Tron Legacy Costume

[DarthDan95]

Anyone have/know of any good pictures of Clu's robe? I already have the obvious ones from the various trailers, but am I missing anything good? I don't want to start the costume until I'm completely sure about the lighting scheme, and where it is cut to open.

 

[Panzer]

Actually I found one you may not have yet. I too have been interested in CLU's cloak. Hope this helps.

 

[DarthDan95]

Wow! That's an amazing picture! Thanks so much, I was about to do it all wrong

 

[actordiver]

Justin (actordiver) can probably back me up on this but the short answer is 'yes'.

Let's say you have an inverter in your identity disk housing with a 12v power supply. Your inverter would have a 2-pin connector running from it. That connector would plug into whatever you were powering, whether it be an EL sheet piece or EL tape:

Simply run wires from each, individual EL piece you have, solder them to the main lead wire that's running from your inverter and there you go. You can mix and match whatever you wish. Thinking about substituting some EL Tape for some of my straight line designs myself...

Yes. As long as your inverter is rated to the amount (in square inches) of tape/panel you want to illuminate there should be no problem lighting it up. Wire in parallel and simply overlap the circles to the straight edges. My jacket has 2 different types of light tape powered off of one inverter. I have el wire and el tape powered off of a different inverter on the helmet.

Like Blackfeathers said, powering elwire takes a less powerful inverter to illuminate, so base your power needs off of the tape and panels. Add up your square inches and go from there.

Also, if you want to be able to have the quick disconnect (for repair/replace) purposes go with what Compass said. but I just soldered the wires directly to the inverter and on/off switch for my jacket. I've been noticing those connectors aren't the most durable when it comes to wear and tear (I have them on the my shin guards) and they've been a little futzy.

 

[kaiwalkerz]

That is soooo wise.

Protip: when building your costume make sure its easy to get in and out of. if its not build a way.



Im building the base armor for lighting to go on to for a original costume. and omg its a work out getting in and out of that.

ill post pics when im somewhat satisfied.

 

[zsherman]

BRW, not sure if this is mentioned, but it looks like the Sam Flynn jacket is a ALPINESTARS STELLA NYC MOTORCYCLE
JACKET. http://www.alpinestars.com/Stella_NYC_Jacket/pd/c/121/np/121/p/311228.html

There is a pic of Kazinski (sp) wearing one just like it with the light strip down the right front zipper side.

 

[oxVICIOUSxo]

That is soooo wise.

yeah idk what the heck i was thinking. was perfecting the look. and the more it looked the harder it got until eventually it took two people to get it on and off

 

[kaiwalkerz]

I'm having so many problems for the same reason, that I'm going the Rinzler/Tron way just because of that.
I would spoil the light getting in and out.

yeah idk what the heck i was thinking. was perfecting the look. and the more it looked the harder it got until eventually it took two people to get it on and off

 

[Jedibaritone]

Got a question... if I took one of these:

Cuttable A6 size eletroluminescent panel/EL back light

and cut it in half, would both halves be useable?

 

[Baron]

Yes, both halves of that EL sheet should illuminate, as long as the power connectors are on each piece.

 

[Jedibaritone]

Yes, both halves of that EL sheet should illuminate, as long as the power connectors are on each piece.

Awesome. NOW I know how to stretch a buck. Basically, I want to turn this 6"x4" sheet into a 12" x 2" sheet by cutting it in half. The problem is going to be wiring it in such a way that the 12" x 2" strip looks continuous rather than having a weird break in it at the halfway point.

Incidentally, by that logic, you could cut that sheet into as many pieces as there are connectors and have them all still work when hooked up to power, huh?

 

[CustomPropSculptorGuy]

I thought the suits were foam...

 

[Jinyo]

I love that dress! Great way to think outside the grid! Going to have to pass this photo onto my girlfriend.

