Iron Man Mark V foam template WIP

Hey, friends.

I've always wanted to make an Iron Man suit, but I haven't seen an awful lot of my favorite one, the Mark V. Probably because of how complex it is, probably because there just aren't any real Pepakura unfolds or templates for it.

I did a lot of searching for a good model or template, something I could use without starting from scratch. Balmung's model seemed like a great place to start.

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=183705

It's really the only Mark V pep out there, but doesn't have any detail, except for the texture file covering it. The model itself was extracted from the Iron Man 3 mobile game, so it obviously couldn't be too detailed.



The model is the basic shape of the Mark V, but doesn't have edges that line up with where the armor pieces would actually be cut out. If the edges don't match up, you can't unfold it with the proper shapes to cut out.

FatMan had a thread where he printed out the template as-is, then cut out the foam pieces by tracing the textures out.

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=183830

Great idea and turned out pretty well. There is some messiness to it, and I know if I did it the same way, it'd be a hack job. I'm just not very good at customizing on the fly, so I know it'd be better if I had a straight forward template to follow.

My only solution is to use my limited Maya skills to edit the game model and create a foam unfold that can be built like any other Iron Man suit. I'm not great at modeling, so this may take some time.

I went ahead and edited one of the simpler pieces, the shoulder, so I could quickly show what I'm attempting.



and then the foam unfold.



Pretty simple and nothing major on the shoulders. Just tracing the texture and pulling the Mark V shape from the basic model. Once I start getting into the arms, torso, and legs, that's when this will start getting more complicated.

I'll try to show the foam build along the way. I'm never fully confident in a pep file until I actually build it and make sure it works.

----------------------

--Full Arm unfolded for foam--



http://www.4shared.com/file/LS038Tyf...linE83_Fo.html

And so it begins...:cool looking forward to seeing this WIP thread 'unfold' opcorn
Subscribed !

This is a great project to tackle like you said not many have atempted this model because of how complex it is hope you manage to pullbit off

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk

I didn't mean to have a post again so soon. Luckily, I had a half day at work, so I threw together a shoulder piece.



Lately, Harbor Freight's .25 inch foam has been less like 6mm and more like 8-9mm. I think 4-6mm would be more ideal for this armor, but oh well.

I didn't think about the fact that there aren't any warm days here anymore. It's getting into the freezing temp range, so I have to wait until spring to any spray painting. I guess I could look into doing one of those indoor spray booths that some people have built. I'm nervous about overspray in my apartment, so I guess we'll see.

Moving onto the arms next...

One step at the time,Collin :thumbsup please take your time for this suit

Ha, thanks. I'm still slowly moving forward on my Mega Man suit, so I will have to split my time between the two projects. It'll give me a break between each, so I don't get frustrated with either. Hopefully.

Alright. Got the forearm completed for the most part. I may make some additional changes to it after unfolding and building, but looks pretty good for now.



I noticed in doing this just how bad the texture is. It's uneven, so none of the armor pieces are quite the same. The texture almost looks like it was a picture taken of a real model, but at an angle. So it includes simulated shadow right on the texture and some other things you wouldn't normally see on a flat surface. This made choosing where to add the edges, and pull the shape from the flat model, pretty difficult. It can't be a movie-accurate suit editing it like this, and it won't be perfect, but I think it's going to give you something that has most of the correct parts and resemble the Mark V pretty closely.

Depending on how much detail someone wanted to include, namely the little under armor struts, I decided to outline the framework, but not actually raise it out. This way, looking ahead to the unfold, someone could keep the darker portions in a single piece, or print out the templates with those bits left out.

Most of the depth in the model is 2mm-3mm, so I think that'll be the optimal foam thickness, but you also don't want the armor to look too flat when you're actually wearing it. It'd look like a single forearm sleeve instead of a bunch of separate armor pieces covering a forearm. We'll see.

Great work so far,Collin :thumbsup

Question for anyone... I'm anticipating how I'm going to break up the thigh, cod, and abs section. The cod itself is looking pretty skimpy.



dat thigh gap.

To keep the cod from turning into a thong, is it recommended/preferred that it's extended down some, so that a little of each thigh becomes part of the cod? And same with a bit of the abs being part of the cod ?

Looking at the foam pictures that ironmaided recently posted of his Nightclub build, it appears there's some foam extending down into the thigh from the cod.

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=252113

I liked this, but didn't know if many people rather have the full leg and the full abs be with their friends of the same corresponding sections.

Thanks!

Some threads concerning those gaps.

http://www.therpf.com/f24/iron-man-mark-iv-vi-upper-thigh-148114/

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=147069

Bogleo said:

Some threads concerning those gaps.

http://www.therpf.com/f24/iron-man-mark-iv-vi-upper-thigh-148114/

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=147069

Click to expand...

I appreciate this. So it's not really about stealing from the leg and putting on the cod, but actually making an entirely new layer that tucks under to fill the gap. I think that's doable.

Thanks, Bogleo!

