New MC Infinite Build, First Timer

[Egothrasher]

Hi there,

Going to be starting my journey towards building a MC Infinite costume. Ideal goal would be in time for the Seattle Pax, we shall see. I've started tinkering in cura, meshmixer, armorsmith and blender.

I'm going to attach my armorsmith model so I can get some feedback on positioning and sizing. Things I had questions about are how large arm pieces should be, especially that large shoulder piece. How far down the chest pieces needs to come and positioning of the cod piece/belt. Does it lay on your hips, above/below? I tried to leave space so that I can bend body parts and not be stuck in one position. I would really love to be able to reach the AR on my back, although that does seem tough with the shoulder pieces. If I can get it to work, have magnets on the back for the AR and then possible some on the right thigh for the pistol.

Looking forward to any and all feedback and thanks everyone!

 

[SgtSaint]

Welcome to your journey!
A picture is worth a thousand words as they say. Here's me in my newest build that feels pretty good, for comparison.

And it looks like this in real life.

 

[N8TEBB]

Here is mine as well. I'm 180cm 68kg (5'11", 150lbs)

(The knees were made bigger afterwards)

TLDR
Scale it so it looks proportional on you, not necessarily staying true to the game's proportions. Your proportions are more important than having everything be a tight fit in my experience.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, but in this case it's only worth 600 haha

I can give a few tips. You want to make sure that the length of the forearms matches the scaling you're going for. You can digitally make it skinnier afterward. I scaled my forearms up enough that the length covered my arm as much as it did in the game, and then I cut a section of foam out afterward to make it fit more snugly around my arm. In the case of the shins, I had to add 5cm to the overall height to make them look right, but I didn't make them any wider in diameter.

I find that it's best to try and modify the scaling in such a way that it looks proportional when worn by you. It doesn't really matter what the in game proportions are. If you have really long legs like me, then you will have to make the thigh pieces large and make the shins extra long. Even though that's not how it is in the game, it looks better it fits me rather than being proportional to the game scaling.

With the torso piece, I try to make that look proportional to the armour as well, rather than just making sure it fits over my body. This differs depending on the set of armour, but take mine for example: I could have mad the chest piece much smaller and it would still fit over me. but because It's supposed to come down to just below your chest, I ended up making it bigger than I initially thought I needed. This ended up being a good decision because although there is a lot of empty space inside my chest armour, it looks proportional to the rest of the suit. Again, the length is super important. You want to make sure it looks good from the front.

The cod piece can be a bit tricky too. A lot of folks (including myself) have a much narrower waist than their shoulders. In this case, I just make the cod piece to match the torso. That is, I scale it relative to the torso piece. This will make it bigger than the it needs to be to fit tightly around your waist, but it will look proportional to the rest of the armour. I support my cod piece with velcro, otherwise it would fall down. But if I had made it only big enough to fit around my waist, then it would look way to small for my armour. I also tend to run my cod piece a bit higher than most folks because I don't have as much of a gap in the abdomen section.

As for flexibility, even with my foam armour I don't think I could get enough flexibility to reach an AR on my back. I tried to look in the game to see how the in-game characters reach around to their back, but the AR literally just teleports to the player's back. Not to mention, it clips through the two thrusters on the back of the mk7. If you want to have an AR on the back you may have to make it smaller to fit between the thrusters, or have it sit in a slightly different spot. Take JTF4 's spartan for example, where his AR sits on top of one of the thrusters instead of between them. He used really power magnets to achieve this. Having it off to the side also makes it easier for him to reach it.

Hope this info is helpful. I'll try to remember to upload one of the photos I used for deployment so you can clearly see the final scaling.

 

[JTF4]

Here is mine as well. I'm 180cm 68kg (5'11", 150lbs)
View attachment 342528
(The knees were made bigger afterwards)

TLDR
Scale it so it looks proportional on you, not necessarily staying true to the game's proportions. Proportions are more important than having everything be a tight fit in my experience.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, but in this case it's only worth 600 haha

I can give a few tips. You want to make sure that the length of the forearms matches the scaling you're going for. You can digitally make it skinnier afterward. I scaled my forearms up enough that the length covered my arm as much as it did in the game, and then I cut a section of foam out afterward to make it fit more snugly around my arm. In the case of the shins, I had to add 5cm to the overall height to make them look right, but I didn't make them any wider in diameter.