Can you elaborate a bit more on the EL Film? Is it loose and flexible? Or is it rigid? I did a google search just now and it is either trying to find spanish pages on movies (because of the "el") or its just general pages on electroluminesence. Care to share your source as well?

Thanks for the comments!
Cheers to blackfeathers, who saved me a lot of typing by saying pretty much everything that needs to be said on the matter.

The EL film I used was left over from a different costume I made a while ago. (That costume, if you're interested: Cosplay.com - That's Not Photoshop - Le Comte de Monte-Cristo, Fernand de Morcerf - Jinyo an alien whose forehead lights up with a demonic face when he's angry)
I got that EL film and inverter from Cooltronix on eBay.

Thanks for your reply Jinyo! I see so as blackfeathers helped explained in his postings after yours here, El sheet and FILM are basically the same thing. I know, I have been looking up El Film with absoutely no luck.

Well, keep up your awesome creative work. I seriously think you should pitch that dress to Disney. Find the right dept. and person to talk to. You have a money maker on your hands here with your Quorra dress. It is too fascinating and really think you can market your dress to sell.

Thanks for the compliment! I have no idea who I'd contact at Disney for something like that. I have had people ask me to make them a copy, but they always balk at the price. (You, of all people, know the kind of hours that go into making something like this, and I'm not giving those hours away for free when I could be using them to make other stuff for myself. Plus EL lights and good fabrics ain't free.)

I don't think this has been asked already here but since we are on the never ending topic of El Wire and lighting and how it works, I was wondering, how can you connect El tape to El sheets in sequence?

Example: I want to use El Tape to make the long straight lines for Quorra's or Sam's lights and use El Sheet to make the circles and 90 degree angle shapes. Where my El Tape line ends, how do I connect the El Sheet to the El tape to continue the lighting all together which will then lead to be connected to the inverter?

Or can you even mix El Sheet with El Tape together like that?

EL film and EL tape are the same thing, just in different shapes, so you can run them off the same inverter. You can even run EL wire off the same inverter. BUT everything I've read on the subject recommends wiring EL stuff in parallel, not series. This means you have to run wires from every single piece of EL film all the way back to the inverter. If you are thinking "That sounds like a huge pain in the ass," then you are correct. All the wires then meet in two big lumps of solder, which then get connected to the inverter, or get attached to a little plug that gets plugged into the inverter.

And that's why my dress is so poofy. The huge mass of wires underneath!

 

[justaj]

The only wrench I'll throw in this statement is that I spoke to one of the people from Light Tape (who I guess provided the EL tape for the film?) and she said they used Natural Blue tape to light the suits. I assumed she was referring to Sam and Quorra's but it's possible she may have been talking about some of the other programs.

ok, So I am about to put an end to the white vs blue Quorra discussion. It's WHITE! Standard programs are blue, while users are white but it seems like since Quorra is not a standard program and is so close to Flynn, she is white as well. Don't know how to post pictures but if someone let's me know I will post one from my email of a page in an OFFICIAL Disney Tron Movie guide that I'm using as reference to the suits. The statement reads:
"WHITE: The Users. The pure color of light, white, indicates superiority to all programs, and may be seen only on the Users who come from outside the Grid, i.e., Kevin and Sam Flynn. Quorra, who is Kevin's loyal confidant, is white as well."
BAM!

@ Annisse: Any links for a DIY Siren costume. I'm making my wife one and I'm thinking of going with foam lined with Spandex or Lycra, but not sure. Mine will be a built from scratch Rinzler. About to start the helmet sculpt. Planning of having is done for Austin's comic con, and hopefully San Diego as well. Definitely for Halloween!

 

[justaj]

Hi everyone

Hi all,

I started designing a pattern for Flynn's jacket and started looking into ways to wire it properly and ran across this site last night. There are a lot of talented people on here! I'll post pictures of my progress!

great stuff all!

A.J.

 

[CostumerNew2010]

Re: Tron Legacy Costume planning - Making suit fit to GET IN & OUT EASY is SO TRUE!

