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33 Replies Latest reply on Sep 21, 2018 8:59 PM by Mark Landsaat

New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Nick Poulopoulos Sep 19, 2018 12:14 PM

Hi everybody.

I ve been working with SW for about a year but I've been doing CAD for about 10. My previous experience was with Rhino and MOI, along with other 3D non-CAD modelers

Not really sure if this is the right place to do so but here is my first take on a fairly complex surfacing model since I'm really fascinated with StarWars,SolidWorks, and its surfacing capabilities in general. No reference images were used to model the helmet.

Re: New to the community ,and my first entry

Dennis Dohogne Sep 19, 2018 7:49 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Nick,
That is impressive! Would you be willing to share the file?

If you don't mind, it would help us on the forum if your thread had a better title. When I saw it I thought it was going to be along the lines of "Hi! I'm new here and don't really know how to do things. . . " For that I recommend the following:
How do I do this SOLIDWORKS Forum thing?
What is the difference between viewing a thread in my Inbox and viewing it separately?
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry

Tony Tieuli Sep 19, 2018 7:56 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Nick Poulopoulos wrote:

Hi everybody.
I ve been working with SW for about a year but I've been doing CAD for about 10. My previous experience was with Rhino and MOI, along with other 3D non-CAD modelers
Not really sure if this is the right place to do so but here is my first take on a fairly complex surfacing model since I'm really fascinated with StarWars,SolidWorks, and its surfacing capabilities in general.

Hi Nick Poulopoulos, welcome to the forum.
That helmet is really cool. I'd be interested in seeing the file as well.
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry

Newell Voss Sep 19, 2018 7:56 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Welcome, and nice work.
The real question,
is it to scale and did you print one out to wear!?
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry

John Stoltzfus Sep 19, 2018 7:59 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Nick Poulopoulos - Welcome to the forum we are the SWFU's and can always use SW expertise, there are so many great posts and a lot of great people ready to help or listen... Thanks for sharing and we look forward seeing more models as well
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- Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
  
  Nick Poulopoulos Sep 19, 2018 8:28 AM (in response to John Stoltzfus)
  
  Thanks for the warm welcome everybody.
  I can definitely answer specific questions pertaining to the model but I will not be sharing the model since I intend to make a tutorial should there be enough demand.
  The helmet is not modeled to size (just close to it I guess) because what's really cool is that no references (no images ) were used other than actually examining various pictures on the interwebs. I was interested in finding the software which is most conducive in creating a fairly complicated model just by looking at it.
  And SolidWorks it is!!!!!.....could not do it without a history tree!
  
  I will share an image of a miniature 3D printed version of the helmet a bit later
  
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  - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
    
    Federico Pérez Sep 19, 2018 1:19 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
    
    Nice job.. be waiting for you tutorial, love surface. & welcome to this forum
    
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  - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
    
    Jack Giblin Sep 20, 2018 2:24 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
    
    I would love a tutorial! I've been meaning to dive into surfacing and starting with something from my favourite movie franchise will be perfect
    great work on the model nick.
    
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Tony Cantrell Sep 19, 2018 8:12 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Nice job and welcome to the forum.
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Glenn Schroeder Sep 19, 2018 8:19 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Welcome to the forum. Since you're obviously interested in Surfacing you might want to do a search here for posts from Paul Salvador. He does some impressive stuff, and does it quickly.
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Matt Peneguy Sep 19, 2018 8:21 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

I know little to nothing about surfacing. But, I've been a member of these forums for long enough to know that Paul Salvador knows a lot about the subject. Maybe he'll see your post and give you some advice.
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

David Matula Sep 19, 2018 9:46 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

wow nice work.
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Yin Bruce Sep 19, 2018 9:56 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

WOW，WOW
impressive job!
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Dan Pihlaja Sep 19, 2018 10:03 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Nice job. Paul Salvador.....look out!
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- Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
  
  Paul Salvador Sep 19, 2018 2:37 PM (in response to Dan Pihlaja)
  
  LOL!... now you got me going... I'm on it!..
  
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Paul Salvador Sep 19, 2018 12:17 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Hello Nick, very nice man!... yeah, I think your mindset/workflow from Rhino and MOI helps a lot! ..and, helmets have always been great challenge!..
..now you got thinking about doing some Star Wars stuff!...I've only played around modeling over a scanned Storm Trooper helmet years ago (image)... hmm?

Look forward to seeing more of your work!
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- Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
  
  Nick Poulopoulos Sep 20, 2018 5:38 AM (in response to Paul Salvador)
  
  Awesome Paul!!
  What you are trying to do , reverse engineer from a mesh, is insanely more difficult in SW. I RE for a living and for that task I only use DesignX but SW seems to be coming along nicely with more RE capabilities lately.
  Here's a webmodel I kept checking since I didnt model off of an image. https://sketchfab.com/models/227818a8ae76456a9035366ef57d06af
  Heres another non shiny image of the model and a 3D print in Nylon 12 with an SLS printer
  
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  - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
    
    Matt Peneguy Sep 20, 2018 8:11 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
    
    Awesome. The detail level is so much better than my FDM printer outputs.
    I'd love to have a SLS printer. Prices aren't even listed with a quick web search. I was hoping prices for them would come down and maybe they have. But, it apparently hasn't reached the hobby level, yet.
    
