Halo 4 Spartan IV under armor and utility suit

[VividT E X]

Hello fellow chaps !​

I was bored today so I tought, why not work on something everybody seems to be afraid of. It's pretty much whit this idea in mind for about 2 months now that I sat in front of my computer, my wacom tablet ready, photosop opend and the first episode of the Halo 4 spartan ops to tackle this subject as it has to be tackled. After the second listening, I took a picture of a simple muscled male 3d model and I started, on a second layer, to sketch the basic outlines of the utility suit that the fire team Majestic members had in the beginning of the video. Just to practice. I think I came up with sonthing realy acurate. I then made, on layer under, sonme coloring just to give me the feel of the suit ...

So anyway here it is I tought It could be a good refference for anyone that would be brave enough to atempt it.​

The image itself​

Alright so here's the deal, This image here was only for me to practice getting a schematic from movie details. So if any of you guys want as bad as me to see the real deal ( the actual Spartan IV undersuit brought to life ) , well, my friends, it biggins by plans... And it happens that I volounteer to provide the comunity of such plans... If ever the comunity even want my plans xD. I will do that on my spare time for myself anyway, but if anyone ( agin ) wants such plans, the more you ask, the faster I provide you guys those ​

So that's it for me ! I'll start working on the real undersuit but I can finish the backside and the side of the utility suit for those who would want it

Have a nice one,

Max.

 

[Carpathia]

I for one would love super detailed reference pics of the undersuit design. I've got a few ideas on materiality, but just need something reliable to go off for the pattern. So maybe between you, me and anyone else who takes a stab at it, we can create something great.

This is what they're wearing at the beginning of the episode, correct? I wonder what the relevance of that uniform is, since we haven't seen it since that scene.

Looks great!

 

[PlayByMyOwnRule]

YES PLANS! I would totally be interested in some of those and by way great photo.

 

[VividT E X]

Well wlecome abord spartan ! So honnored that you're interested to my litle mad man project
You talked about the materiality of the suit and I have to say that it is what was bothering me the most ... I had ideas about how to create some parts of the suit, by clay sculpting, molding and plastic casting... but the suit itself, the material used to do it ... well I dont have any idea of what to use...

In fact, the only way I found was to make the suit with what I knew about armr making is :

1 a full cast of your body or 2 a duct tape dummy...

Then on this dummy, applying some clay and sculpt all the littles details...

Once done, mold it using Tony's technique for glove molding and cast it with neoprene.

Then you would end up with the torso, the leggs and the arms molded separatly ... some Parts would have to be plastic add ons molded with the neoprene suit like on the back of the shins or on the upper part of the hips ...

The red circles represent what i'm talking about...

In the end of that long long long proces ... you would end up with something legit if it work... But the problem is that since you're the one who did the dummy at first ... the suit would be scaled for you and only you ... So no possibility of making it avilable for anybody else unlike helmets....

So much to think about... !!! So like you said if any of you have any ideas, just let us know

Max.

 

[theTavernKnight]

Awesome, Max. I actually just started taking a nab at making the Spartan-IV undersuit myself, too. Actually just started a thread on it yesterday.

http://www.405th.com/showthread.php/38829-Spartan-IV-Armor-build-amp-undersuit

My torso mockup so far (underarmor not utility suit):

Still lacking in the details and it won't be this color but you get the idea. I have more details in what I'm thinking on my Halo armor project blog (http://torolf024.wordpress.com/) but I was thinking of a mix of stretch fabric with tool mesh and some faux leather. The honeycomb scale look of the suit would be hard to find/recreate without getting something special printed but tool mesh might get the idea across just the same.

As for the red circled areas, I plan on doing those out of foam and faux leather, though I probably won't do the foot or hamstring area since those will be covered by the outer armor anyways. I love to get as screen accurate as I can but I'll do some creative trimming. Of course, if the plan is to just walk around in the undersuit then hell yea, I'd make those bits. I plan on doing the hip and shoulder circled areas, though, again out of foam/leather.

If you want, I'd love to swap ideas back and forth on what works and doesn't. The high neckline is going to be a pain, I think, unless people have some interesting ideas.

 

[Carpathia]

In the end of that long long long proces ... you would end up with something legit if it work... But the problem is that since you're the one who did the dummy at first ... the suit would be scaled for you and only you ... So no possibility of making it avilable for anybody else unlike helmets...

Let's worry about getting the pattern and a construction technique down, then we can figure out how to set up a general pattern that can be scaled/adjusted for different body types. Hopefully, someone with more tailoring knowledge than me can help to figure that out.

I agree that the parts you have circled above will need to be made from some sort of hard material like plastic. Possibly made initially from pep, hardened very well, then vacuformed. To me, those areas can function as armor attachment points, since many of the armor parts seem to float on the undersuit. Take a look at the small ab sections of the different armors; they all seem to attach at the same two or three points. It would be easy to plan it out and sew a hard piece into the suit that would act as an attachment point. This could happen all over the suit; the shoulders, stomach, hips, knees, even the feet.

