M6H DMG Variant (Modified for detail and cleaned for 3D printing)

[Shadow Of Intent]

I've typically only made props for my own use at conventions, but I'm hopefully going to start selling resin and aluminium casts soon, so I've been looking for smaller props that would have a lower production cost and post production time.

I decided on the M6 Series, but wanted something more unique than the more popular M6H and M6G's (M6H2 would have been nioce, but I'm nowhere near experienced enough to try making that from scratch yet). I took a closer look at Halo Online's M6H variants and noticed the DMG version has an interesting skeletonised grip, complemented by a similarly styled upper shroud.

The lack of the lower barrel attachment reveals what seems to be a standard sized picatinny rail, but without an overhang. There was also the issue of all the separate components being open shells and intersecting without any shared vertices:



I've begun the arduous process of cleaning up the interior so that all the parts that should be a single piece can be printed as such, and the magazine channel much more closely resembles the actual magazine shape to make removal and insertion possible. I've also modelled a picatinny rail to match the profile of the front of the gun, but without the block at the front, so it could be usable for 3rd party attachments, or if I decided to model the default M6H lower attachment to be compatible with picatinny rails. I'll add some details in like the angled grooves on the main body and screws on the outside, but here's how it currently looks:

 

[Chernobyl]

Very nice work - it's always a pleasure to see people actually utilising the Halo: Online files I've put up for use. You'll have to keep me informed as to how this project actually goes.

 

[KingRahl]

It's a little disorienting seeing it in smooth shading instead of flat. Looks like a fun project. If you were REALLLLY wanting to do the M6H2, I've already modeled it. http://www.405th.com/showthread.php?t=45599 The link to the file is in post #10. I'm still working on modeling each part to be 3D printed separately and assembled. I don't get the time I want to do this. I'd love to see it cast in aluminum. I'm seeing people selling them on Etsy already.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Will do, and thanks for putting the files on the archive in the first place!

I've been looking at your threads over the past few weeks and something you mentioned about files you'd ripped stuck in my mind while I've been modifying the vertex co-ordinates of the model: A lot of seemingly flat planes and straight edges on the model actually "wobble" to the point where you can tell they're visibly imperfect. The fluctuations are smaller than the layer thickness of most 3D printers so I've ignored it for now, but I can't imagine they'd have been made like that in the first place, so, perhaps it's an artefact of the way the original files were exported into the game, or more likely created during the ripping process?

I know discussion of ripping methods falls between "frowned upon" and "forbidden" on these forums so I'll try and keep this vague... I'd considered trying something like a certain universal direct X tool to dump cached 3D files from the RAM and see if getting the M6H that way yielded different results from trying to extract them directly from the game directory itself, in which case the spatial co-ordiantes of the vertex points may have lost some of their accuracy after being converted to the game's co-ordinate system (No idea if that's how it would work, but it seems plausible given that the vertices are all "nearly" perfect).

Regardless, all this cleanup is the result of a 5 hour print that failed because I'd tried to get away without any of the cavity closing, so I'll try running off a greatly scaled down version first to check it prints correctly and the supports work well!

 

[Chernobyl]

perhaps it's an artefact of the way the original files were exported into the game, or more likely created during the ripping process?

The files are direct-ripped, so any imperfections are beyond my ability to correct with other tools. Put simply: this is the best we can do, I'm afraid, though I'll have a second look to ensure I'm not going crazy. It *may* be that I haven't extracted direct rips of the weapons yet, and that I've only completed the armours thus far.

EDIT: yep, these are the best-quality we're likely to get out of the game. I recall obtaining the files through your previously-mentioned Super Special Direct Ripping Tool X Version Extreme, which produced results.... just, not viable results. A little clean-up work will be needed to get these files print-worthy, but certainly less than the effort that would have been needed with the V1.0 set. Again, keep me informed of how this project turns out, I'd be very interested in seeing the final product and perhaps also in obtaining one at some point.

EDIT 2.0: the base model for this file is the Halo 4 Magnum, and the Halo: Online files marry up to it quite nicely. It's possible you could save yourself some work on cleaning up the entire thing, and simply use the Halo 4 body with the Halo: Online skeletal pistol grip and top sight.

EDIT 3.0: added an image attachment to prove my point - the base M6H from Halo 4 is shown highlighted.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

It's a little disorienting seeing it in smooth shading instead of flat. Looks like a fun project. If you were REALLLLY wanting to do the M6H2, I've already modeled it. http://www.405th.com/showthread.php?t=45599 The link to the file is in post #10. I'm still working on modeling each part to be 3D printed separately and assembled. I don't get the time I want to do this. I'd love to see it cast in aluminum. I'm seeing people selling them on Etsy already.

