Behind the Scenes: Additive Manufacturing Props: Raised by Wolves

Crafting new worlds is no small feat for the film and television industries, especially when it involves designing imaginative sci-fi creatures and artifacts. It’s a process that blends creativity with meticulous effort, pushing the boundaries of what‘s possible on screen.

For many viewers, the magic of TV shows and movies unfolds without much thought about the intricate work happening behind the scenes. Yet, the reality is that countless talented teams collaborate tirelessly to breathe life into these otherworldly visions. While digital effects and CGI have advanced tremendously over the past few decades, traditional methods like prosthetic makeup, practical effects, props, and costumes remain pivotal. These elements continue to ground fantastical worlds in tangible details, enhancing the immersive experience in ways that technology alone cannot achieve.

Conceptualizing and producing the necessary props is often time consuming and leaves little room for error with the tight schedule that most productions work to.

For the new HBOMax series Raised by wolvesdirected by Ridley Scott and filmed in South Africa, 3D printing fueled the creation of a true science fiction universe. In this article, Jaco Snyman, founder of Dreamsmith and lead designer of the series’ prosthetics, takes us behind the scenes to show the various techniques used to create these wonderful creatures.

Pre-production: always against time

Raised by wolves is a futuristic show centered around two androids, Father and Mother, on a mission to raise human children on another planet after Earth is destroyed by a great war. Filmed in Cape Town, South Africa, the first season features 10 episodes and was created by Aaron Guzikowski, with Ridley Scott directing the first two episodes.

Based in South Africa, Dreamsmith, which together with founder Jaco Snyman numbers 13 people, was challenged to bring the sci-fi universe of Raised by wolves. They have worked on over 60 feature films, over 40 commercials and have assisted on many international film projects including ‘District 9’ and the Oscar and Bafta winning team of ‘Mad Max: Fury Road’.

Dreamsmith had to work on a tight schedule with approximately two to three weeks between each episode to conceptualize, prototype, approve and produce the final parts for each subsequent block of filming.

“The creative process begins with a meeting to discuss each episode with the director about what he envisions for the episode. Then the models are created, and once approved, we begin producing the product to meet the shooting date. The time we have to produce the designs varies from a day to a few weeks, depending on the special schedule for each episode. By using 3D printing as part of the production, we can obviously do much more within the same time constraints,” said Snyman.

With a tight work schedule, Snyman and his team decided to use Formlabs 3D printers.

“3D printing has definitely improved the production of sci-fi props. Android parts and hard surface objects are machined and turnaround times are unbeatable. I really enjoy working with Formlabs, they create a variety of things accurately, quickly and efficiently,” said Snyman. “We’ve used the Formlabs printer a lot on other productions as well, but never as heavily as Raised by Wolves. It’s been fun to experiment and figure out how to incorporate it and speed up our workflows. It’s going to be an ongoing experiment because we never do the same thing twice and I love the challenge.”

Workflow

In Raised by wolvesSnyman used ZBrush for 3D modeling and 3D printing for rapid prototyping, mold making and final part fabrication. “For the creature fetus, the molds were all 3D printed, and we made them in about two to three days. Traditional manufacturing would have taken at least double the time.”

In general, its production flow goes through the following phases:

• • Implementation and obtaining approval of projects.

• • Scanning a person or object.

• • Digital sculpture of the model.

• • 3D printing of the final object or negative mold.

• • Finishing and post-production.

Snyman usually tries to make at least two copies of each final part, one for stage use and one for backup.

In the following sections, Snyman shows us some examples of the many props and prosthetics used in the production Raised by wolves and explains the steps involved in creating each piece and how 3D printing was used in the process.

Android hacked

To make the Android device you see in the image below the right size and scale, Snyman started by scanning the actress’ head.

He 3D printed the device in transparent resin so that the liquid inside was visible. He then painted the metal pieces with chrome paints and filled the clear vials with a mixture of water and yellow food coloring to simulate acid. The final piece was then used as part of a prosthetic appliance.

“I usually print a few copies, especially if it’s something I need to paint, in case human error occurs, which happens all the time,” Snyman said.

Ancient skeleton

The severed head’s skull structure and finely detailed muscles were created using Zbrush and were based on a scan of the actress. The 3D model was then cut into pieces and printed in clear resin. “We divided the entire head into three areas, and each part took about five or six hours.”

