Spartan-IV Armor build & undersuit

[Frozensnot]

I like the mesh idea. How would you attach it to the fabric your using? Stiching? I love the ideas.

Looking forward to more of your progress.

 

[theTavernKnight]

I've subscribed to your thread. Your research for the undersuit is top notch and your foam is pretty good too.

I've been going over the undersuit conundrum myself (but for an ODST), I gotta say the first, non-strech material looks pretty good and same with the larger holed stretch one. The tinier holes might actually work out great for my odst Dare's shoulders on the shoulders and legs.

Beyond that, keep up the good work

MSgt

P.S. @1600 GMT:

I found these sites that sell jersey fabric for sports teams.
jersey fabric place option 1
and
jersey fabric place option 2

not sure where you are exactly but these sites may help. I'm going with one for some of the underarmour on my ODST

Thanks. I'm still deciding on what mesh I want to use. Nothing has screamed "Perfect" yet, so we'll see. There's no huge rush either. I might order a sample swatch from these guys, too.

I like the mesh idea. How would you attach it to the fabric your using? Stiching? I love the ideas.

Looking forward to more of your progress.

Yep, I know how to sew, so I'll make the undersuit out of a stretchy rayon fabric as a lining with the mesh fabric as the outer layer. And there'll be bits of leather here and there for visual variety and to accent things like the elbows, etc.

Should have an update soon (I hope). I'm working on the lower abdomen/groin armor and getting it sized right and look right is proving to be a pain. I'm on version 3 at the moment -- hoping that's my goldilocks version.

 

[theTavernKnight]

Pardon the double post but I have an update. Worked on the lower-ab/groin armor and the hip padding for the suit.

I thought the groin armor would be easier but I realized I don't have Spartan hips and the shape of that armor just wasn't working comfortable, so things had to be adjusted. Took me three tries to get it to fit right and have roughly the correct shape.

And for fun here are all three versions side-by-side. Plenty of reasons for not liking the first two. I have a ton of foam sheets so "screwing up" and experimenting with the design wasn't a big deal.

Not sure if I'm going to put in the holes like in Version 2.0. It reminds me too much like a cup. If I do I need to make the holes smaller as they're way too big in Version 2.

Also worked on the hip armor. I made the template for this a while back and it was the first thing I had cut out of foam but I didn't know how to cut the foam properly then and the first try was really rough. Second round of cutting came out a lot better. IT's a pretty basic shape. I made it just wide enough so it'll spand the length of the side color portion of the undersuit.

I plan on adding some screws to these for some added detail and realism. Gotta experiment on scrap foam on how that'll work. Anyone try that or seen/heard how it works and handles?

The "midsection" armor is now all assembled.

I can start working on the larger more complicated portions of the armor.

*fingers crossed*

More on the blog.

 

[Ghost01]

I plan on adding some screws to these for some added detail and realism. Gotta experiment on scrap foam on how that'll work. Anyone try that or seen/heard how it works and handles?

What I would do is take the screws that you like (pick some that have hex or spline heads to give it a different look), cut off the actual length of the screw and just sink the head into the foam with a bit of hot glue to hold it in place. A light set of bolt cutters should do the trick easily enough.

 

[theTavernKnight]

What I would do is take the screws that you like (pick some that have hex or spline heads to give it a different look), cut off the actual length of the screw and just sink the head into the foam with a bit of hot glue to hold it in place. A light set of bolt cutters should do the trick easily enough.

Good idea. I'm going to play around with that.

Update:

I've been working on the Recon leg armor. Here's a great reference pic I've been using:

I actually don't think this armor made it into Halo 4. I've seen some leg armor that's kinda similar but not close enough to this. But I like the knees/shins on this, so I'm going with that. Still unsure if I'll do this thigh armor or maybe go with what I have in game -- Out Plated.

Anyways, I've been working on the floating Recon knees.

These will get some screws glued into them later for a touch of realism. Since they're floating knees that don't wrap around the knee at all for easy attaching I'll be adding a string of black vinyl to this and having that velcro or snap to the side of the undersuit.

Speaking of undersuits... I picked up some new gloves that I think will be perfect for what I'm going for in this build.

Also, I may have found the combo I'll use for the undersuit. Stretchy rayon for the base with a nylon netting on top that has a hexagon shape. It's a small mesh but still bigger than the ones I was looking at earlier and because it's so thin I think it'll look like it's part of the underlayer. It reflects light nicely, too, so there'll be a cool sheen to it depending on movement.

I'm waiting on a couple other mesh fabric samples to come in before I make final decision but this is the current leader.

That's it for now. Send me your thoughts and ideas!

 

[Mr Bond]

fabric for under armor

Where did you find the fabric you said was in the lead i think it was blue. Please let me know or send me a link to my e-mail at bondwarren@att.net many thanks

Good idea. I'm going to play around with that.

Update:

I've been working on the Recon leg armor. Here's a great reference pic I've been using:

I actually don't think this armor made it into Halo 4. I've seen some leg armor that's kinda similar but not close enough to this. But I like the knees/shins on this, so I'm going with that. Still unsure if I'll do this thigh armor or maybe go with what I have in game -- Out Plated.

