Gonna tackle an Elite Costume

[Macattack64]

Wonderful,
I'd love you so much if you'd be in the movie.

Love in a totally heterosexual way.

And I sort of update on the film. Our group is growing. We made a bunch of movies for our Cinematography club and raised 1,700 for the club. We have a bluescreen room and now we're gonna invest in stuff like lights and a boom mic and stuff. All of this stuff will be openly available for my Halo movie. Things keep getting better and better. I also got a new HD camera that has wonderful quality. I'll throw together some test footage once I finish a few more weapons.

Yea... I'm still not sure yet... :\...

 

[monstermike19]

idea for the hands.

lol something like that would be fun for almost anything

 

[Macattack64]

lol something like that would be fun for almost anything

Oh also Papasmurf... I forgot to mention this...

His hands don't move... There are no animatronics in them... :\... For that blue elite... :\...

I think the sword is secured to that one hand too...

I've seen a video with him at the costume contest and his hands don't move... :\

 

[papamurf812]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure mine'll move. I'm also gonna try to connect the animatronics of one of the hands so that the hand movements can somehow control the mandibles. Or just use a pulley system and attach the supports to the user's chin. We'll see. Also, what stuff should I showcase in my demo film for the movie. Any short stunts, effects, etc. you guys would like to see?

 

[Jacob]

Yeah, I'm pretty sure mine'll move. I'm also gonna try to connect the animatronics of one of the hands so that the hand movements can somehow control the mandibles. Or just use a pulley system and attach the supports to the user's chin. We'll see. Also, what stuff should I showcase in my demo film for the movie. Any short stunts, effects, etc. you guys would like to see?

Hell, just show us a damn fight.

 

[Descended Life]

"And thats the neighbors wondering wat the hell we're doing.." lol sweet!

nice project, great progress, and sweet thinking too

 

[clownpuncher]

that would be awsome when you are done
you need to keep us posted on this!!

 

[grid 187]

Alright, this shouldn't be as complicated as everyone says.

For the head:
Take a BMX helmet and sculpt the head on top of that. Will use clay, craft foam, or pepakura. I'm trying to figure out a low budget way to get the jaw to move without to much work.
For the body:
I'm just gonna shape it with craft foam and hot glue. Then do something to give it a hard shiny finish. Maybe that spray resin stuff. Arms will be bulked up with a costume bought at party city (halloween is coming up so this shouldn't be too hard to find.)
For the legs:
I'm just gonna use this fancy set up:

The stilts in action

This shouldn't be too complicated.
What do you guys think? I'll run to the store and pick up craft foam and such so I can start soon.

Holy moly thats crazy, and an awesome idea I think were gonna save the attachment for a future build GO ELITES!!!

 

[Skie]

Hi guys (and gals!)

I'm the guy who owns the website that those elite pictures are posted on ( http://www.planetdawnofwar.com/gallery/elite )

Unfortunately, I didn't make nor own the costume itself! Matt Asanuma is the guy who created it, and he and myself spoke a few times back in late 2005 about his suit. He was going to sell the suit to me to be used in a retail store my friend owns (and who would have paid for half of the costume) for the xbox 360 launch night. His store is placed very close to another larger chain of stores, and it would be a great way to draw in customers from the competition.

Sadly, Matt is massively busy with a lot of travel overseas and we were unable to complete the deal before he went abroad for a lengthy period. If anyone is interested in providing a suit of similar quality, we still are (its not as if the halo franchise is going to go away any time soon)

I did speak to Matt a bit about how the suit was built, and with the large collection of photos I have I can probably give you guys a few pointers. I've uploaded a few new ones, too.

http://www.planetdawnofwar.com/gallery/eli...5.jpg?offset=20 http://www.planetdawnofwar.com/gallery/eli...=1&offset=0 and http://www.planetdawnofwar.com/gallery/eli...8.jpg?offset=20 is a good way to see where the knees/legs and arms all are. Matt was 5'5" tall when these were taken, so I guess you could use that as a scale.

