3D Printing for Hollywood and Beyond at ASMEs AM3D Jason Lopes Legacy

3D Printing for Hollywood and Beyond at ASMEs AM3D Jason Lopes Legacy 3D Printing for Hollywood and Beyond at ASMEs AM3D Jason Lopes Legacy The Future of Hollywood Will Be 3D-PrintedJason Lopes commands the attention of every room he walks into these days.Hes been called influential, engaging and the most interesting speaker on 3D printing todayand with 3D-printing work of his featured in Hollywood films such as Iron Man, Jurassic World, and Pacific Rim, the praise is well-deserved.Lopes is the lead systems engineer at Legacy Effects, a studio that uses additive technology, along with the talents of many artists and designers, to create stunning visuals for Hollywood and beyond.Lopes has been making the rounds at 3D-printing conferences, and in August delivered a keynotlagee address at ASMEs AM3D conference where he spoke about how the expanding functionality of additive manufacturing (AM) is disrupting industries like his.Despite his popularity on the 3D circuit, Lopes is the fir st to admit his artistic work and traininghe studied film at The Art Institute of Philadelphiahave made him a bit of an oddball at AM events.When I started showing up to these events, people were just saying, Oh, thats just an artistic side, and basically not taking it as serious as it wasOh, its just Hollywood. But the amount of engineering that goes into all of our creations is absolutely phenomenal, and I can attest to our workflow that its not an easy thing to do what we do, Lopes says.Balancing art and technologyAlong with his film work, Lopess 3D printing has also appeared in video-game trailers for Call of Duty, Destiny, and Halo, as well as high-end commercials for Old Spice, GEICO, Direct TV, and more.The breadth of Lopess work3D scanning, 3D printing, figuring out how to get ideas off of the page and into realitymeans hes had to become an expert in marrying the technology of 3D printing and the skills it takes to do special effects design.Balancing art, technology, and eng ineering requires patience and hard work, especially when it comes to Legacy Effects signature armored suit, versions of which have been binnenseen in RoboCop and Iron Man.Jason Lopes, Lead Systems Engineer at Legacy Effects, talks to Honeycomb about his job and professional experiences.Video Reel Focus FilmsPlay video Just making a suit to fit over the person thats going to be inside of it, from a conceptual standpoint, is probably one of the hardest things out there to do, because right out the gate, youre not in control of the person that theyre choosing to put inside of this artwork. If it doesnt fit the back-and-forth that needs to happen so the art isnt sacrificed is just on a whole other level, Lopes says.Creating a high-tech hero suitTheres more than what meets the eye when it comes to creating a superhero suit like the one worn by, say, Robert Downey Jr.sTony Starknamely because theres more than one suit.Dont forget, when we do a movie, especially an action movie or a super hero movie, you have a hero suit, and then you have stunt versions. So we need to break out of that master asset and be able to come up with each specific suit for the requirement, and the shot, Lopes says.Although Lopes and his crew try to directly manufacture pieces and skip the mold-making as often as possible to save money and time, the team typically uses 3D printing for rapid prototyping. They then add the details to create a master pattern that will eventually be cast in other materials, each with different thicknesses, flexibility, and other properties.Some suits call for lights and other electronics, requiring the designers to incorporate batteries, processor boards, and wiring harnesses into the artworkand all of this has to happen while remaining identical in appearance.Real world applications in 3DLegacy Effects 3D expertise is not only coveted by filmmakers and producers, but has become a hot-ticket item in government and industry projects that have nothing to do with e ntertainment.Jason Lopes and the Legacy Effects team created the rigid parts of this gigantic, furry walking monster for the San Diego Comic-Con 2014- using almost 4,000 hours of 3D printing time on several Stratasys printers. Image Jason Lopes.For example, a government department got in touch with Lopes and crew to collaborate on the ongoing development of its tactical assault light operator suit (TALOS), a high-tech armored, robotic suit expected to be unveiled by 2018.At the same time, the team has formed mutually beneficial relationships with those working in other fields such as aerospace, sports, medicine, and materials research.Everyone wants to have a pretty shell on top of their nice engineering to be more visually appealing, but they understand that its more than just a design skill. They see what were able to do in our time frames, and they love learning from us, Lopes says.It allows people to see things outside the box.What lies aheadThe future of 3D printing in any fiel d is debatable, and Lopes definitely has some opinions on whether materials will surpass hardware in terms of importance.Ive been saying since Day One, for me, I think its all materials, Lopes says. Every day you hear more and more about materials that are coming out, and whats on the horizon, and I think that just opens up more opportunities.Dont get me wrongI respect the hardware, and I think the hardware is going to advance as well, but lets face it Whats going to drive future innovation ismaterials-based, as far as Im concerned.Lopes is excited about the the newer nylons and rubber-like materials currently being used in 3D printing. But what he, and many others, would really like to see are stronger materials, particularly those that can withstand higher temperatures for right-off-the-printer usage.When we can take someones vision and directly output thatput it in their hands and call it a daythats what will be the big game-changer for us, he says. The new frontier of additi ve manufacturing can be intimidating to navigate fortunately, theres the ASME AM3D conference to help guide you as you integrate AM into your business. Learn more about theASME Additive Manufacturing and 3D Printing Conference and Expo here.Holly B. Martin is an independent writer.