I find that it's best to try and modify the scaling in such a way that it looks proportional when worn by you. It doesn't really matter what the in game proportions are. If you have really long legs like me, then you will have to make the thigh pieces large and make the shins extra long. Even though that's not how it is in the game, it looks better it fits me rather than being proportional to the game scaling.

With the torso piece, I try to make that look proportional to the armour as well, rather than just making sure it fits over my body. This differs depending on the set of armour, but take mine for example: I could have mad the chest piece much smaller and it would still fit over me. but because It's supposed to come down to just below your chest, I ended up making it bigger than I initially thought I needed. This ended up being a good decision because although there is a lot of empty space inside my chest armour, it looks proportional to the rest of the suit. Again, the length is super important. You want to make sure it looks good from the front.

The cod piece can be a bit tricky too. A lot of folks (including myself) have a much narrower waist than their shoulders. In this case, I just make the cod piece to match the torso. That is, I scale it relative to the torso piece. This will make it bigger than the it needs to be to fit tightly around your waist, but it will look proportional to the rest of the armour. I support my cod piece with velcro, otherwise it would fall down. But if I had made it only big enough to fit around my waist, then it would look way to small for my armour. I also tend to run my cod piece a bit higher than most folks because I don't have as much of a gap in the abdomen section.

As for flexibility, even with my foam armour I don't think I could get enough flexibility to reach an AR on my back. I tried to look in the game to see how the in-game characters reach around to their back, but the AR literally just teleports to the player's back. Not to mention, it clips through the two thrusters on the back of the mk7. If you want to have an AR on the back you may have to make it smaller to fit between the thrusters, or have it sit in a slightly different spot. Take JTF4 's spartan for example, where his AR sits on top of one of the thrusters instead of between them. He used really power magnets to achieve this. Having it off to the side also makes it easier for him to reach it.

Hope this info is helpful. I'll try to remember to upload one of the photos I used for deployment so you can clearly see the final scaling.

This is a fantastic write up!

I searched for a picture of me with my gun on my back, but turns out I hold it a lot.

This was the closest I could find. You can see it kind of peaking out from behind me.

I’ll be working on my armor later today and should be able to grab a picture of the magnets.

 

[Egothrasher]

Thank you for all the replies. Yeah I've been using the spartan pack in blender to try and mimic where the armor sits on my body compared to the in game model. The way the armor is designed/modelled, I would assume the bottom of the chest follows your rib cage. At the same time, I wouldn't want it too high that it ends up looking funny.

As for the gun, it looks like everyone has someone else give them the gun. Haven't seen anyone able to retrieve it themselves yet. The issue arises with the shoulder plate. It is so big and when you move the arms in armorsmith, it always clips into the chest piece. You can move the arms up and down to a degree. But when you do the up and back movement with the arm, then you run into issues.

 

[SgtSaint]

You can move the arms up and down to a degree. But when you do the up and back movement with the arm, then you run into issues.

Reducing the opacity of a part in Armorsmith so the parts become translucent really helps in seeing that kind of collision/conflict.

 

[Egothrasher]

Here is mine as well. I'm 180cm 68kg (5'11", 150lbs)
View attachment 342528
(The knees were made bigger afterwards)

TLDR
Scale it so it looks proportional on you, not necessarily staying true to the game's proportions. Your proportions are more important than having everything be a tight fit in my experience.

They say a picture is worth 1000 words, but in this case it's only worth 600 haha

I can give a few tips. You want to make sure that the length of the forearms matches the scaling you're going for. You can digitally make it skinnier afterward. I scaled my forearms up enough that the length covered my arm as much as it did in the game, and then I cut a section of foam out afterward to make it fit more snugly around my arm. In the case of the shins, I had to add 5cm to the overall height to make them look right, but I didn't make them any wider in diameter.

