Phial of Salts from Bioshock Infinite (general thread + 3d print tutorial)

E Williams

Sr Member
RPF PREMIUM MEMBER
The Vigors thread is getting a bit long, and there hasn't been much talk about the Salts bottle in it, so I figured I would make a new thread for it specifically :)

For those who haven't played Bioshock Infinite, the Phial of Salts is the new game's version of the Eve Hypo from Bioshock 1 & 2. Here it is in the game:




Cool, huh? There are a couple of places that I know of where you can get models of the bottle that were extracted from the game:
Game mesh smoothed and converted to 3d printable .STL file: Bioshock Infinite Salt Bottle by JWieger82 - Thingiverse
Papercraft bottle of salts: Choose your Vigor - vigorss Webseite!

You can use those two resources to make a static bottle, either via papercraft or 3d printing (if you have a 3d printer or order a print from Shapeways). Once you have a bottle printed, use the texture image from the papercraft .zip to make labels and a stencil for the stopper detail. Note that this model is missing some detail like the grooves on the neck as that was provided by the textures, rather than the actual model geometry.

Another option is to convert a glass bottle if you can find one with the right shape. RINZLERTRON found a great one in this post: http://www.therpf.com/f9/bioshock-infinite-vigor-bottles-180926/index8.html#post2911230

So, that's about as much as I think is out there now. I'm sure I missed some! If you've made one post below! :D




To kick off the thread, let me show you what I've come up with :)

Here's one I made from an old perfume bottle that I found on ebay:

(I think RINZLERTRON's bottle is a better base to start from)
I modeled & printed the stopper and neck detail ring, recreated a high resolution label in GIMP from screenshots (this was before the extracted game texture was available), and used decorative sugar as the 'salts' to fill the bottle. The stopper was painted with Tamiya PS-39 and the neck ring is Krylon gloss almond with a grey acrylic wash in the grooves.

That was my original plan... Convert a glass bottle and be done with it. Then I got carried away :lol

I decided to model the whole thing and make it as close to game-accurate proportions as I could. Many drafts later...

Bioshock Infinite - Phial of Salts prop

With its predecessor...

Bioshock props - Salts and Eve
(boy, the iPhone camera makes these things look blinding... they're bright, sure, but not THAT bright!)

Here's a quick rundown of the build:

I printed the bottle and stopper from clear ABS filament. You won't ever get a glass-clear print from this stuff, but what you do get is a diffused/translucent look that is perfect for this prop. The striations left by the print process break up and help distribute the light more evenly (btw, leaving the support material in the interior of the bottle further helps with diffusing the LED cone).

All printed parts were smoothed with an acetone vapor bath (using a variation on the method here: Presto Part Finisher | Solidoodle Tips) to give them a smooth glossy surface. Paint was the same as the static bottle.

And finally the light up function: the new stopper is designed to fit over a trimmed down LED glow stick from Target. Just twist the stopper to turn on the light!

Here's a flickr set that goes into more detail on the build:
Phial of Salts - Bioshock Infinite - a set on Flickr
I'll put a Thingiverse link in here shortly...
 
Exceptional work! "Very" we'll done :D

Guess I'll need one of these for next to my Eve Hypo ;)

Rob

Sent from [location encrypted]...somewhere on the Tharkside of Barsoom ;)
 
The main thing was time... drawing the parts, printing the parts, vapor smoothing, and then starting over and iterating several more times when I noticed something was off. Well, that and tools/supplies used in making the draft versions. But that's the great thing about 3d printing: if you screw something up you just tweak it and hit start again. Which I did a lot of :lol You can guess at a rough material cost to make your own from the parts list in the Thingiverse entry :)
 
Tried making one that could be usable in the future for storing booze (like UV Blue vodka). Neck is a little long, but oh well. I used the led out of a light stick like you recommended, but my glass was too transparent and it looked weird. I am just using the light source for now. I would totally buy a 3d made one if some one starting selling these though.

4635b97a-ffd2-4130-b052-e99d5b0889b8_zps90d4be3a.jpg


f438e8e7-28d0-4a25-b2e5-a73b19bc9ca4_zpsaf0af366.jpg
 
Haha, good idea on the booze storage. And nice work!

If you're worried about the bottle being too transparent, there are spray coatings that give glass a frosted appearance (Valspar/Lowes has one at least). I suppose that might not help for the visibility of the booze later on, though.
 
Man that looks SO awesome! I'm guessing you kinda have to have your own 3d printer to print it though, cause I don't think shapeways does it in clear... dang it....
 
I've been looking for a workable bottle to mod for several weeks now, and today I hit pay dirt at an Old Time Pottery: BU9mUScCAAADoId.jpg My hubby very nicely drove across town to fetch me the last 2 blue ones in stock, but your local store may have more, if you're lucky enough to have one nearby. They cost $7.99, and come in 3 different colors. Just wanted to share, for those who don't want to (or can't) go the 3D printing route!
 
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