Standing on the shoulders of Small Soldiers: 3D printing in the movie industry

An entire film crew lies down, barking directions back and forth. Cameras are fixed on a large grey box. As the futuristic action figures appear before them, they wait. They will not have enough footage for 72 hours.

A year later Major Chip Hazard is seen emerging from the liquid tank in just seconds. Lasers are firing towards his anatomy and he begins his climb. Archer was his star in 1998’s movie. The Small SoldierHe immediately joins him.

As rapid prototyping made its Hollywood debut, it represented a 3D printing machine operator’s dream: functioning parts – in this case nefarious action figures – produced in the time it takes to send an email. The creation of Small Soldiers wasn’t a reality in an age where missile technology can be used to enhance the functionality of later-dead action figures. Although it doesn’t age well as a movie, its reputation for being an anecdote or piece of trivia, and also the premier of an industry trend, are much better.

The backstage

Location for filming this segment was in a 3D Systems Tech Center Valencia, California 1997

“Three days of shooting for 20 seconds of action,” was the assessment of Jan Richter, who ran the Tech Center at the time. “It was unbelievable. I’ve never been on a movie shoot before, and I’ve heard the comments of ‘hurry and wait.’ That was it.”

Typically, the Tech Center was used for prototypes and design validation models, and while there were prop shops making moulds with 3D printing technology at this time, the Small Soldiers call came as a surprise to 3D Systems – so much so, the company wasn’t sure what to charge the studio to use its facility. In the end, it was a very tiny fraction of the movie’s 40m USD budget.

“We’d been brought up on this is for prototyping,” said Covestro Additive Manufacturing’s Andrew Graves worked in 3D Systems during the 1990s. “All the applications were in aerospace, automotive and consumer goods, and there had been a few artists that had been using it making direct use models or masters for metal casting, but it was the first time that we’d heard of the movie industry [being interested in 3D printing]. It was cool. Our industry was expanding to making films.”

For 3D printing’s initial step into movies to happen, 3D Systems agreed to dedicate an SLA 5000 within its Tech Center to the Small Soldiers film crew. A tent was set up around the machine, which is located in the corner between nine of 9 printers. It was used for three days. Before filming commenced, a mock figure was printed with an early Accura resin (the actual figures would be fabricated by hand), but when the film crew set up their equipment, Richter told TCT that syrup was used to fill the vat due to concerns that the lighting used by the crew would cure the resin while filming was underway – the studio had to pay for that. After the syrup had been loaded the cameras began to record the scenes you can see in the beginning of the film. The crew made camp by setting up tents near the machines because filming was so slow. Other footage was also taken within the facility by the crew, including passing shots of other printers. These were never used.

A year after the film was released, reactions were muted outside the industry. Richter jokes that even by 1998 people still didn’t want to listen to him talk about his job at parties – that would change in time – though people within the industry had begun sharing files to print their own moulds and make their own models. Jason Lopes was then. Legacy EffectsAmerican special effects studio X-Factor had read the story and wanted to share his thoughts at industry events, such as the Additive Manufacturing Users Group (AMUG).

“My whole thing was to really understand this tool from a different perspective,” Lopes told TCT at this year’s AMUG. “Everyone sees it for product development, prototyping, this and that. It was about how we view it as part of us, especially the younger generations, so that they can see there are many ways to do it. Each idea has a chance now. It’s a lot easier to prototype something today, even if you’re not good with your hands, there’s a way to bring something into this world and give it an opportunity. [I wanted to] A) get people hooked by showing them the history of these films that they’ve seen, and then B) inspire them to think that I’m going to be more daring, I’m going to try, try, try more and I’m not going to fear failure.”

Lopes spent 15 years working at the intersection of 3D printing and movies, including on Iron Man and Jurassic World. In all that time, he hasn’t come across an earlier on-screen depiction or end-use application of a 3D printer. Today, they’re often used as a prop to convey a futuristic feel, and, increasingly, to produce the props themselves.

“The irony is,” Lopes continued, “it’s shown in the opening scenes. You can see it in the first scenes. [Small Soldiers] Characters were not made with 3D printing. [with] Hand-made traditional fabric [techniques], but it gave us a glimpse of what’s to come.”

…And action! 

