Aurora Rises Episode 3 – Originator of Species

As Aurora came to life in our model shop, we felt that an interview with her creator was absolutely part of the showcase.

Jet is currently entrenched in Marvel productions, so a daytime Zoom was out of the question. Instead, we lined up a time to chat after hours while he took some respite from creating features for Marvel’s next instalment.

PRT: What was it that made you want to drive this project in the first place?

JC: The film industry is, understandably, really protective over IP [intellectual property]. It’s hard to show people your achievements without a long wait and a lot of permissions from the big corporations. When you have a great team of modelmakers and some brilliant technology, you want to show off. I thought that we could create something that had no IP drawbacks; something that we could show to whomever we wanted, and that we could use to promote our respective skills without any worries about legal consequences. Building our own hero prop was something both Makinarium and Paragon could benefit from. The collaboration meant I could have a professional print service and all the support you guys give at my disposal; and together we could show how we could use 3D printing to bring designs to the next level. SL 3D print quality is just so good – and we’re talking industrial 3D printing here, not your home printer in your garage. The print can be used as the prop – there’s no need for creating casts anymore. We need to shout about this.

PRT: Of all the fantastical and mythical realms and creatures you have worked with, what made you go for an android as the basis of the project?

JC:  I thought quite hard about this. I wanted an item that would show a barrage of 3D printing types and different media, and its versatility with snap fit design. So, it needed to be something that would captivate the imagination and demonstrate engineering and design ability.

Sci-Fi always works well in instilling intrigue, and the human form is instantly relatable. I wanted to design something that encapsulated everything you’d expect to see in a movie – something that you could break down into its constituent parts and the pieces would still look clean and attractive. An amalgamation, if you like, of everything sci-fi and a lifetime of exposure to the film industry and modern progression. A little like Apple products – super-clean, super-modern and yet still functional and tangible. I didn’t want anything hyper-realistic, though. The female form offers all that – clean lines, and yet totally and universally attractive and tangible. And an android would encapsulate everything.

PRT: Having decided on form, what were the next steps?

JC: I tend to sketch in 3D rather than on paper so it was straight to the electric drawing board. This was going to be a project that evolved over time, so I wanted to make sure that she was not overly complicated, but she had enough components to showcase different technologies. Which components would be created through those processes would be up to you guys. What was important was that she was simple to pull apart to show her integral workings and simple put back together again. And, that there were enough parts to really show off the printing ability and your skills in finishing and bringing her to ‘life’. We were starting with the head – that is the part that gives the android a persona. I envisaged she’d be feminine but not too much so, and that she’d have very clean lines. She needed to convey, at the same time, that she was still a machine. Form and function were the objectives. Over the course of the day she emerged on the CAD with about 20 parts in her make-up.