#Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian

[binarycafe]

Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian - Ianna, Clover, and Shamrock modeling open back sweaters

[figurecollection]

Vania Action Figure by Daibadi Production, from Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian

[sandpapersnowman]

new holy grail: the pink haired slutty fem robot boy doll that I fell in love with Before finding out he's $300

[copperbezel]

Nova Blaze, cyborg streamer

I started this project intending it to be a quick test of a few techniques, and I didn't start thinking of it as a "character" until I was already printing test parts. I think Nova Blaze nonetheless managed to take on a unique identity by the end.

Sadly, she isn't a dinosaur, and she doesn't come with any transformations or widgets, but she's going to live on my monitor stand for a while nonetheless. 

There were really three technical goals for this project. First, I wanted to rely as little as possible on painted detail, using dye for the bulk of the figure's colors to greatly improve durability. Second, April convinced me to try ball and socket joints on a figure again, because their simplicity and compactness opens up a lot of options. Third, I wanted to to make a figure that was a bit sexy, with some reference to lines like Frame Arms Girl, Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian, and Busou Shinki.

So, first, those colors. The acrylic paints I used on Bit Cobalt and still use for detailing are prone to chipping and scratching. I want my figures to be durable enough to pose and play with, and dye is the natural solution.

Outside of the beige "skin" parts, Nova is mostly made with white resin dyed into color, with the dye mixed into the liquid resin for the pink parts. The yellow parts were printed white and dyed in a diluted dye bath, and the black was painted on directly undiluted. Most of the photos in this post are of a second copy of the figure made for April, and there's very little paint on it, essentially just the lipstick, the gray sections on the torso, and the cyan streak in the hair.

The second technical goal for this project was in the joints. Nova's joints include a few ball and socket joints with both sides printed in resin, which I was initially reluctant to try. I've seen very bad results from attempting ball and socket joints in "standard" resin, and the "ABS-like" resin I'm using doesn't solve all of the problems - the porous surfaces still bite and grind at first - but it made the difference between unworkable and workable results once I'd dialed in the socket geometry.

In the hips and ankles, I've used Kotobukiya Hexa Gear joints for the ball side of the pair, which seem to be working very smoothly. (April very sweetly surprised me with a small stash of the joints after handling an early form of the figure.) Nova's range of articulation is the most I've hoped to get out of a figure so far, and I'm very happy with some of the poses she can pull off, as is probably clear in the photos. 

The third goal of the project, of making a figure that was a bit sexy, doesn't sound like a technical challenge, especially for a cartoon cyborg. But I've always really struggled to draw human characters that aren't uncanny and awkward, and up to now, the robot figures I've been modeling have largely been made up of chunky shapes that are very forgiving to my weak understanding of human anatomy. Nova was an opportunity to push and practice just a little in that area.

In turn, working with more organic shapes was a chance to practice a bit more with sculpting tools in Blender rather than leaning solely on the hard-surface modeling tools (constructing rather than sculpting) I'm more comfortable with.

I'm indebted to the time Workbenchmaniac has spent tutoring me in using Blender's sculpting tools, and specifically in sculpting faces. I made much more use of that tool set (and skill set) in this project than in any of my previous ones. I'm particularly happy with Nova's face sculpt, even if it took me three days to do what a real sculptor can do in thirty minutes.

I had the figure mostly modeled, still thinking of it as mostly a technical exercise, when April suggested the cyan hair streak to complete the CMYK color scheme. Things snowballed from there, and a few realizations (like "laptop stickers") and a week of work later, Nova had developed into something a bit more like a character.

Nova's hair can be popped off to interchange her face plates using a pair of magnets. She has stands in varied heights for any of five emoji, meant to represent chat reactions to her stream, and some alternate hands.

Since I've never done any animation or sculpted posed figurines, I still have a lot to learn about modeling humans and creatures for posing, so the hand poses are simplistic and don't bend quite right. That'll be something to improve on in a future project, although I'll have to get back to something a little more crunchily mechanical for a bit for my next figure.

As always, thanks to my partner April and my mentor in all things Blender or miniature Workbenchmaniac, without either of whom none of these projects would be here.

Photo backdrops via Nendoroid More: Background Book 03.

[lorddeathofmurdermountain]

Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian Miku?!

So my friend got me this hatsune miku model kit

I finished building the head and...

NOBODY TOLD ME SHE HAS FREAKING CRAB MODE?!?!

[vurkolakenvelopment]

Tuckered out.

[atomictiki]

S-stop right there! No bad data on this network.

[rozel-art]

Painted my favorite Polynian.

[fiddler-on-the-starship]

These are all very true and that last one hurt my soul a little.

[hobbylinkjapan]

Rescue worker Polynian Lucio is 14cm of highly posable, personable, amazingly balanced robotic action figure, loaded with accessories!

Polynian Lucio by Mile Stone

[binarycafe]

Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian: Shamrock - Girl's Bikini Figure

[figurecollection]

Pinkle Grindy Action Figure by Daibadi Production, from Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian

[dollarmies]

Not a bjd but look who came in the mail today! Just a little birthday present for myself.

[copperbezel]

Bit Cobalt, my second resin printed action figure. (The first was Caeli, the turquoise figure in the last few images.) Bit was modeled in Blender and printed with an online service. She's around 12 cm tall, intended as 1/12 scale.

Bit wears her Transformers influence on her sleeve, especially 2007's Animated line. With a little more practice, I'd like to attempt building a transforming robot figure in the future, but I needed to experiment with some joint and material tolerance details first. Another influence was Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian. I really enjoy the design sensibilities of that line, but I found the figures frustrating to handle and pose, so I made it a goal to make these figures at least pose better than my copy of Polynian Roza. I think I more or less succeeded. Bit's eyes are essentially stickers, and the clear elements are UV cured resin added after painting. Most of her joint parts use ABS or wire pegs. Her mid-torso joint is a Hobby Base spherical figure joint similar to Revoltech or Polynian, and her neck joint is a steel ball bearing and some small magnets, allowing for very smooth movement in any axis. The paint is mostly Vallejo and FolkArt acrylic. The Vallejo varnish is mostly holding up so far, but designs with more interaction and potential scraping between parts (read: any transforming robot figure) will probably need some Krylon. Aside from doing a full transforming robot figure, something else I'll work on improving for my next design is the out of the box fit. Bad clearances and tolerances led to a lot of sanding down pegs and shaving out spaces in putting Bit together. I'm deeply indebted to my partner @aprilpowered and my friend WorkbenchManiac, who are respectively far more skilled in character design and modeling, miniatures, and 3D printing than I am, and who were a huge support and a source of feedback and advice along the way.

[ghostjetshell]

Daibadi Production | Robot Neoanthropinae Polynian | Vania (Complete Action Figure)

[vurkolakenvelopment]