I find that it's best to try and modify the scaling in such a way that it looks proportional when worn by you. It doesn't really matter what the in game proportions are. If you have really long legs like me, then you will have to make the thigh pieces large and make the shins extra long. Even though that's not how it is in the game, it looks better it fits me rather than being proportional to the game scaling.

With the torso piece, I try to make that look proportional to the armour as well, rather than just making sure it fits over my body. This differs depending on the set of armour, but take mine for example: I could have mad the chest piece much smaller and it would still fit over me. but because It's supposed to come down to just below your chest, I ended up making it bigger than I initially thought I needed. This ended up being a good decision because although there is a lot of empty space inside my chest armour, it looks proportional to the rest of the suit. Again, the length is super important. You want to make sure it looks good from the front.

The cod piece can be a bit tricky too. A lot of folks (including myself) have a much narrower waist than their shoulders. In this case, I just make the cod piece to match the torso. That is, I scale it relative to the torso piece. This will make it bigger than the it needs to be to fit tightly around your waist, but it will look proportional to the rest of the armour. I support my cod piece with velcro, otherwise it would fall down. But if I had made it only big enough to fit around my waist, then it would look way to small for my armour. I also tend to run my cod piece a bit higher than most folks because I don't have as much of a gap in the abdomen section.

As for flexibility, even with my foam armour I don't think I could get enough flexibility to reach an AR on my back. I tried to look in the game to see how the in-game characters reach around to their back, but the AR literally just teleports to the player's back. Not to mention, it clips through the two thrusters on the back of the mk7. If you want to have an AR on the back you may have to make it smaller to fit between the thrusters, or have it sit in a slightly different spot. Take JTF4 's spartan for example, where his AR sits on top of one of the thrusters instead of between them. He used really power magnets to achieve this. Having it off to the side also makes it easier for him to reach it.

Hope this info is helpful. I'll try to remember to upload one of the photos I used for deployment so you can clearly see the final scaling.

I have a question regarding the thighs. If I move the thigh pieces where I can sit in armorsmith, without the thighs hitting the cod piece, the thigh piece is like halfway down my leg. I know our real legs don't move like in armorsmith, on a ball pivot. So I was wondering how high up I can go safely without not being able to sit or bend at all. Thanks!

 

[N8TEBB]

Here are a few pics that hopefully give you an idea of the size of my thigh pieces. I am able to sit down in the armour.

 

[Egothrasher]

Thank you so much, those are perfect. Would you say the outer top of the thigh piece ends at your hip bone? Looks to be about that area

 

[Egothrasher]

I have a question in regards to attaching armor pieces and wearing them once printed. I've seen mentioned before, the idea of using snaps. Is this not possible for the legs and arm pieces? Or are the 3d prints too heavy and you can't just rely on snaps to hold them up/in place? Snaps would mean no visible straps at all.

Second, does anyone have experience with flexible pla for the undersuit. Is is flexible enough or too stiff and it would be better to use eva foam?

Thanks!

 

[N8TEBB]

does anyone have experience with flexible pla for the undersuit. Is is flexible enough or too stiff and it would be better to use eva foam?

Check out this thread that discusses printing the under suit. OFiveTwo offers some good insight:

not sure if i should 3d print the undersuit for my mk4 armor

I'm currently unsure if it would benefit me to 3d print the undersuit of the MK4 armor in a flexible print material, or if i should just go with wearing normal clothes as an undersuit. Cost isn't an issue for me, and I don't really want to alter a piece of clothing if its avoidable. This is my...

www.405th.com

I don't have much experience rigging printed pieces. There may be some insight in other members' build threads however. I know rock lobbster has a very nice build thread where he talks about how he rigged his armour:

Mark VII Spartan Ver Megurine Luka

Now that Otafest 2023 is over I can finally reveal my newest suit, a custom Mark VII from Halo Infinite themed around the Vocaloid, Megurine Luka! Without further adieu, let’s get into it. Current Suit Appearance: Suit & Suit Inspiration Planning: ... There you have it! While in a Discord...

www.405th.com

 

[Egothrasher]

Ok, just got the helmet in the mail, bought from etsy. The only piece I didn't want to make honestly. Have a few questions in regards to that though. I'll attach a picture of the inside, right now there is fabric which I can remove.

