here look pretty darn good.
I am 3D printing this and don't want to use supports to keep surfaces clean. I have figured out a connection for the tray and dishes out "lips" to avoid overhangs and supports. I'm using a thin ridge on the base of the dish and a groove in the top lip. The two snap together perfectly with barely a seam.
The main tray will be printed in at least 4 parts and somehow "snapped" together. My printer isn't big enough to print it in one go. I have gotten quite good with snap connectors, and I think with some gluing filler and sanding could get a nice finish.
---------------
This is NOT a finished version. The "handle" is incorrect. The lip over the handle is too short. Needs to be longer. I'm quite pleased with the "snap" connector fit, considering this is a .4mm nozzle. The seam for the top "lip" section is just at the end of the fillet on the inside top edge. Can't even see it. Not sure on how to do the final. I could purchase food safe PLA or simply use a food safe resin or finish or the print. The main issue is getting it as smooth as possible. I see lots of sanding and filler.
I realize this specific topic has been "dead" for quite a while, and I will start my own separate thread on my project progress, but wanted to comment here on how this project has inspired my prop build. Quite honestly, this was one of the only references for people creating this prop. I am sad to find that, as far as I can determine, the original food tray props weren't saved and are most likely lost forever, unless the tooling for the original thermoforming is still available, possibly created by a third party and saved in an attic. Nevertheless, I am moving forward.
I have already "finished" a 3D model of the tray and dish using Onshape. During my research and comparisons here, I have found some slight potential errors in the two prop builds I've seen so far. I have watched that "foodie" sequence on the Discovery a bazillion times. There are, of course, the well-known reference shots, but more importantly, there are TWO shots that are critical to getting the dimensions.
The white food tray is very, VERY thin. Very much like old school cafeteria trays from my youth. Those trays are only an inch deep. In one scene, Dave pulls the tray out of the food dispenser, and you can see how thin it is. I'm guessing they used school trays as a basic reference to start from. Old trays are also very close to the same size. From my calculations, I am approximating the tray at around 22mm (.86 in) (total guess). This makes the "dish" about an inch or so, or 26mm deep. This can all change easily, of course, as I'm using Onshape with variables controlling everything.
One thing I use as a judge of accuracy is that after printing out a test of the dish (starting small part first), I will zoom in on a screen capture from the movie and hold my 3D print up to the screen and match the perspective. Believe it or not, this works pretty well.
There is one more critical shot in that scene for size guestimating. At the very end, there's a slightly overhead wide shot of both Frank and Dave eating. This shot is much more accurate because Frank's tray is viewed more "from the top" than in other scenes with less distortion. I used that scene to "undistort" the perspective to get better measurements.
I also tried to use the size of the utensils to get the measurements. The utensils can still be purchased and are identical (mostly) to the originals used in the movie. The company selling them has measurements of each utensil, and in scenes with those utensils, I tried to use them as measurement gauges. Eh, well, easier said than done. The measurements here look pretty darn good.
I am 3D printing this and don't want to use supports to keep surfaces clean. I have figured out a connection for the tray and dishes out "lips" to avoid overhangs and supports. I'm using a thin ridge on the base of the dish and a groove in the top lip. The two snap together perfectly with barely a seam.
The main tray will be printed in at least 4 parts and somehow "snapped" together. My printer isn't big enough to print it in one go. I have gotten quite good with snap connectors, and I think with some gluing filler and sanding could get a nice finish.
---------------
This is NOT a finished version. The "handle" is incorrect. The lip over the handle is too short. Needs to be longer. I'm quite pleased with the "snap" connector fit, considering this is a .4mm nozzle. The seam for the top "lip" section is just at the end of the fillet on the inside top edge. Can't even see it. Not sure on how to do the final. I could purchase food safe PLA or simply use a food safe resin or finish or the print. The main issue is getting it as smooth as possible. I see lots of sanding and filler.
joberg
Legendary Member
You've done your research and measurement and it looks very good.
Yes, there's a small outside lip all around the little trays. But if you succeed into printing those, I'll buy them from you (if you do a run). I'm exploring to redo mine
