It almost looks like a hall full of cosplayers at a comic book convention, doesn’t it?

Once these figures get painted that’s exactly what it will look like.  As we mentioned four weeks ago in our coverage of Kansas City Comic Con, the latest, greatest, newest addition to the Comic Con front is 3D photography turned into 3D printed figures.  Specifically, it’s artist Jo Kamm’s new concept called The 3D Photobooth.  The end result is an approximately 8-inch figure, the next thing every cosplayer will be clamoring for.  (Note: the sheen is in the photo, not the figure, which follows the 3D photography quite well.  Once painted, these will look like the real thing).

It starts with a turntable and the cosplayer being still for up to two minutes while the camera records every detail:

Then the software records the images, later to be cleaned up back in the office:

The result is a near perfect image that can be rotated 360 degrees and viewed from any angle.

Jo uploads his images to Sketchfab.  You can see the best gallery of cosplay anywhere here.  Make sure you click “more” to bring up hundreds of his 3D images.

If you want to see me in Elizabeth C. Bunce‘s costumes for my Gimli click here and Radagast click here.

The next step is printing and physical clean-up of the printed figures, which can take several more hours.  With accessories like the axe and staff, supports are required during the print process so the image can print correctly–otherwise it collapses.  The entire process, including printing, can take 40 or more hours per figure.

Better yet, they can be printed in glow-in-the-dark plastic.  What’s cooler than that?  Who wouldn’t want to see what they’d look like as a ghost or hologram?

Keep up with Jo Kamm and his shop at The 3D Photobooth website.

Thanks to Jo for his great work!

C.J. Bunce
Editor
borg.com