DoodlesPlatter

Customizable Hoodie Toys from Shapeways 3D Printers

Head’s up! Remember this Hoody prototype from 2008? Matt Pattinson (Culpritart/toys, an illustrator based in Edinburgh) and Vijay Paul (Dotsan, product designers based in Glasgow) are producing the figure through Shapeways, a company that uses a 3D printer to “turn your designs into reality”. Culpritart and Dotsan met Jon at the seminal Free Lunch exhibit at Analogue Books, and the seeds for Hoodie were planted.

I dropped Dotsan a note to try to understand the technology of this new toy. He promptly responded:

As product designers, the challenge for Dotsan is to help creative people realise their ideas and introduce them to a new medium and dimension whilst keeping their artistic intent. The photorealistic computer renderings are great for visualising concepts without the expense and time of traditional sculpting and manufacturing processes. Computer modeling allows for many quick amendments and when applying textures and colours there are no limits because you don’t have to worry about manufacturing constraints. The 3D full colour printing allows for complicated artwork to be created. The surface is like fine sand paper and has a waxy matt finish. There are many ways the CAD model can be materialised, Shapeways offers reasonable prices and ordering. No need for tooling, Far East mass manufacturing or stock; the figure gets made on demand and delivered in 10 days.

[Jon's] illustration would be very difficult to create using traditional methods such as painting, decals etc, the 3D printing method works brilliant at this size. To have something that small with that amount of detail gives great pleasure. On Shapeways there is an option to customise the colours or submit your own pattern for the hood.

Culprit and Dotsan are waiting to see the response to Hoodie. This is a new process, and there is lots to learn and understand about how best to use it. Dotsan are working on creating new Culprit characters. There is a large body of work to choose from, the most exciting challenge will be to create Culprit Tech stuff: the renderings and models will be mind blowing.

Well, to be honest, my mind is already kind of blown. I had a second round of emails with Dot, in which I asked about the potential for color customization. He wrote back immediately with a link to the “Jeremy Hoodie” colorway, which features matching green hoodie and green trainers! Well, color me stoked! Naturally, I purchased one immediately. The material is listed as sandstone, which is a new one for the artkive, so that’s exciting. The 5cm (2 inch) figure (currently the only customizable size) costs $23.06 and the 7cm (2.8 inch) figure is $25.76. Shapeways has a minimum order of $25, so if you buy the 5cm, you eat $1.94. No biggie, since you’re already committed to spending this much on a tiny figure anyway, right? There’s all sorts of other fine print about VAT and taxes, that I probably should have read, but really, you had me at “Jeremy Hoodie.” Jeps ordered a 7cm Hoodie, so we’ll post updates when the figures arrive. The Shapeways site says there’s about a 10-day turnaround on production + shipping time. Stay tuned! Lots more photos after the jump.

Tags: 3D-printing | customs | sandstone | Shapeways | toys
Posted in: Collect It | Figures