

Guy crafts a Daft Punk helmet in 17 months - ulvund
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H0TBZeCgL0E

======
Derferman
The company behind this helmet, Volpin Props
(<http://volpinprops.blogspot.com/>), produces absolutely amazing work,
especially considering it's all one guy. Some of his other projects include:

Big Daddy (Bioshock)
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/14455307@N07/sets/7215762286087...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14455307@N07/sets/72157622860877546/)

Portal Gun
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/14455307@N07/sets/7215761888999...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14455307@N07/sets/72157618889995883/)

Force-a-Nature (Team Fortress 2)
[http://www.flickr.com/photos/14455307@N07/sets/7215762302451...](http://www.flickr.com/photos/14455307@N07/sets/72157623024519808/)

~~~
mustpax
Why are you shortening URLs? There's plenty space on HN for full ones.

Edit: Thanks for unobfuscating those :) Great links!

~~~
Derferman
I actually wasn't aware that HN automatically shortened urls that were over a
certain length. All the URLs have been unshortened.

------
electromagnetic
I'm assuming the time frame involved a lot of research and learning new skills
to implement the design.

Regardless, the accomplishment of this alone would surely be enough to land
the guy a job in the costume department for a special effects company. I've
seen much worse work on huge budget movies, if a guy can do this in his free
time with his spare cash he should definitely get a hire somewhere.

Edit: Robot Rock -
[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBbasXXtrXw&a=GxdCwVVULXd...](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rBbasXXtrXw&a=GxdCwVVULXdoMgoVZr_K9d8CXXSb1xvF)

~~~
vollmond
According to one of his comments on OP's Youtube link, he also interspersed
work on 15 other projects while he was working on this. Would be interesting
to know the actual amount of time spent on it.

~~~
electromagnetic
For a pro who knew everything on how to do this, I would likely expect little
over a week of man-hour work. However the guy looks like he had a great grasp
on the modeling aspect, but not so much on the electronics, so I wouldn't be
surprised if he spent equivalent of about two-man-hour work weeks on this.

For someone like me, it would likely take the full 17 months to produce
something like this purely for the modeling portion. I'm actually adept at
electronics, but I wouldn't be able to model something like that to save my
life.

------
Gianteye
What's the most amazing is watching his progression through his flickr stream
over years of making props. I love being able to spot techniques and tricks,
witness failures, and track someone's development through their own
documentation.

<http://www.flickr.com/photos/14455307@N07/>

------
nivals
I haven't seen the final product, but did get to try on the prototype seen at
1:34. This was pre internal padding and any electronics.

Can't wait to see the final working unit.

~~~
asnyder
At the end of the video he's seen wearing the final product with the
electronics.

~~~
bdr
I think they mean IRL.

------
AndrewO
This is really awesome, but I have no idea what this is a reproduction of. (I
haven't seen a Daft Punk video in at least 5 years). Anyone who's more versed
in Daft Punkology have a link to whatever this came from?

~~~
jat850
Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo wears a helmet like this in the Daft Punk video
"Robot Rock" (I can't provide a good link to it from here as I cannot access
Youtube from work), as well as in a number of live performances.

Thomas Bangaltar wears a differently-styled helmet. Searching "Daft Punk
helmet" on Youtube will show other crafters making helmet replicas.

(edit) Apologies - HNer electromagnetic links to Robot Rock in this post.
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1539586>

------
norswap
<<THIS PROJECT WAS A ONE-OFF. I AM NOT TAKING ORDERS FOR DUPLICATES.>>

Huge market opportunity here :D

~~~
maukdaddy
Not with a 17 month lead time. He'd have to seriously optimize that process to
make money.

~~~
joezydeco
He did make a cast, so it's a lot easier from this point (except for the
electronics I guess).

The guy even mentioned this was an on/off project for 17 months, and it also
looked like a lot of trial and error in the beginning to get the shape right.
A dedicated modeller with a stereolith machine could slam that out a lot
quicker.

------
mkramlich
in time for Tron Legacy with several months to spare

------
zandorg
Pop bands on the front page? What's happening to HN?

~~~
rationalbeaver
Judging submissions without clicking through and being astounded by this guy's
incredible artistic hacking skills? What's happening to HN indeed.