First has to do with fans. I can already tell, wearing it for a few minutes, it gets hot. I was thinking perhaps somewhere in the front by the mouth. I was looking into something like these from amazon, 2x 40 mm adjustable fans powered by usb. Then putting like a small 10000 mah usb bank in the rear of the helmet. Anything larger than 10000 mah seems rather large. And I don't know if I need more than that power.
amazon fans

Second, the ears are a little squishy/tight. I can either cut down the foam, which wouldn't be difficult or is there a more comfortable option? Perhaps earpads for headphones? I'm quite used to wearing headphones as for work I need to wear them hours at a time.

Third, I see people wiring up mics and speakers in the chest. Is all that necessary? Or without you cannot essentially talk to anyone?

Thanks!

 

[Legend 113]

Hey mate, love seeing another infinite MC build on here! I've got a 3d printed helmet and I can hear and talk pretty well. I haven't got any padding though so that would probably make a big difference. I personally wouldn't worry about speakers unless you wanted to have something fancy like a recorded AI play through your suit, (it's an idea I've heard done and may end up doing, but just not now).

 

[Egothrasher]

I'm in the process of putting in some earpads, replacing the fabric lining and installing some fans. The current fabric is pretty heavy and doesn't breathe well. Going for a softer mesh style.

 

[jworley503]

Ok, just got the helmet in the mail, bought from etsy. The only piece I didn't want to make honestly. Have a few questions in regards to that though. I'll attach a picture of the inside, right now there is fabric which I can remove.

View attachment 343613

First has to do with fans. I can already tell, wearing it for a few minutes, it gets hot. I was thinking perhaps somewhere in the front by the mouth. I was looking into something like these from amazon, 2x 40 mm adjustable fans powered by usb. Then putting like a small 10000 mah usb bank in the rear of the helmet. Anything larger than 10000 mah seems rather large. And I don't know if I need more than that power.
amazon fans

Second, the ears are a little squishy/tight. I can either cut down the foam, which wouldn't be difficult or is there a more comfortable option? Perhaps earpads for headphones? I'm quite used to wearing headphones as for work I need to wear them hours at a time.

Third, I see people wiring up mics and speakers in the chest. Is all that necessary? Or without you cannot essentially talk to anyone?

Thanks!

I think a big thing here would be to remove the fabric lining and only have "spot" padding just to ensure the helmet stays securely on your head and in place. I think the idea is to use as little padding as possible just to make sure everything stays secure while still allowing room for electronics and some airflow. I personally would be a bit cautious with fans directly in your helmet as that noise could be quite overwhelming when wearing the helmet all day at a con, but others here might have a bit more experience on that subject than me.

 

[Egothrasher]

Got the helmet all fixed up. Little pouch for the USB bank, mash liner and earpads in.

Working on finishing up the boots. Then to start on the legs. First print off my sizing rings and see how well I scaled.

Got a cheap USB camera and light bar for my printer setup. With the anycubic app I can now see live feed of my printing.

 

[Egothrasher]

 

[MrBones]

View attachment 344598

I am loving this. I have been trying to think of some solutions to so fans in the helmet when I go to make it and also not what to do about foam for the ear area.

 

[Egothrasher]

I am loving this. I have been trying to think of some solutions to so fans in the helmet when I go to make it and also not what to do about foam for the ear area.

If you have any questions, or want more pics just let me know. The fans have 3 settings, are small, and usb powered. I believe they were like $20 which is nothing.

 

[MrBones]

If you have any questions, or want more pics just let me know. The fans have 3 settings, are small, and usb powered. I believe they were like $20 which is nothing.

Can you show a picture looking at the wire structure? That would be my question on how to lay it internally? I assume it's mostly pushed to the back like my pc case