Welcome back everyone to another Boundless Perception Blog Post. Today we are taking a look at something that plagued me for a long time and I’m sure has plagued several of you as well. What am I talking about, that is scaling cosplay of course. Figuring out exactly what size that next head peace or chest wear is going to can be rather troublesome. So many programs and other countries use mm or cm but of course, being the unique people we are here in the US, we do not use the metric system. So that means everything must be converted to either inches or feet. So, with the scene set let’s check out 3 steps to scaling your next cosplay outfit.
Combining The Models
I am skipping ahead a bit here but for good reason. We will revisit this section again when we are talking about selecting a slicing software. Currently, I use Cura as my go-to software to combine models. If you are not going to be 3D printing your model skip to the next step. Before You print your 3D model you need to combine the two pieces in your slicer. This is to make sure that the two pieces properly align. I made this mistake, and you can see all about it in this episode on my youtube channel. To combine models do the following. Open all models in Cura. Select them all by holding down shift and clicking them. Then right click and select merge model. DO THIS STEP FIRST. Then export the combined item as an STL file and open it in armorsmith.
Download Armorsmith
First up we have downloading armorsmith. Armosmith, at the time of the creation of this article the program is only $35. Trust me this will be the best $35 you ever spent. Armorsmith allows you to create an avatar of yourself with your exact measurements. Once you have entered your measurements, you know for certain that any cosplays you snap to the model will certainly fit. This is because each part has now been scaled to the avatar which is a direct copy of your body style. Make sure that the parts you scale are large enough to cover your body entirely. You do not want anything showing on the avatar so completely cover it. This is extremely important so please, please, please do not skip this step.
Import your STL fire Or Pepakura File
(CLICK THE IMPORT NOT OPEN BUTTON)
Make sure you have your STL or Pepakura file downloaded. If not, find one on either CTGtrader, Thingiverse or my Personal favorite Nikko Industries. You can see some examples of items I am currently printing in my ETSY store but these are just props and did not require scaling to an avatar, just size scaling. It’s extremely important that you (CLICK THE IMPORT NOT OPEN BUTTON) as clicking the open button does not work for some reason. Again, scale the selected part to your avatar then move on to the next step.
Once you have your file scaled, break up any large pieces you need to fit to your 3d printer (This is done via cutting, not slicing). If you’re going the Pepakura Rout, click the PATTERN LAYOUT button. This will show the entire model in a 2D-Paper format. Make sure you break up the model as I did in the image. They need to all fit on a page as trying to match up multiple pages can be a real pain. If your going the pepakura route this is all that Is needed. Now print and cut the patterns out on foam and simply glue them together. If you’re going the 3D printing route move on to the next step.
Download A Slicing Software
So now that you’re model is selected and scaled, it’s time to download a slicing software. There are several to choose from but for the sake of this article, I am going to talk about Prussia Slicer and Cura. Let’s talk about Prussia Slicer since I already discussed cura a bit earlier.
Prussia Slicer is a great software and extremely intuitive. There are so many things to go over with this program but for today were are only going to look at scaling. You’re going to want to click the box with an arrow in the top left corner. (Please reference the image).
Next, you’re going to want to turn your attention to the bottom right-hand corner. (Reference The Image above). Here you will see the X,Y, and Z Values. These values need to match your pepakura settings BUT THE X, Y, AND Z VALUES IN PEPAKURA DO NOT always LINE UP TO PRUSA SLICER. What I mean is make sure that each axis for length, depth, and width are the correct value. Do not confuse the values. Here an Example.
In the image above you can see my Z is 42.8cm. (Pepakura Uses Centimeters), my Y is 1.05 and my x is 37.2. Take these numbers and put them in Prussia slicer. In Prussia slicer my X would be 372, my y is 1050 and my Z is 428. Please make sure to enter the values in mm and not centimeters. It’s common to confuse depth and length. Make sure you place the correct value in the appropriate spot. Alternatively, you could Export the file as an STL from armorsmith and simply open it in either Prussia slicer or cura.
It’s now time to cut your models with Prussia slicer or cura. Again I use Prussia slicer to cut my models and I do not have much experience cutting models in cura. Use whichever program you would like to Cut your models. Once they are cut you are good to go. You now know that each model will certainly fit since they came directly from your armorsmith settings. Just export them as gcode and your good to go for printing.
I know this entire process can be extremely intimidating but trust me its not that bad once you have done it a few times. If you are confused about any parts definitely check out my YouTube video HERE!
Thank you so much for checking out my work and I certainly hope this article will help you in the future. I took me a while to get the hang of this but as you can see I am now printing very large pieces that I plan to debut at my next convention. I would love to see the armor pieces that you all are working on so feel free to post them below. That’s going to be everything for today. Until next time, stay BOUNDLESS!!!
