Big Hero 6 is coming and it’s going to feature, based on the trailer below, a pudgy, cute robot and 3D printing. In the video, we see the film’s protagonist, Hiro Hamada, being a pure tech whiz, designing the armour for his robot, Baymax, on a touchscreen tablet, using what looks like a relatively simple (but fictional) 3D modeling app, and clicking a ‘print’ icon (even though it looks a little more like a ‘translate’ icon). Then, with some added Disney flair, we’re treated to what looks like a fictional form of direct metal laser sintering (DMLS) 3D printing his shiny red armour!
My wife is a big DreamWorks fan, Disney’s biggest 3D animating competitor. So, I’d be doing her a disservice if I didn’t mention that the DreamWorks’ film Small Soldiers featured something like stereolithography over a decade ago in 1998. But who’s counting? Nevertheless, this film looks totally awesome.
Big Hero 6 is “inspired” – meaning “not necessarily going to hold true to” – by the Marvel comic of the same name. In the fictional city of San Fransokyo (a portmanteau of “Tokyo” and “San Francisco”), Hiro and Baymax team up with a motley crew of uninitiated crime fighters to, well, fight crime. If you’ve taken a look at, or obsessively read, the comics, you’ll see that they’re almost entirely different from the movie, which look a lot like other Marvel comics, with sharp angles, and plots about the ghosts of nuclear bomb tragedies. Instead the film is distinctly cartoony and distinctly Disney. Director Don Hall says, “The universe we’re creating is not tied to the Marvel Universe. There’s no Iron Man or anybody like that. It’s a world of our own design. Really [Marvel has] given us free rein to take this and make it our own.”
Unfortunately, you’ve got to wait until November 7 to see the film. If you liked Frozen and Wreck-It-Ralph or robots, 3D printing, and portmanteaux, this movie is right up your alley. And it seems like Disney might know it, after taking advantage of the 3D printing hype in a number of ways since 3DPI got rolling. I’m going to see it, one way or another. How ‘bout you?
Source: YouTube
Feature Image Source: Comics Alliance
