James Harden Prototype

James Harden Prototype

James Harden Prototype

One of the real benefits of high-end 3D printing is the ability to take an idea and get to an initial prototype that you can feel in your hands in a short amount of time. For this project, our goal was to create a collectible James Harden figure.

The model itself was based on a Lebron figure I did a few years earlier. A brilliant 3D modeler in the Ukraine (Hello Hannah!) and I collaborated to create this Harden model. What is unique about this model is that each color was a unique object instead of one solid piece with a bitmap texture on it. This was needed to separate out each color material used when printing with the Stratasys J750.

We had all kinds of "bleed" problems to overcome because the brown skin tone would be seen through the white of the jersey. So we had to make the body underneath white as well. Another experiment with the model was to create a lightpipe through the entire model up to the eyes. Basically you could put a light under the feet and the light would bend through and light the eyes.

Just for the sake of completeness. Here is an early version of the model. Ultimately we didn't use this but I do love how cheesey this smile is.