The jaws: steel cables run from each jaw, down the back of the wearer's head, and attach to the chest armor. Each jaw is spring loaded with rubber bands which continually hold them open. When the wearer drops their head, the cables pull tight, and with that, the mandibles close.

Anyone thinking about using spandex/lycra/under armor: Dont use it if it will be touching your skin. That stuff is great for shifting sweat away from your skin, but thats exactly what you don't want when you have foam and padding ontop of that. Foam full of sweat is no fun. Wear a cotton unitard underneath everything else, this stuff will hold your sweat and make cleaning/maintenance much easier.

Well, I hope that helps some of you out. As I said before, we are still interested in an elite costume for the store

 

[papamurf812]

You got my email, thanks man! He's an inspiration for many of us here. If I can, I'll try to build something for the store, but I can't promise anything. Thanks for posting!

 

[Skie]

While I'm here I might as well add a thought I had about my suit that no one has touched on.

That video that was posted above with the Elite suit... the one thing that I think really could have been improved upon is the skin, or the lack of it.

The 'Skin' you can see on the elites isnt actually skin at all, its the undersuit of their armour (much like the MC's black undersuit between the armour peices). Halo 2 shows this prety well when the arbiter is stripped and branded, and Halo 3 shows it as well with his non armoured areas having a blue-black design.

As for the legs, do a google search for digitigrade stilts. The elites are so large compared to a normal human it should be easy enough to have your knee where its thigh is and its knee by your shins and keep the proportions right. It just means you have to squat walk to get the effect.

 

[papamurf812]

The 'Skin' you can see on the elites isnt actually skin at all, its the undersuit of their armour (much like the MC's black undersuit between the armour peices). Halo 2 shows this prety well when the arbiter is stripped and branded, and Halo 3 shows it as well with his non armoured areas having a blue-black design.

As for the legs, do a google search for digitigrade stilts. The elites are so large compared to a normal human it should be easy enough to have your knee where its thigh is and its knee by your shins and keep the proportions right. It just means you have to squat walk to get the effect.

Yeah, for the stilts, that's what I was planning on doing. How did he make the head? It looks like it was professionally done. Anything else you can tell us about his suit? You've been a great help. I can't believe he was 5'5! He towers over everyone.

ALSO:

Edited the first post on how to do the padding on the legs. I will put all useful links in the first post to make this easier. This can be the definitive Elite thread.

 

[Macattack64]

Wow... I didn't realize he was 5' 5" either... :\

 

[Skie]

You can see how oversized the costume is in a few of the pictures with the head off. The shoulders are above his head!

Taken from an e-mail exchange with him:

The muscles and body structure are primarily made up of bedding foam and funoodles (the foam noodle toys that you take into the pool). All of the armor is custom formed from flat sheets of ABS plastic. The hands are formed from small lengths of funoodle that has been wrapped in black athletics tape.

 

[papamurf812]

You can see how oversized the costume is in a few of the pictures with the head off. The shoulders are above his head!

Taken from an e-mail exchange with him:

Wow... He's a genius! It sounds so much easier than he made it look. I mean, it almost looks like something that would be in the Halo movie! I give that guy mad props. I hope he doesn't mind if we utilize some of his ideas.

 

[Macattack64]

Yea... I think the hardest part will be making sure everything stays on and secure... :\

 

[papamurf812]

And... That's where duct tape comes in! Or there's a tape similiar to duct tape but is slightly stretchy. That'd be perfect.

Also, Mac, do you have AIM? IM me sometime if you do: AIM same as my username

 

[crazybunny]

omg those stilits are awsome

 

[The covenant elite]

i have a picture on how im gonna have the stilts on my elite costume (sorry if it comes a bit fast, but i have been making it before i found these forums) but i dont know how to post pictures i got on my computer. i made most of the armor on it, including chest armor arm armor and head armor. i had the leg armor too, but i realized i have to stuff my pants to make it look stronger, and then the thigh armor was way too small. please tell how to post pictures from the computer!

 

[Skie]

Use a site like http://www.imageshack.us/ or http://www.photobucket.com to upload the pictures and then link to them here.