Manny's skull in the matter

At last, after weeks a fumbling with 3D images, I am touching concrete, material, stuff! I have just received my 3D prints for Manny's head, based on Tom Beg's original modelling.

What a satisfaction to hold Manny's skull in my hand.


As you can see there are 2 models: one, based on the original artwork from Tom, with teeth, and the other one without teeth. The latter will be the master shape based on which I will make a Silicon mold to create many other heads. The mouth cavity will be used to place sculpted replacement mouths to give Manny's ability to articulate via lips-sync.

A word about 3D printing: I have in fact tried two well established 3D printer : shapeways and i.materialize. Both companies had kick-ass customer support and delivered high quality product on time for about the same price. Shapeways' product smoothness was however slightly better... but very close.

Unfortunately, 3D printing remains fairly expensive and can be used only for fairly small objects. Manny's computer desk for example, would cost several hundreds dollars to 3D print because of its bulky volume. That said, for small, intricate shapes, such as puppets head or Manny's computer, 3D printing is an option to get the props done.

Original fan-art by Thomas Beg