The second opus of the Marvel pantheon Black Panther is currently scheduled for release on 8th July 2022. Acclaimed for various reasons, the superhero movie is taking place in the kingdom of Wakanda, a wonderland of fantastic, futuristic technologies.
Although, we cannot highlight all the technologies that have been leveraged to achieve the movie, we do remember that 3D printing was part of the technologies used to achieve the first movie as characters wore a wide range of 3D printed wearables.
For Black Panther 2, 3D Scanning expert Artec 3D has just shared some behind-the-scenes footages that show how 3D scanning has been utilized to optimize a Lexus LC 500.
To turn the Lexus’ car into a Lexus Black Panther, Musa Tjahjono, chief designer for West Coast Customs – a one stop shop for car customization needs – needed an accurate 3D model of the original car so that the transformation incorporates every single shape of the original Lexus.
To achieve the first step in the transformation process, the West Coast Customs mechanic simply used a 3D Scanner from Artec 3D – the Artec Eva – and walked around the car, to scan it widely from top to bottom to digitize every square inch of the exterior from a variety of angles.
“The weight and ease of use of the portable 3D scanner helps a lot and makes scanning a fun activity. With its speed to scan surfaces, there is no need to use it long before looking at the computer and seeing that the whole car has been scanned,” comments Lorenzo Strong, Vice President of Sales at West Coast Customs.
The scan took less than an hour. Collected images have been processed in the Artec Studio scan software. In the case of the Lexus LC 500, after aligning and saving all the scans quickly and easily into an export-ready 3D model, they exported the 3D model to Geomagic Design X and SOLIDWORKS, where they began to bring their renderings to life.
Custom modifications to the Lexus Black Panther include a wider wheelbase (including fenders), a wider front grille, the Black Panther claw mirror and three Vibranium engines in the rear window.
For example, the mirror claws were created from direct scans of Black Panther’s gloves. “Once the gloves were scanned, we isolated the claws from the rest of the glove and created their 3D models, which we then printed in 3D,” explains Lorenzo Strong.
After West Coast Customs unveiled the Lexus Black Panther to the public, the onyx-blue car was sent on tour across the country, leaving fans speechless. Today, it can be admired at Lexus headquarters in Plano, Texas.
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