Check this out... Awesome Video

That technology has been around for a while. I don't remember the name of the machine but it was first used for film application on Star Trek: Search for Spock. My friend who makes The Ghoulish Gallery's Isabelle Awards works for a high end collectible company and they have several of these machines. They are pretty amazing.

The original clown design was sculpted in what's called perceived 3D via computer program called Z-Brush. In other words, the entire sculpt was designed in a computer without any clay. Literally, every brush stroke in that program is converted into a numerical equations. When the sculpt via Z-Brush is done, all those numerical equations are sent to a machine and converts those numerical equations into depth and movement commands which allows the machine to essentially sculpt/carve the image out of a foam block. It literally converts your perceived 3D sculpt into an actual physical 3D sculpt.

The super cool thing about this machine is that you can tweak the conversion rate and get a sculpt that's larger or smaller than the original.

Now if you think that's cool, get this...they can actually do a face or body cast with lasers which essentially uses the same technology. The lasers scan an actor and then converts the distance measurements into a numerical equation. Those numbers go to the same machine which in turn carves out the life cast. This process is most commonly used to make action figures that look exactly like the original actors, etc.

My friend recently gave me a C-3P0 figure that's about 12" tall that was created from a scan of the original costume at Skywalker Ranch. This thing is 100% exact to the original down to every last nut and bolt. It's really amazing.

My friend also created one of the hitchhiking ghosts from the Haunted Mansion using Z-brush and this machine. If you went to the recent Fangoria in Los Angeles you probably saw it on display. He did a great job on it. I have pic and would be happy to share it if someone let's me know how to get it posted here.

The part of the video where you see the milky white liquid filling up the see-through box that contains the clown mask...that's just a silicone mold being made in a clear vaccum chamber (which uses a negative vaccum pressure to remove bubbles from the silicone). The video is speed up which is why the silicone looks thin and liquidy. Silicone is actually very thick.

A final bit of trivia... that guy in the video with the long beard...that is Peter Robb-King, the same make-up artist that did The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He was at the make-up school where I teach Digital Special Make-up Effects Design just a few weeks back for a seminar.

Moral of the story: Batman has the same make-up artists as a sweet transvestite.

Wow, sometimes even I surprise myself with all the things I know - lol

-Tim Turner, Evil Genius
www.theghoulishgallery.com

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