I'm not even familiar enough with Blender to know how to change the shading type! I've been working in edit mode all the time though, so the wireframe overlay was sufficient for me.

I actually already have a download of your file from when I was comparing the overall size of the M6H and M6H2 after scaling the handguard interior to be the same. I first found your file on Thingiverse that someone had stolen from your original Myminifactory upload, which was a real dick move on their behalf. I'd like to have been able to work out a kind of royalty / large tip with you and sell batches of your M6H2, but my facebook page is relatively unknown right now, so I've no idea how successful the sales of my casts would be, or if they'd even turn out that well in the first place. Learning how to do this myself is one of my future goals, so getting some modelling experience has proven useful so far.

There's also the fact that Boomco just launched the M6H2 as a dart gun, so even if it's a relatively uncommon cosplay prop right now, fairly soon I expect we'll see an influx of resprayed versions of it.

Metal casting will be some way off yet, but I have an offer for an induction furnace on indefinite loan which I hope to take up ASAP. Not sure how I'll tackle the casting yet, I'm thinking 3D print > Surface finishing > Silicon mold > Foam cast > Bucket of fine sand > Lost foam cast using molten aluminium. I'll need to source some sort of low density liquid foam that can be almost entirely evaporated by molten metal after setting, like a liquified version of expanded polystyrene if such a thing exists.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

For some reason, every time I exported the files I'd cleaned up as .OBJs and used the Netfabb model repair service to check their integrity, the "fixed" model would always come back with unwanted errors, or with certain details removed. Switched to exporting everything in STL format, and stopped getting all the usual errors.
Did a small 1:5 scale print of the M6H to check and it seems that everything's being printed correctly now. Here's a flat render (With a few edge errors) and some progress images of the print.



On an unrelated note, I finally had some success getting a file I've been after for years: Timesplitters Future Perfect's mag charger and monkey gun! For some reason using the PS2 version of the game provided me with a horribly distorted model, and it lacked textures. Tried again with the gamecube rom and had much more success. Interestingly the textures were mirrored, and presubably the un-mirroring process re-wrote the data backwards resulting in the Red and Blue colour channels being switched. Found an easy fix with Irfanview being able to do a one-click RGB>BGR conversion.

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

I'd already be done with the printing by now if it weren't for two things: One, I'm waiting for a delivery of printing filament so I won't risk running out part way through, and second, I'm really not happy with the mechanics of the actual M6H. In Halo 2, the entire upper surface of the M6C is exposed, so you can see how it moves, and the entire upper assembly slides back from the recoil, but in other Halo titles the front face of the gun that surrounds the barrel stays in place, so there must be a split part way down the "slider" section that gets pulled back during the cocking process, but this is hidden underneath the smart link scope so it's impossible to see where it is.

In Halo 5, the slider remains under the smart link "shroud" even during the recoil, but in Halo 4 (M6H) it pulls out completely, and leaves a huge gap that makes it evident bullets couldn't possibly be transferred from the magazine to the barrel. The M6D and M6G both have a front that matches the height and width of the slider, so it's feasible that they could match up properly beneath the shroud, and it would look like the M6C if their shrouds were removed. The M6H on the other hand, has a cocking mechanism that's much taller than the front of the gun, and much narrower. I've checked several 3D models by Marves2142, Harican89 and Serin117, and all their models feature the same misalignment I've found in halo online's files.

Because I want this gun to be as modular as possible when finished, I'd like to make it look right even without the shroud, but this would be impossible without seriously altering the form of the M6H's muzzle. After watching some pistol reload animations it seems like the bullets are usually pushed upwards slightly when they're chambered, but the barrel on the M6H is actually lower than the topmost bullet in the magazine.

It's be great if there was a reference image or concept art for the M6H which didn't use the scope/shroud, so I could tell how best to match up the two parts

 

[Shadow Of Intent]

Since my last post I've pretty much finalised the design. I've increased the muzzle height significantly and it now matches the slider (Which is now much longer, and I've removed the part which intersected the front of the gun, so the whole thing actually looks pretty tidy even without the vented shroud. Here's a picture of the new design, the first printed piece in progress (Compared with the failed first print before I cleaned up the model) and an indication of the amount of printing left to do!



Really pleased with how the first piece came out. I'd modified the couplers on my printer so there's a lot less wobble now, and it definitely shows.
Unfortunately the heatbed has stopped working and it looks like a power delivery problem, so no more printing until I get that replaced.



I'm more likely to post photos on my facebook page, so if anyone's interested in following the progress there rather than here, this is my link: Calibre Designs