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    - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
      
      Nick Poulopoulos Sep 20, 2018 1:42 PM (in response to Matt Peneguy)
      
      Thanks Matt.
      Buying an SLS for home is indeed an expensive proposition...(i think Markforged might be coming out with something soon).
      The only FDM machine I would trust with a semi-organic model like this is the Zortrax which is actually fairly affordable.
      If you have to have an SLS print fairly soon I would suggest uploading your model to Shapeways and getting a quote there.
      
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      - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
        
        Matt Peneguy Sep 20, 2018 1:49 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
        
        Thanks for the advice. I'm looking at the Zortrax website right now.
        
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  - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
    
    Paul Salvador Sep 20, 2018 2:32 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
    
    Hello Nick,.. it's freehand sketching over the STL graphic,..so, no 3d mesh data or overhead.
    Nice print.. what is the size/dimension of it,.. and how long to print it?
    
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    - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
      
      Nick Poulopoulos Sep 20, 2018 2:43 PM (in response to Paul Salvador)
      
      The part is about 2.2 inches tall by 2.0 inches wide.
      If you were to print just that part in an SLS machine it would take about 3-4 hours. However it only makes financial sense to completely fill a volume for a certain height because of the low recyclability of Nylon 12 powder. Something like this makes sense to be sent out to Shapeways or Sculpteo to print. If you were to buy a home (really a garage or a small shop) machine to SLS print , Formlabs makes a decent machine for about 10,000$.
      
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      - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
        
        Paul Salvador Sep 20, 2018 3:25 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
        
        Thanks, Nick.. I was just playing with a slicer to confirm size/time and you're spot on (image).. so,.. I've been wanting/thinking about getting a printer but.. the prices are so cheap and we have local guys all around me... hard to decide... and the Form stuff is kewl and the Form 2 is interesting, but way too expensive for my blood...
        Form 2 3D Printer Complete Package | Formlabs
        
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        Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
        
        Nick Poulopoulos Sep 20, 2018 4:01 PM (in response to Paul Salvador)
        
        Paul one of the things to consider for home 3D printing is how the post-processing is done. So the SLA method , while it gets really good results, the resins are really messy and very rarely do the alcohol baths (to remove the supports and ) that the manufacturers recommend work well.On top of that the surface of the print needs to be smoothed further to clean the imperfections from the broken supports.
        For SLS you do not need supports but you have to question the recyclability of the powder (how often you have to recycle and at what ratio, to get decent results without orange peeling).....and that gets pretty expensive.
        FDM is prbly the best solution for home use, (no powders and no resins to deal with) and I like the Zortrax, but you still need a decent solution for removing the supports. Best way is to remove them chemically by dunking the entire print in the solution. Stratasys makes a machine for that as well as a few others.
        All that can be avoided if you order parts from 3D print services
        
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        Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
        
        Paul Salvador Sep 20, 2018 4:11 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
        
        Good info, Nick!.. it is.. there's a sea full of these printers and as you note.. the post work/mess is something people skim over. Maybe one of these days.. maybe?
        
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      - Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
        
        Dennis Dohogne Sep 20, 2018 3:26 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
        
        Nick Poulopoulos wrote:
        
        The part is about 2.2 inches tall by 2.0 inches wide.
        If you were to print just that part in an SLS machine it would take about 3-4 hours. However it only makes financial sense to completely fill a volume for a certain height because of the low recyclability of Nylon 12 powder. Something like this makes sense to be sent out to Shapeways or Sculpteo to print. If you were to buy a home (really a garage or a small shop) machine to SLS print , Formlabs makes a decent machine for about 10,000$.
        Actually, the Formlabs machine is MUCH less than that, $4k for the machine. It is an SLA machine with impressive resolution. I'd recommend my local rep, but he's a prique so I suggest you find one in your area.
        
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        Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
        
        Nick Poulopoulos Sep 20, 2018 4:05 PM (in response to Dennis Dohogne)
        
        Yes the SLA is $4000 but I was refering to their SLS machine. Totally different beast with different materials, diff mechanical properties, no supports needed, and definitely not as messy. Resins emit some pretty bad odors too.....not for the house.
        Only thing I would maybe keep in the house is a small FDM with a HEPA filter
        
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        Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
        
        Matt Peneguy Sep 20, 2018 4:09 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
        
        I'm not sure a HEPA filter is enough. It needs to be ducted to the outside, maintaining a negative pressure on the print chamber.
        
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        Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)
        
        Paul Salvador Sep 20, 2018 4:14 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)
        
        yep, SLS is really kewl!.. (and, I'm still dream... snap out of it!)
        
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Christian Chu Sep 20, 2018 12:17 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Like others, I'm impressed with your SW skill over a yr of using it - it'd be nice to share with others in this community !
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Jason Rupert Sep 20, 2018 9:14 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

post it please!
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Wayne Schafer Sep 20, 2018 9:45 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Post in this thread
https://forum.solidworks.com/message/793911#comment-793911?q=projects
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Suzanne Locke Sep 20, 2018 9:47 AM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Hi Nick - Welcome to the SOLIDWORKS Community and Forums!
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Re: New to the community ,and my first entry (Stormtrooper helmet)

Mark Landsaat Sep 21, 2018 8:59 PM (in response to Nick Poulopoulos)

Nice work Nick, looks really good
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