Anyways, I've been working on the floating Recon knees.

These will get some screws glued into them later for a touch of realism. Since they're floating knees that don't wrap around the knee at all for easy attaching I'll be adding a string of black vinyl to this and having that velcro or snap to the side of the undersuit.

Speaking of undersuits... I picked up some new gloves that I think will be perfect for what I'm going for in this build.

Also, I may have found the combo I'll use for the undersuit. Stretchy rayon for the base with a nylon netting on top that has a hexagon shape. It's a small mesh but still bigger than the ones I was looking at earlier and because it's so thin I think it'll look like it's part of the underlayer. It reflects light nicely, too, so there'll be a cool sheen to it depending on movement.

I'm waiting on a couple other mesh fabric samples to come in before I make final decision but this is the current leader.

That's it for now. Send me your thoughts and ideas!

 

[Spartan_127]

Foam work is looking really good. Love the combo for the hex pattern. Looks awesome. Keep up the good work.

 

[theTavernKnight]

Where did you find the fabric you said was in the lead i think it was blue. Please let me know or send me a link to my e-mail at bondwarren@att.net many thanks

Sure thing. The nylon netting/mesh is from Fabric.com and the rayon stretch material is from Spandexworld.com

Foam work is looking really good. Love the combo for the hex pattern. Looks awesome. Keep up the good work.

Thanks. I'm hoping it'll look good. The girlfriend has been consistently reassuring me as I continue to second guess myself lately, ha. And I'm loving the foam so far. It's a bit more mentally charging since I have to pretty much make everything from scratch but that's part of the fun (and frustration).

 

[Drewhinkle09]

Awesome build so far! Subscribing now! Hey just a tip, if I can find the page on the rpf, someone came up with a great way to make a hexagon pattern on a fabric material. They were doing it for a nanosuit (crysis fans anyone? Lol) and they showed that by using a steel mesh with the pattern you want, you can heat emboss the pattern onto the fabric by heating the steel mesh with an iron. It was very effective and created a very high-tech/professional look. In my opinion it could really take your work to the next level. It should work well with the synthetics you're using btw. Maybe even the foam as well. It's worth experimenting though. Anyway, keep up the good work!

Drew

 

[theTavernKnight]

Awesome build so far! Subscribing now! Hey just a tip, if I can find the page on the rpf, someone came up with a great way to make a hexagon pattern on a fabric material. They were doing it for a nanosuit (crysis fans anyone? Lol) and they showed that by using a steel mesh with the pattern you want, you can heat emboss the pattern onto the fabric by heating the steel mesh with an iron. It was very effective and created a very high-tech/professional look. In my opinion it could really take your work to the next level. It should work well with the synthetics you're using btw. Maybe even the foam as well. It's worth experimenting though. Anyway, keep up the good work!

Drew

Thanks! And, yea if you can find that link that'd be interesting to look into. I'm intrigued.

 

[WARlock]

He acheived the hex pattern using the grill from a PCU computer power supply with a fan screen cut from it that had the hex pattern with the thin strips between.

 

[WARlock]

Great job so far..Keep it up.. I thought this might help with your under suit.

Sorry to post this in a few threads but I though it could be useful.
hi res http://i.imgur.com/eNCj5.jpg

-James-

This is a really great undersuit study no matter the game. Any chance of knowing which model you used to go over, program like Zbrush, etc. Maybe access to the actual model you used for the guide or link. Maybe a slightly lighter version to get the full design look where it shadows? I would like to reconstruct this in 3D and release here for undersuit creation both pep and foam/lycra with instructions. I would ask that I be allowed to insert little corrections for flexibility and movement like the pads at the back of the thigh and calf.

Thanks and great work.

 

[Gumption 117]

Thanks! And, yea if you can find that link that'd be interesting to look into. I'm intrigued.

Found it:

http://www.therpf.com/f24/tron-legacy-costume-88230/index118.html#post1596837

I wonder how raised the texture actually looks in the flesh?

 

[MSgt N161]

Hey TavernKnight,

looks really good bud! I definitely think you've found the best way to make the undersuit. Where did you find the 343 reference pics? On Halo Waypoint or elsewhere? Looking good

 

[theTavernKnight]

Found it:

http://www.therpf.com/f24/tron-legacy-costume-88230/index118.html#post1596837

I wonder how raised the texture actually looks in the flesh?

Thanks for this link. I'm gonna give this a try on the fabric samples I have at home. I'll let ya know how it turns out.

Hey TavernKnight,

looks really good bud! I definitely think you've found the best way to make the undersuit. Where did you find the 343 reference pics? On Halo Waypoint or elsewhere? Looking good

Appreciate it! I might give the link that Morphine sent over a shot and see how that goes. If not, I think I have a pretty decent Plan B.

As for the 343 reference pics, I found them via Google. The really nice high-res images of the Recon gear came from CGHub.

 

[vargatom]

This might be interesting: