Quick Facts
Cosmic Inter-Galactic Product Project | January 2017
Process Involved:
Product Research | Human-Centred Design | Hand Sketches | Ideation | 3D Drawing Drafting | 3D Prototyping | 3D Animating | Prototype Iteration | Sales & Marketing | Social Media Contents
Outcome:
CnC Aluminium Prototype (With LED electronics)
Softwares:
The Brief
To design, research and interpret an original prop based on an existing concept of a sci-fi weapon from the Starwars universe. Produce it as a viable collector’s prop.
(Above image from Wikipedia source)
The Research
The saber was part of a ‘side story’ within the Starwars realm and story arc. It also appeared briefly in some comic series regarding the usage of sabers as a weapon for Stormtroopers. Originally it was conceptualised by Ralph MacQuarrie in his concept art for the original Starwars. The design is an extension from the Stormtrooper armour/uniform in terms of colours and details.
The challenge for the team and myself, would be to flesh out the details from our own interpretations and iterations. A lot of currently on-the-market products were researched on and we try to find an innovative approach and unique selling point to our own design.
The Design Process
Based on researches and understandings from multiple sources, I began to do technical artist hand sketches to grasp the possible sizing and prop ratio for certain details. Shown below is our design concept proposals and a catchy idea for a removable crystal display capsule.
The Prototyping
Below is the 3D Printed filament prototype for us to check on design details and how potential collectors/user may find the experience of handling it. We tested it with handling ourselves first, followed by friends, associates and later some of our fellow collectors. The inner electronic holder for one of the product sales option was designed con-currently. As shown below.
We finalized the CAD files for our CnC vendor and monitored closely the final process of transforming from plastic filament prototype to metal material.
Cnc prototype were produced from the final CAD and specifications.
The Product
The product have gone through many rounds of design, and functional refining and the electronic designing turned out to the biggest challenge due to what we like to achieve is set at a high stahdard. Shown below is the first industrial finished prototype to serve our further design and marketing needs.
The 3D Animation of the design
(Demonstrating the prop saber constructions via Fusion 360 software)
The Outcome
The Learnings
I have picked up unexpected number of software functions for this particular project, for example one of them is the 3D animating functions in Fusion 360. The project also requires a lot of planning and management of the production timing. As I am in charge of producing it directly with the CnC machining vendor. A lot of attention is needed for the technical drawings and my design detailing skills and awareness were greatly honed through the processes. We truly made a lot of creative changes along the way so that we can overcome any limitations or technical hurdles.