Thanks for mentioning this, Protip & oxVICIOUSxo - this had happened to me and lets say that ALL FAILED in the end because of it.

Sorry it took this long to post about my suit's progress. As for my costume, well - movie night weekend was proven to be a not so good planned one with the choices of fabrics and EL wiring. Lets say that I didn't make it to a costume debut for the movie release midnight showing(but seems that was OK for NO ONE ELSE was in costume as well and I would of so stood-out). But what was more disappointing for me that I couldn't wear it to the TRON-theme party in NYC that movie weekend. The prob was with suit(and I was too stubborn-proud to follow through the online advice of their difficulties): spandex was being what it suppose to be and EL wiring was being too entangled for it. Putting it on by oneself also proven to be A DIFFICULT TASK and from how I designed my suit, it was just that plus.

I became so frustrated with it that it was too late to attend the party and worse I was just too frustrated to go.:angry So, as my 'costume designing' ego was low, I DEREZZED the idea of it for now until I find a better way of making it much better in putting it on. I think I might of came up with something that could work(making better body armor out of hard-foam material to put within it?), but again since no new big cons plans as of yet, it will be worked on at a more clear-minding pace for now.

Protip: when building your costume make sure its easy to get in and out of. if its not build a way.

Im building the base armor for lighting to go on to for a original costume. and omg its a work out getting in and out of that.

ill post pics when im somewhat satisfied.

 

[blackfeathers]

The only wrench I'll throw in this statement is that I spoke to one of the people from Light Tape (who I guess provided the EL tape for the film?) and she said they used Natural Blue tape to light the suits. I assumed she was referring to Sam and Quorra's but it's possible she may have been talking about some of the other programs.

it's my understanding they used e.l. strips or light tape for certain pieces, like the game grid helmets and possibly other areas or vehicles. she might have been referring to something other than the costume suits' main el patterns, or was mistaken.

on a slightly related detail, the helmets used in the disc battle scenes (i suspect and guessing) to be (at least) two layers of a hard shell material in addition to the cushion w/associated straps/connectors and (possibly thermo-fused) custom visor. from a pic in an article that YenChih Lin shared earlier:


the bottom row in the pic above looks could be the inner shell and where the wiring hardness could be hidden with inverter, the upper row the outer shell... or the other way around.
View attachment 41688
View attachment 41689

 

[Soulinertia]

:love Nice pants Lady Nerd!

 

[blackfeathers]

this earlier article(shared awhile back in this thread somewhere) says they did use light tape brand on the suits. but they weren't specific as to which suit or the placement. it's glossed over.
Tron Legacy: Light Suit Costume | Clothes on Film

but as we've gathered, oryon tech made the main suit patterns.

 

[lonerthx]

this earlier article(shared awhile back in this thread somewhere) says they did use light tape brand on the suits. but they weren't specific as to which suit or the placement. it's glossed over.
Tron Legacy: Light Suit Costume | Clothes on Film

but as we've gathered, oryon tech made the main suit patterns.

But I don't think they used what is generally called EL Tape or EL Film, they custom manufactured a product using the same EL process.

This answer came from the Pop Mechanics link

It's called Polylight, an elastomer-based, polymer flexible light that was being used in Asia. We started playing with it, and basically rebaked the cake over and over and over again. We made the material wider and bigger, stretchier, and in custom colors.

The lights are electroluminescence. Sort of like flat lights, but that's rigid, glossy stuff; we used a silk-screening, screen-printing process, so nothing is rigid. There are phosphorescent metal powders that go in part of the printing process and that's what conducts electricity. From the first camera tests until we started building probably took us 2.5 months. And then we had 3 minutes left to make the suits. When we figured out how we were going to do it, we had so little time.

​

A search on Polylight does take you back to the company that also makes Light Tape, so it would be correct to say that the company that makes Light Tape also made the lights for the suits, but it doesn't appear that the actual Light Tape product was used on the Hero suits at least.