The 3D printed parts were then assembled and finished by Mathew Howard-Tripp and Natasha DuToit, and Jaco added a glaze to make the skull appear aged.

Snyman was amazed by the amount of detail achievable on a digital sculpture 3D printed with in-house stereolithography (SLA) compared to traditional sculpting methods. “I don’t know if we would have been able to make this ancient skull any other way,” Snyman said.

The android’s boss

For this skull mask, the Snyman team 3D scanned the actor’s head, designed the parts, and 3D printed them with clear resin. After assembly, they mounted it on the actor’s head. Master mold maker Mathew Howard-Tripp also made a 3D mold of the skull to make a soft silicone version of the android’s head for use by a stuntman for an action sequence.

Traditionally carved, this skull would have had a production time of one week. With Formlabs it took a day.

The alien fetus

Not only androids, but also alien creatures take part in the action. Snyman had to visualize and produce an alien fetus for one of the episodes.

To do this he created the digital fetus and printed the prototype in gray resin to show to the director for approval. After approval, Snyman printed the negative mold in clear resin and his team finished it in silicone.

Mother’s open surgery

The protagonist android, Mama, undergoes surgery in one of the episodes. To do this, Snyman generated digital models of the skin’s internal layers, then printed them in Elastic 50A resin.

Dissect the android

Additionally, this android’s torso breaks, and Dreamsmith had to find a solution to show the android’s anatomy realistically

Based on Android designs created by concept artist Furio Tedeschi, the team started with a 3D scan of the actress and created four internal layers using 3D printing: the first layer of skin, the subcutaneous skin, the ribs, and the base under the ribs.

To create the first layer of leather they designed the internal mold. This was then divided into four parts for 3D printing with a fused deposition modeling (FDM) 3D printer, assembled and filled with silicone to simulate skin. The subcutaneous layer of the skin and the base layer followed the same process. The hair and skin were painted and refined by artist Ashley Alexander Powell.

As for the slats, the final parts were directly printed in clear resin, then assembled and painted with a gold transfer technique mixed with a matte black finish to achieve a pleasing variation of colors and textures.

“For bulky, less detailed parts or mold making, I use FDM 3D printers. I primarily use Formlabs 3D printers [SLA] to print the final parts, because you get a really nice finish,” Snyman explained.

The biological transformer

In the world Raised by wolvesAndroids have pretty weird organic processors. To bring them to life, Dreamsmith created two versions. The first version required printing molds and was cast in soft clear silicone with an inner core, the second version was 3D printed in clear resin and was hollow inside. The first version was not very successful, so the second version was opted for.

The processor was sculpted in two parts: the external part, which was printed in two pieces with transparent resin, and the internal part, which was first sculpted digitally, and then created the negative 3D shape with a Boolean operation. Snyman painted the open negative space inside the parts in clear resin to make them appear solid from the outside. “There was even room inside for a little purple light, which made it look cool,” Snyman said.

The mechanical hand

This articulated mechanical hand was one of the most difficult areas Snyman had to work on. “The fingers had to be as realistic as possible, which was quite difficult to achieve in the time we had,” he explained.

The arm was digitally generated, split into parts to fit the build platform, and printed in 4000 rigid resin using Formlabs PreForm software.

«I really like the way the PreForm software does all the work for you. Just insert the pieces and orient them. If that doesn’t work, reorient them a different way and try again.»

Extended capabilities with large format 3D printing

As in any other department of film production, props require quick fixes. Creating life-size parts in the film and entertainment industry is a must, and the ability to 3D print and fabricate on-site in days or hours is becoming the default for large productions.

At the moment, solutions for creating bulky props include: intensive craftsmanship using traditional means (e.g. clay sculptures), dividing objects during 3D printing into multiple versions, outsourcing, or printing with low-resolution large-format 3D printers. None of these offer a good balance between quality, time and cost efficiency.

However, in September 2020 Formlabs began shipping the Form 3L, our large format stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer. With the Form 3L you don’t have to sacrifice surface quality on large prints. With a large build volume of 33.5 × 20 × 30 cm (13.2 × 7.9 × 11.8 inches), you can print large projects at once, indoors, and with quick format changeover.