2 layers of 2mm foam sliding past eachother like tectonic plates?
I believe Syrus54 used a similar technique for the inner knees and elbows for his MKV

Looking forward to this build. :thumbsup Damn I miss my Mark V because of this lol )

About the "butt-gap" area. I have an idea for that but hasn't been tested yet. I'll try it on a new project soon and if it works I'll share it here.

- - - Updated - - -

collinE83 said:

Looking at the foam pictures that ironmaided recently posted of his Nightclub build, it appears there's some foam extending down into the thigh from the cod.

http://www.therpf.com/showthread.php?t=252113

I liked this, but didn't know if many people rather have the full leg and the full abs be with their friends of the same corresponding sections.

Click to expand...

Indeed they have. Its painted black that's why its somewhat unnoticeable. If standing, the gap isn't obvious, but when I walk or pose with the legs bent, it appears but not that obvious.

George said:

2 layers of 2mm foam sliding past eachother like tectonic plates?
I believe Syrus54 used a similar technique for the inner knees and elbows for his MKV

Click to expand...

I remember combing through his thread to glean any tips for this project. I'm sad he pulled all his pictures and the only place I could see any of it was on his turbosquid page.

But I love a good tectonic plate analogy,so I'm thinking this describes well what I'll try to include with the unfold.

ironmaided said:

Looking forward to this build. :thumbsup Damn I miss my Mark V because of this lol )

About the "butt-gap" area. I have an idea for that but hasn't been tested yet. I'll try it on a new project soon and if it works I'll share it here.

- - - Updated - - -

Indeed they have. Its painted black that's why its somewhat unnoticeable. If standing, the gap isn't obvious, but when I walk or pose with the legs bent, it appears but not that obvious.

Click to expand...

that gif of you in the Mark V. :lol

Thanks for commenting. Any secret techniques, on here or just in your own threads, are very welcome.

I wanted to throw together dlowrider's Mark V helmet during downtime when my son takes over my laptop and I can't mess with the model. It doesn't have anything to do with the work on the pep file, but I figure this is the best place without starting a new thread.

I really like this look more than I like the actual movie helmet. Also props to SOUTHPAW for the unfold.



I hadn't gotten over to the store to buy some new 3mm sheets, so I went ahead and used an 8mm foam mat. I was worried it'd be too thick for the armor, but it ended up with some really nice depth in the detail.



It turned our so well that I don't think I even want to redo it. I even got the scale right on the first try.

Continuing up the arm to the biceps!



I always find little issues when I unfold, but this should be done for now. I only detailed one set of struts in the biceps as you can see on the model. The other struts are too small to really worry about and can be easily free handed. We're talking paperclip sized pieces.

I'm thinking how the top of the biceps piece can be unfolded so the arm can fit in it. As you can see, the actual model itself narrows near the armpit. I think I'll either leave off the armpit area, or just leave a cut in the armpit to allow for arm thickness. The shoulder piece and torso armor should wrap around pretty well and hide any allowances like that.

I laugh a little at my inexperience in modelling. If you look, I actually don't have the circle piece in the edited model for the elbow joint. This isn't for any other reason except that I don't know how to make a circle in Maya. :lol I traced and cut out that circle in the texture manually, but it was kinda blurry and kinda oval, so it's messy. I guess someone will just have to trace a circle out in foam to put in there.

http://www.4shared.com/file/LS038Tyfce/MK_5_-_Full_Arm_-_collinE83_Fo.html

After putting the upper arm with the lower arm, I realized the model's "elbow pit" didn't allow the arm to bend. I had to tweak the upper arm so part of it could tuck into the forearm section when bending.

There was also the issue of the gap in the back of the elbow if the wearer bends their arm. I added a piece for that. I don't know anything about UV texture mapping or anything, so a fun side effect of adding a new part for the elbow was that each quadrangle added has it's own little full suit texture.

Also, I mentioned before I don't know how to make a circle, so I stole a circle from another part of the suit for the joint. It has a weird texture on it, but it's supposed to be solid red.

The pep is sized to my arm and the paper size set to letter. I imagine many will have to adjust those things and rearrange the pieces, since I squeezed them in pretty tight. The arm can pretty much be scaled independent of the rest of the suit, so I'm uploading that now.

Please to enjoy!

Good progress on your suit,Collin :thumbsup
You can find a proper circle at JfCustom's foam files thread,page 1:

*Type 1: Iron Man Extremis V1 thigh (contains a hip pod circle);
*Type 2: Embo hat shield has circular bits that you can borrow.
Both types will have to be resized,but should serve as a clean circle for your elbow piece.

Smart.

As much as having a mismatch texture bothers me, I don't think I want to unfold the entire arm again for the red circle. However, it'll definitely be useful in the future for the knee and hip. So great idea.

I am using the circle myself for the details on the belt of the cod piece for The Beetle MKII from my avatar.
I may not be building all the suits and props I have files from,but they sure contain a library of shapes and forms that otherwise would have to be made through Blender.