If you thought 3D in movies was only about what you see onscreen, here’s a movie that has 3D working behind the scenes, as a part of the movie making process — Iron Man 2. If you look closely, you will realize that the latest Iron Man suit is much better than the last movie. Well that’s because the new suit was custom made after scanning Robert Downey Jr. (Tony Stark/Iron Man) and creating individual pieces with a 3D printer.

Even though it is not very know in the mainstream, 3D printers have existed for quite some time now. They are used for prototyping products before they are launched. Since it is extremely hard and wasteful to get your whole supply chain running just to make a few pieces, 3D printers create accurate 3D models of the products so that they can be prototyped properly. These are industrial machines and do not find much use outside expensive laboratories and similar places.

Of course, that is no reason to stop the production team of Iron Man 2 from getting their hands on one and making a suit that fits the actor with pinpoint accuracy. It is also a lot lighter than the last suit and allows for a lot more freedom of movement. Robert liked it so much, he made no qualms about working in it for hours, which is a contrast to what happened last time apparently.

Older 3D printers were actually pretty crude and would require blocks that they would then chisel at in some way and get the final model out. Modern 3D printers use an ‘Ink’ cartridge filled with powered plastic and ‘print’ thin layers of plastic that is then cured under UV light. After this, a layer of paint is added on for better finish. The whole process is of course computer controlled and takes only hours instead of days to redo. Needless to say, the production team and the actors loved it. The 3D printer in question was made by Objet Geometries.

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