And to think people actually said capes are bad news

Feb 27, 2015 15:47 GMT  ·  By

Ah, Superman. A hero. A fictional hero but a hero nonetheless. Also, the best known pop culture phenomenon ever, no matter how many people would vocally or silently disagree. It's a wonder he wasn't 3D printed before this.

Not that we can vouch for all the people out there who have their own 3D printers. We would not be too shocked to learn that Superman was among the first projects of two out of five consumers since the beginning.

However, somehow there hasn't been much, if any, news involving a 3D printed version of Superman until now.

The Superman you can see in the attached picture gallery was made by a man bearing the name of Peter Mitchell.

The 3D printed Superman

Mitchell makes props for TV and film makers. Admittedly, it is a relatively recent development after working in a call center for a long time.

Fortunately, 3D printing technology provided him with a means to quickly catch up to the times and offer practical and good-looking equipment.

Superman was his personal project though, a hero that was with him while growing up and also a favorite character of his partner.

And since Christopher Reeves was the first actor to portray the character in a live-action movie, his was the version of Superman they settled on. Helped along by the fact that it was the initial movie Trilogy that they both grew up with.

He had to print the legs, torso, arms and head separately, since the final figure turned out to be quite large, even not factoring in the cape.

The cape is actually the only part of this Superman that wasn't 3D printed. Instead, Mitchell made it out of clay and then bathed it in resin, to give it the same coloring as the rest of the statue. Altogether, Superman and his cape measure 17 inches in height (430 mm) and 12 without the cape (300 mm).

The cape ended up becoming an impromptu pedestal as well once it was hardened, despite how relatively thin it is.

Finally, Sculptris and Zbrush were sued to sculpt the face of the character in the virtual space. It didn't turn out perfectly, but then again nothing ever really does.

Superman in 3D (4 Images)

Superman covered in bronze
Superman hoversSuperman, front view
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