Iron Man Statue: insulation foam CNC. (Statue done)

Op4

Op4

Active Member
Hi everyone.

I always wanted to build an Iron Man 1:1 statue, but been so busy with CNC stuff that I never got a chance. Once I built my new cnc machine, I needed a model to test so I thought...hell why not just test with Iron Man foam parts?

I scanned a 1:6 scale figure with the Kinect software, imported into CAD, scaled, and cleaned up. Took about 2 hours of cutting and I made a few mistakes (user error), but I can touch them up by hand.

I have no idea if I am going to keep going, but I am learning a lot using foam....thought I would share...

im1.jpg

im3.jpg

im4.jpg


The eyes did not come through very well in the scan so I used samohtep's eyes from his STL and merged them with my scan. Just wanted to make sure I give credit to samohtep's file.
 
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Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

All of the recent CNC builds make me want to buy or build one so bad. Good luck doing more parts!
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

murdoch said:
Just got your pm. Will be looking foward to watching this one... GM
Click to expand...

Thanks man. Sorry if I responded more than once in PM. It showed nothing in my sent list so I thought it didnt send so I PMed you again.
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

Op4 said:
Hi everyone.
I scanned a 1:6 scale figure with the Kinect software, imported into CAD, scaled, and cleaned up. Took about 2 hours of cutting and I made a few mistakes (user error), but I can touch them up by hand.
Click to expand...

This looks really good, what Kinect software did you use?. I just picked up a Kinect sensor only for a robotics application, but I've also seen them used for 3D scanning.

However, as far as I can tell the closest the Kinect can judge depth correctly s about 2.5feet?. How did you get such good resolution on the piece from a 1/6th scale figure - can we see a picture of the original 3D scan?

Here's the info I was reading on Kinect, and the software I'm going to use for vision processing for my mobile robot: Microsoft Kinect
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

XRobots said:
This looks really good, what Kinect software did you use?. I just picked up a Kinect sensor only for a robotics application, but I've also seen them used for 3D scanning.

However, as far as I can tell the closest the Kinect can judge depth correctly s about 2.5feet?. How did you get such good resolution on the piece from a 1/6th scale figure - can we see a picture of the original 3D scan?

Here's the info I was reading on Kinect, and the software I'm going to use for vision processing for my mobile robot: Microsoft Kinect
Click to expand...

I have never heard the kinect having a 2.5feet resolution. Using Reconstructme latest build you can get below 3mm if you scan really slow.

I took the STL created from Reconstructme and had to do a lot of clean up using tools in Solidworks. Some of the scan was so poor, that I had to create completely new splines. I used other helmets on the forums to compare to make sure I was close. I just needed the scale to be correct because I was having such a hard time getting a 1:1 scale. The scan did that for me...gave me the correct scaled bounding box.

I am on vacation right now and not on my cad desktop machine, but when I get back in January, I will post the image of Reconstructme's output.
 
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Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

Op4 said:
I have never heard the kinect having a 2.5feet resolution. Using Reconstructme latest build you can get below 3mm if you scan really slow.

I took the STL created from Reconstructme and had to do a lot of clean up using tools in Solidworks. Some of the scan was so poor, that I had to create completely new splines. I used other helmets on the forums to compare to make sure I was close. I just needed the scale to be correct because I was having such a hard time getting a 1:1 scale. The scan did that for me...gave me the correct scaled bounding box.

I am on vacation right now and not on my cad desktop machine, but when I get back in January, I will post the image of Reconstructme's output.
Click to expand...

2.5feet isn't the resolution, it's the closest that the Kinect can be to the object to scan it/see the depth correctly. Did you scan it with the 1/6th scale helmet that far away from the Kinect?.

If it works well then this would be great for replicating any 12" figure part in real life.
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

I scanned it on a rotary table and placed the kinect as far away as the software required. You watch the screen while adjusting the device until it renders correctly. Not sure how far away it was, but it wasn't 2.5feet...not any where near that.

If it works well then this would be great for replicating any 12" figure part in real life.
Click to expand...

again...it wasn't as easy as scanning and milling. There was a lot of work that had to be done before it was cnc ready. I spent several hours cleaning up the scanned output.
 
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Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

Reconstruct me doesn't need 2.5', pretty sure it *can* work with around 1' away from the object, i've also seen people use lenses on the kinect to improve
that distance too.

I think its configurable in the software config files. (i havnt used the latest GUI versions, just the console ones)

I've only used it for larger objects (full size cars/people/rooms)
any attempts i made for small objects like 1:18 cars were horrible.
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

EFFalcon said:
Reconstruct me doesn't need 2.5', pretty sure it *can* work with around 1' away from the object, i've also seen people use lenses on the kinect to improve
that distance too.

I think its configurable in the software config files. (i havnt used the latest GUI versions, just the console ones)

I've only used it for larger objects (full size cars/people/rooms)
any attempts i made for small objects like 1:18 cars were horrible.
Click to expand...

yeah....1/6th didn't come out that great, but it gave me good reference.
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

Sounds interesting though, I'll have to do some tests with my Kinect. It looks like Reconstructme is free for personal use.

Have you seen: Autodesk 123D - 123D Catch turn photos into 3D models ?

Looks like it might be better for smaller objects - it uses normal digital photos, so you could really get a good focus with a good camera to get the best reconstruction.
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

You guys have inspired me to continue on (also talked to the wife). When I get back from vacation, I am going to start cutting out the rest of the statue, but I might just need to use files from someone else because it is going to take too much time to cleanup the scanned files. I already sit at the computer all day coding so the last thing I want to be doing is CAD all night. I love CAD, but I love CNC because it gets me off my butt and moving around.

Two questions...

1) Anyone recommend files (can be MK3,4,5,6)?
2) Should this even be in this forum since its not going to be costume? I am making a statue so shouldn't this thread be in another forum branch or something?

If I cannot use other files, I will sit and clean up the rest of the scan, but I figured I would try reaching out first.
 
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Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

XRobots said:
Sounds interesting though, I'll have to do some tests with my Kinect. It looks like Reconstructme is free for personal use.

Have you seen: Autodesk 123D - 123D Catch turn photos into 3D models ?

Looks like it might be better for smaller objects - it uses normal digital photos, so you could really get a good focus with a good camera to get the best reconstruction.
Click to expand...


Yes, and I had no idea it could do that! Just thought 123D was another way it appeal to designers and modelers. I told my game development friends about it and don't even know that much about it haha. I need to take another peek at it.
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

I had mixed results with 123D, but i'm inpatient lol.

still very impressive though.


you could always export the models out of the Pepakura patterns and modify them for CNC.
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

you could always export the models out of the Pepakura patterns and modify them for CNC.
Click to expand...

Yeah that might actually work. The only problem I see is how polygonal they look. I could apply meshsmooth to them, but that is always a tricky balance. I see me having to hand touch the finishing anyways. I could always smooth out the polygonal edges by hand instead of cleaning them up in CAD or 3dsmax.
 
Re: Iron Man foam CNC Test. Might keep going.

I would expect you'll need to work with the CNCed result no matter what. Exporting the pepakura models is probably the fastest way, and I mean even with traditional pep methods, you still do a lot of sanding/filling/etc. anyway. If you want models that are basically ready to paint straight out of the machine, you'll probably have to commission getting super high detail models made.
 
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