Let me use this thread as both a guide and a reality check for anyone who wants to make perfectly fitting armor. One thing I’ve noticed with a lot of Halo builds is that the pieces often end up a bit too big or bulky, not really shaped to fit the person’s body. For me, since I always like to go beyond just normal, my goal is to make it fit perfectly.
The first piece I decided to tackle was the forearm, because my proportions are a bit unique. I have a really thin wrist and a more than decent forearm, so it felt like a good place to start learning.
The goal is to make it fit my hand and make it look good.
Alright everyone, this is my hand, let’s make her a proper cover!
As you can see my first attempt was just print and pray and it was way too bulky.
So I started researching how to make my armor fit properly. I found a software called ArmorSmith, which I used. It’s great, but I figured out it’s not the best for me. It works well for basic fitting, but when it comes to more detailed modifications, it’s not really my cup of tea. So I started experimenting with the fitment ring method. You basically slice a small section of the piece to check if you can fit your arm through or not.
As you can see, I first printed just the lower part. After I found two promising candidates for a good fit, I also printed the upper part.
Once I knew the width at both the start and the end of the piece, I used one of the best tools in ArmorSmith, the measure tool. It lets you measure any point on the model, so that’s how I figured out the exact length I needed for it to fit me properly. Then I just sent it to the printer and got my first forearm piece.
It looks good and fits great, but I ran into one issue. My forearm is a bit bigger when I straighten my hand, so it feels too tight, and I won’t be able to wear the undersuit comfortably underneath. Otherwise, I’m really happy with the fit and length.
So I needed to resize only the upper part, and there was an option for that in ArmorSmith. But I wasn’t able to be precise with it, and overall we just weren’t clicking.
This was my first attempt to do it in ArmorSmith. Way too small
No clue how that happened, but the resizing there feels weird to me. I’m used to working with CAD and having precise measurements.
So my other option was to just install Blender and learn how to modify 3D models. So I did.
And voila, we have the first perfectly fitting piece! Yay, just a ton more to go
I actually love the fit.
And yes, these are all the prints I needed to get the perfect fit and be satisfied. I think this learning curve will go much smoother in the future
After all, it was my first piece. And if you are wondering how tight it is around the wrist area, it’s really snug to get through, but once it’s on, it looks so good.
And this is everything together.
Was it worth of almost 4 days of hustle? Yes definetely
