Hello,
| We are excited to share our team robot. When we created our team’s achievement video last year, we wanted something fun to tie all the segments together. That’s how the little robot was born, a tiny mascot that popped up between topics to guide viewers through our highlights.
The character quickly became a team favorite, so we decided to bring it to life. Here’s how we transformed that on-screen robot into a real, fully finished 3D-printed figure. |
1. From Ref video to real 3D model
Our little mascot actually comes from a reference video made with AI. The first step was to translate the 2D ref into a real 3D object. What's difficult at this stage is to imagine hidden areas and proportions from different points of view, while keeping the original source video.
2. One model for one usecase
| The main reason we created this littly guy at first, was its integration to our Team Achievements Website, to be used as a presenter on stage. So, we created what is called a "low poly" version of the robot. It's a model that is easy to use for animation, texturing, export to other softwares etc. and which have specific properties in terms of geometry and format. |
3. Preparation for 3D Printing
While having a low poly version of the model means tons of pros, it also means cons.
Indeed, a low poly model doesn't match all specifications for printing. At this stage, we had to remodel, adapt, modify and fix problems on the geometry while trying to stay as close as possible to the original robot geometry.
What is important and difficult, is to make compromise on details to remove, assembly of parts to make and anticipate the behavior of the 3D Printer on the geometry to reach the best quality of printing at the end.
4. From Digital to Physical
After all this Data Preparation, we were able to print the Robot.
We had to remove supports and sanded the surface for a smooth finish.
Then the finishing steps included:
Priming with Black paint the whole model
Mask taping the black parts of the robot before white painting
White Spray Painting on the not covered parts
- Detail painting and fixing the "miss" from spray paint with small brush
- Print and stick the eyes to the robot
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A Mascot Brought to Life
What started as a small animation in a video is now a real figure you can hold, a fun symbol of our team’s creativity and achievements.
Hope you enjoyed this!