 

[nosaint]

Some sort of diver suit might be a good place to start...Buy 2, and then sew in foam parts in between around the edges to create detail. Then add some hard bits on the outside...

Would be a kewl project to watch being made!

 

[vargatom]

I agree that the parts you have circled above will need to be made from some sort of hard material like plastic.

I don't think that the parts on the shoulders, hips and some other places would work well that way... They bend around a lot to accommodate the proper range of motion. I'd rather use EVA foamies, 4-6mm thick, for most of these pieces.

 

[vargatom]

Some sort of diver suit might be a good place to start...

Diving suits need to be waterproof, which means you'd get cooked in them very, very quickly. Neither your sweat nor the hot air could escape from it because it's designed to keep you warm in water.

Most outdoor running gear available from companies like Nike has underlayer elements that are skin tight as well but they're designed to drive sweat and heat to the outside of the surface, they're sort of breathing fabrics. That should work far better but also costs somewhat more. You could then use a stencil to paint the hexagonal pattern on top of it...

 

[Liamthedevastator]

We could also set one person to make clay models of all those "hard plastic bits", then cast them in this castable soft rubber compound. That way they could be distributed as a parts kit attachable to the undersuit, and the soft cast rubber would be much more flexible than any thing we could make. The other option is foam, though forming it consistently would be tough. As for the fabric you're right, it needs to be something flexible and game accurate yet breathable. I think we are in the right thinking with Neoprene as you can buy several different types such as 'smooth raw', unbreakable loop backing (dunno what that is) and perforated neoprene for breathability. That is all available via this link, though it is pretty expensive it's just an idea of available fabrics.

Also, adhesive for securing rubber to fabrics. I would be keen to see plans for both undersuits!

I've thought before that perhaps the best way to achieve this look is to make a simple body suit, attach all of the dynamic shapes and underarmour plates to that, then sew a stretchy fabric on the outside to get the form without all of the individual parts being visible.

I'm also trying to research this, but does anybody know/have any ideas on neoprene vacuum forming?. The texture on the MK-VI undersuit could likely be attained by vacuum forming either neoprene fabric or neoprene EVA foam. Here is a quick thingy on vacuum forming these products (though its for a cellphone).

BLAH

sorry for all the edits, I got unreasonably stoked on this for some reason

Grr, i'm a maroon, just saw the bits about casting in neoprene. Yes, i think that would be a good way to go!

 

[vargatom]

I've suggested this kind of clothing before:

http://www.mcdavidusa.com/performance/all

Some of the pieces even have a hexagonal pattern on elbows and knees... They aren't cheap but then again how much would casting cost?

And again, illusion can be everything, this guy just used a stencil to paint a hexagonal pattern on top of a skintight lycra suit or such:

So you don't actually need to put a 3D pattern on the suit, just painting it would look fine enough IMHO

 

[Gumption 117]

I keep thinking about how I'm going to start my Master Chief undersuit and just seem to keep chasing my tail.

The issues I have currently running through my head are:
1. HD reference pictures (for the undersuit)
2. Choice of materials (for the circular / hex texture, do I use for then plasti-dip or is there a material already out there?)
3. How detailed do I get? Do I include the "hard plastic" areas?

mold it using Tony's technique for glove molding and cast it with neoprene.

Do you have a link to such a technique? It might be applicable to making the hex texture in rolls neoprene that can be then cut up into pieces.

My knowledge of different materials is very much lacking. However, I've been keeping an eye out for any texture resembling the hex weave whilst shopping but haven't found anything as yet.

EDIT: For a textured print, you could always silkscreen the texture onto neoprene, cut it up and sew it together to create the patterns in the undersuit's design. My guess is that this will most likely be the easiest to do but if people are still wanting the actual bumpy texture, another avenue might need to be taken.

 

[Frozensnot]

Dude, i really like the undersuit stuff you got going on.

I would totally be on board for tackling this...if only i wasnt working on a mark 6 build.

As for ideas, there was one guy who was working on a custom design for the hexagonal undersuit. Cant seem to remember who he was or where it was.

 

[Gumption 117]

Dude, i really like the undersuit stuff you got going on.

I would totally be on board for tackling this...if only i wasnt working on a mark 6 build.

As for ideas, there was one guy who was working on a custom design for the hexagonal undersuit. Cant seem to remember who he was or where it was.

fsracer has done it using EVA foam, drilling out the pattern on the foam sheets. Post is HERE that details how he did it. My biggest concern is durability and stretching, especially around the underarms and knees. Neoprene definitely has a lot more flexibility than EVA foam but would probably cost more for a custom solution.

