Israeli 3D manufacturer and local dealer Stick On Signs have installed a Massivit 1800 3D printer at Academy Award-winning special effects design and manufacturing studio Weta Workshop, in Wellington, New Zealand - home of blockbusters including The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit and Avatar.
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| Sculptor Daniel Cockersell at Weta Workshop in Wellington, NZ |
“We manufacture super-sized, hyper-realistic human figures, creatures, vehicles, and other huge props for film and television and have always been on the search for technology that can produce large parts at a high speed,” says Richard Taylor, Weta Workshop co-founder (with director Peter Jackson), CEO and creative director.
“For 15 years, we have dreamed of a day when a printer would provide super large scale, speed, and build strength at low print costs, in equal measure. The Massivit 1800 has delivered this for us.
“With the Massivit 1800, our team has been able to redefine what is creatively possible for our large-scale manufacturing projects. It is a powerful and versatile machine that has transformed the way we work and has supercharged our output. It really is a dream come true.”
The installation of the Massivit 1800 was made possible by Massivit 3D’s local Australian and New Zealand distributor, Stick on Signs.
Weta, recognized for its work on blockbuster films such as The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit motion picture trilogies, Avatar, King Kong, Ghost in the Shell, and Blade Runner 2049, aims to overcome size, speed, and complex geometry limitations associated with traditional fabrication technology.
According to Pietro Marson, workshop operations analyst at Weta Workshop, the company’s manufacturing teams have until now deployed a range of technologies for their fabrication processes, including CNC routers, industrial robots, and smaller 3D printers. Many of these technologies have presented limitations when it comes to manufacturing bigger props.
“We’re often required to create eight- or nine-metre-tall (26.2 or 29.5-ft) sculptures and mannequins, which means we need to print multiple parts and then manually fit them together," says Marson. "Needless to say, this is both time-consuming and expensive.
“The largest commercially available SLA 3D printer in the country has a maximum print volume of 60 x 60 x 40 centimetres, whereas the Massivit 1800 allows us to print up to 1.8-meter-high [5.9-ft] components. We can also print much more quickly and with far greater geometry freedom than with CNC machining.”
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| Weta CEO Richard Taylor says the Massivit has transformed the way his company works |
Weta Workshop expects to be able to save thousands of dollars by printing larger components. The Massivit 1800’s print volume has proven particularly useful for one of the company’s latest projects which requires the production of large-scale molds. Producing these moulds with CNC technology would have been challenging due to their size and the inability of CNC routers to create complex, deep intrusions.
“The Massivit 1800 has surpassed our expectations insofar as the added capabilities and extra efficiency it delivers our operations,” says Taylor. “Since its installation, it has stimulated a lot of creative thought and our teams are buzzing with what we will be able to achieve with it moving forward.”
Weta Workshop is a five-time Academy Award-winning design studio and physical manufacturing facility servicing the world’s entertainment and creative industries. For over 20 years, the Workshop has applied creativity and craftsmanship to blockbuster films and hit television series including The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies, Avatar, District 9, Thunderbirds Are Go, Ghost in the Shell, and Blade Runner 2049. This diverse, innovative company is also a tourist destination, producer of consumer products, mixed reality game studio, and creator of immersive location-based experiences such as the Thea award-winning Gallipoli: The scale of our war – a record-breaking collaboration with Te Papa museum.
Massivit 3D Printing Technologies Ltd. (https://www.massivit3d.com/) is a leading provider of large format 3D printing solutions for visual communication and entertainment. The company’s solutions enable the creation of super-size 3D printed models, props, displays and signage for a range of sectors – including entertainment, events, exhibitions, advertising, retail, and interior design. Massivit 3D’s proprietary Gel Dispensing Printing (GDP) technology leverages Massivit 3D’s unique, instantly-curing printing gel, Dimengel, to quickly and cost-effectively produce lightweight, hollow, 3D printed models up to 1.8m / 5.8ft high with unprecedented geometric freedom.
Founded in 2013 by a team of wide format digital printing and 3D printing pioneers, Massivit 3D is headquartered in Lod, Israel.