What was to come was 3D printing’s role in movies, like any great actor, evolving over time. Three years after Small Soldiers, a ‘rapid prototyper’ was used by a character in Jurassic Park III to portray the prototyping of a velociraptor’s resonating chamber, and now, you’d be spoilt for choice to pick your favourite Hollywood application of 3D printing.

Lopes considers Legacy Effects’ work in the Iron Man movie productions a significant milestone. Stereolithography was used by the company to design the Iron Man suit. The gloves were then customized for Robert Downey Jr., who played the lead role in the movie. Ten years on from the first Iron Man film, Black Panther turned to Selective Laser Sintering to produce pieces for Queen Ramonda’s costume, after Guardians of the Galaxy had applied an Objet500 Connex printer to produce Star Lord’s mask. More recently, LAIKA deployed 3D printing to produce 102,000 different animated character faces for Missing Link – a 5x increase on its first movie Coraline.

During the writing of this article, Formlabs announced its Form 3L machine was used by the makers of HBO Max series Raised By Wolves to produce moulds, end-use props and make-up effects for the show’s second season. During Small Soldiers, when the decision had been made to push ahead with a set of toys manufactured using missile technology, a deadline of three months to get products on shelves is given – half the time that would usually be set. Hollywood is known for demanding such things in the real world. At this point, 3D printing can be used to make props. Rob Wiggins, who was introduced to 3D printing technology while working as a Concept Artist and 3D Sculptor for Hasbro, now ‘almost exclusively’ uses 3D printing to make props through his own business Do it right Dudes. According to him and other experts in 3D printing technology as well as the film industry, there are many reasons.

“With 3D printing, you’re able to get finer details and it’s repeatable,” Wiggins said. “If you’ve got a part that you’re making from scratch, you’re making a bespoke product. If they say, ‘hey, we need two of these again,’ or ‘hey, it broke,’ you’ve just doubled your entire process time for doing a prop. Whereas with 3D printing, if they come back to us and say, ‘hey, remember that prop you made us, can you make another one?’ you’re cutting down on so much money and time that otherwise would have been spent trying to reproduce that asset over again.”

“Clients change their mind all the time,” Lopes added. “If you’re doing a traditional sculpture and a client changes it, that’s weeks. [Also]We found symmetry to be a wonderful thing. Being able to work on symmetrical things and just mirror to the other side so amazingly fast – time is money. From project to project, projects move quickly. The first one took six months. Next, it takes three months. And the second one takes two months. It is essential to stay on top of their decisions in a near-real time fashion. [is a big benefit of 3D printing]. In a traditional world, when it takes a lot to change, the more you’re asking someone to do that the more they’re losing their passion for doing that. It’s going to slow them down. It’s a psychology play too. Everyone likes to do better, faster.”

“It is the definition of a limited production run,” Graves offered. “We’re making ten of these suits, they all need this body armour, we’re not going to make a mould for it, 3D print the parts. It’s limited production, so it totally makes sense.”

Graves believes that Lopes implementing the technology at Legacy Effects and then sharing his insights across to the digital manufacturing and 3D printing conference circuit ‘opened our eyes to what was being done and what could be done.’ Lopes, Wiggins, and other colleagues at Legacy Effects were able to make a difference. HasbroThis technology has made it easier to develop and approve designs faster, as well as allowing for props, costumes, animated faces, and other items in lower volumes or with customized designs. Three-dimensional printing will be used to convey story details through expressions and character clothing, as well as meeting tight production deadlines. There is still more.

“A lot can be done with CGI,” said Graves, “but where you need a practical prop that an actor has to hold, as materials improve, they’re going to be more functional, so you could have weapons that people could use against another actor and not be afraid that it wouldn’t break, because speaking for [Covestro], we’re working on more durable and functional materials. We’ll see more flexible materials [too] It could work, but for stop motion, it would be possible to print material that could be bent and moved. We’ve gone through a steep curve and now we’re flattening out, but I think there’ll be incremental improvements as there are in regular industry.”

“It’s everywhere, and I feel like it’s expanding and expanding,” Wiggins finished. “One thing that we have coming up is the next Transformers film. We have some designs in there that I’m super excited to talk about as soon as I get the green light. I know they’ll be mad at me if I say anything [but] it’s some stuff I’m really proud of. We’ve been working on that for years, so that’s going to be super exciting once that comes out.”

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