Doing some more searching I've found a local company that can do compression molding, and they've also used neoprene before (link HERE). If a mold of the hex texture could be used, we might be able to get sheets of actual textured neoprene, but no idea on cost of the mold and actual pressing.

 

[VividT E X]

Hey guys !!!!! Not a whole lot to show ... sadly but a whole lot to say ... Well to be honnest, I started working on the undersuit plans, but the I tought that maybe homeworks should come first xD ... Well ... I guess I'll do further progress tomorow since my class finish at 11h o clock Happy face me dears, happy face me I say ! ^^

So let's just say that tomorow, hopfully, we will end up with a front view of the chest-arm-leg pieces and I'll try to get it with clear patterns and all the stuff just to get some ideas of how pieces/layers work

So, now, I want to do a " SUM-UP" of everyting that have been said in the few post replies...

- First we have a common idea of a swim-skinthight-breathable-mesh-light-cool-suit.... in one word ... a base for all the layers that will come
next...

- Secondly, some stuffing to get the volumes right ... cause, for my part, spartans are a LOT more muscled than me xD ...

- Thirdly I tought about foamies to kinda " form " all the stuffing in the larger details of the suit.

- And Finaly a mix of neoprene, thermoforming and ruber casting extra parts ( red circled ones ) to skin all the suit and to give it it's hex/bubled surface/texture.

It's coming along guys, I feel it a litle xD. Welcome to all of the new ones, I'm so glad to have you by my sides to help me figure it out I'll try to learn as much as I can from all of you guys and maybe help some others that could be all messed up ^^ .

I just can't say that I did not try to learn from what FSracer did, that would be lying xD ... he's kind of a pioneer in the spartan 4 under armor, and I'll deffinitly try to get something as inovating So, finaly, the sooner I get those schematics done, the sooner we can figure what is going where and what it is made of what material

So stay tuned chaps, I'll be back tomorow with more for you

Max, out for the night...

 

[Gumption 117]

- Secondly, some stuffing to get the volumes right ... cause, for my part, spartans are a LOT more muscled than me xD ...

- Thirdly I tought about foamies to kinda " form " all the stuffing in the larger details of the suit.

- And Finaly a mix of neoprene, thermoforming and ruber casting extra parts ( red circled ones ) to skin all the suit and to give it it's hex/bubled surface/texture.

Alrighty, I'll try put a further 2 cents into the discussion:

Your second point - I'm actually working on bulking up, starting this week actually. I used to have a little upperbody size, but this year I took up cycling, so my legs are more defined but not going to the gym I've lost that upperbody size. It'd take well over a year or so of commitment to look anything like a spartan, but I'm going to see how far I can go in the space of 6-7 months (when the Australian PAX Expo will be on).

Third point - I was thinking if I couldn't get the size / definition I wanted, I could fill the undersuit out with shaped EVA foam. The suit itself is quite defined, so I'd just be adding underneath it what I don't have in muscle definition Also, depending on how the seams are sewn / stuck together, it may produce a little definition by itself.

Fourth point - I've only found out about plasti-dip in the past week, and it certainly looks the part. Here's a pumpkin being plasti-dipped in a matte black HERE. I'm not sure how durable the surface is, but if it's sitting on foam then patching it up wouldn't be too hard I wouldn't think.

 

[James 005]

Hey guys great ideas. I made this last night and was going to start a new thread then came across this one. I'm probably not going to make this so I thought you might find it useful. I photoshopped a bunch of screen shots together to make this and took some liberties with the pants since there aren't any shots of the lower legs.. same with the sides of the back.

-James-

link to hi-res http://i.imgur.com/L4uQ7.jpg

 

[Liamthedevastator]

I think the forming of foam in combination with the plastidip would be great, though I'm sure gyming would be the most ideal thing to do! Also important to keep in mind that Vargatom said that this is all about illusion, so we just need to find he right materials to convey the idea and people imaginations will do the rest!


edit: lol, followed the link that Vargatom posted and it's a tonne of jock straps... not what i was expecting. Product we're looking for is down the page a bit more

 

[Gumption 117]

Hey guys great ideas. I made this last night and was going to start a new thread then came across this one. I'm probably not going to make this so I thought you might find it useful. I photoshopped a bunch of screen shots together to make this and took some liberties with the pants since there aren't any shots of the lower legs.. same with the sides of the back.

-James-

link to hi-res http://i.imgur.com/L4uQ7.jpg

This looks like the "leisure" suit in one of the Spartan Ops episodes. I don't think that it's the Spartan undersuit but looks like an impressive job nonetheless.

I have some great screen caps from one of the vidocs I found. I'll be posting them tomorrow morning!

 

[Gumption 117]

Ok, so I've uploaded the undersuit pics this morning and here they are:











I wish the video shows a complete rotation of the undersuit, but close to showing the front they fade on the armour Hopefully there are other videos out there showing as much detail!