EVA Foam Helmet
Project Type
Costume
Date
March 2024
Skills
Foam work, Blender, Pepakura, Sketching
This helmet is the result of a one-week independent project for first year studio. This project focused on acquiring multiple new skills, including maintaining continuity between different perspectives on a sketch, creating a 3D model based solely on reference images, and converting the 3D model into an unfolded format for use with planar materials. This is a sci-fi helmet designed from scratch and is constructed out of 0.5in EVA foam.
Sketches and ideation
The design draws inspiration from the sci-fi design language of franchises such as Titanfall and Halo, which often include full head encasement, limited or no physical "visor", and other visual language decisions consistent with science fiction. Given the quick timeline of the project, only a few different iterations exist. The intial sketch was traced over a reference of the human head to ensure dimensional accuracy. After the sketch is refined, the dimensions and features are accurately transfered to a side view.
Mesh Modelling
The final design is taken into Blender, where it is used to create a planar model of the helmet. Blender was the software of choice due to ease of modelling the helmet 1-to-1 with meshes rather than features.
Unfolding
The final Blender model is exported and then imported into Pepakura Designer, a program designed to unfold 3D models for papercraft. While importing, higher fidelity models are simplified for ease of unfolding. The helmet is then scaled to a wearable size for a human head. The model can now be unfolded, which lays out parts of the helmet onto a 2D plane sized for printer paper.
A raw unfold is shown here. The entire helmet is unfolded here, and visible by default are the tabs that would be used if this were to be constructed out of paper. At this point, the unfold must be manually optimized for usage with foam. Since the printed templates can be reused, half of the helmet can be removed from the template. Since we know the thickness of the foam, 0.5in, certain parts of the template can be removed. Certain edges are reconnected or disconnected, resulting in better continuity between templates. After optimizing, the final template goes from 22 pages on the left to only 7 pages as shown below.
Construction
The optimized unfold templates are printed out and traced onto 0.5 EVA foam floor mats. After being cut out, parts are connected using contact cement, and a heat gun is used to form any curved surfaces. Kwik Seal is used to fill in any seams and gaps. Afterwards, the prop is ready to be sanded and primed.
