Theatrical Set

[Marion]

I thought I would take minute and share some of the work my students have been doing at the local university where I manage the shop. The students help build most everything for the production of Peter Pan. We use the bot to cut out a lot of the pieces. Most of the design is done by our faculty designer. The fireplace was designed by a student and I took it into Aspire to create the 3d shape and toolpath. The watch I also created in Aspire from a line drawing I was given. Some of the elements cut on the bot include: All of the dimensional portal elements, 15' arched windows, the skull and cross bones because what is a pirate ship without them, as well as all the parts for the curved stair unit excluding the railing spindles. To give a little scale the front portal is 22' tall and 54' across the top.

[Marion]

A couple students holding the watch.

[Marion]

Here are a few images during the build.

[steve_g]

Marion…
Very Nice! That must be quite a logistics challenge with all the different components in different stages of completion and likely different students responsible for certain portions… I’m impressed!
SG

[paul_z]

I can see the group of people designing this and then someone yells "unleash the bot!".

Amazing work!

Paul Z

[Marion]

Yes there is a lot of logistics in building a production like such as this.
The majority of it was built by 6 students, one part-time carpenter and myself.
Together we put about 1500 hours into it. The students worked hard, put in a lot of extra time and did a great job. They may have even learned a thing or two along the away.
The fun thing, 5 days after completing it, we tore it all down. On to the next one.

[scottp55]

Excellent work Marion, Both the cutting AND the finishing. The thought of that much work and then tearing it down makes me cringe though. What happens to it afterwards? Save some and donate rest to Habitats for insulation?

[Marion]

We save what we can for future use. What can not be salvaged fills the dumpster.
It used to bother me a bit that we did so much work for so little time. But in that time hundreds or even thousands of people see the work and have an evening of enjoyment at a show. So it is all worth the long hours. Besides, I am always ready for a new adventure in building the next one.

[blackhawk]

Very impressed with your work!

We have two universities in my area. One has a huge theater department. I have tried to get business from them but with no luck. I guess the funding isn't there.

[Marion]

Brad,
Sadly their is not much money in theater, academic or otherwise until you get to the very large opera or theater houses. It is cheaper to have an army of free or underpaid students armed with jigsaws make cutouts then to pay someone with a CNC.
I wouldn't give up though. See if you can set up a meeting with the Technical Director or Production Manager. Show them a cutout shape, such as a fancy font letter, from a piece of 1/4" Luan or MDF and tell them how quickly you were able to cut out, how many are able to get from one 4x8 sheet. This may help to them see the benefit to having you do it. It all comes down to time and money like in most fields. Show them a 3d piece for a little wow factor and conversation, give them a card and you never know. One thing about theater, we never know what the next design will call for. The trick is retraining the folks in charge to think how much easier it would be to do on a CNC.

To be honest if we not be able to afford to job out 1/4 of the CNC work on this set to someone on our budget. There are over 70 sheets of foam, 35 sheets of luan and 12 sheets of 3/4 ply that went through the bot on this show.

[gene]

Can you tell more about the painting and finishing ?

[Xray]

Very nice work, I set up professional displays for huge auto shows as part of what I do for a living, the logistics, cost and labor involved is mind boggling.
To put it in perspective, on a large booth it takes about 50 guys over 2 months to build, often working 7 days a week, 12 hr shifts and sometimes running night shifts around the clock. To tear it down takes not even a full week, and while some gets crated up and trucked to the next show or warehoused, much gets tossed into dumpsters, including tons of hard wood floor, drywall, mdf & plywood sheets ect.

[khaos]

Marion, make sure those images make it to the yearbook staff. :cool:

[Marion]

The foam is based in a product called Sculpt or Coat. It adheres to foam much better then paint and won't flake off. It also adds a hard coat to the foam although no where near as hard as a fiberglass coating. For the wood looking parts he piece is then painted in the base color, from there several layers of color(brown, cream, orange, and green for the woodwork) are brushed on with bold and loose strokes to add the grain look. Next several splatters or light sprays are added for texture. After the splatter the dark areas are applied with a with a watered down paint and allowed to pool and dry. The last step is a tinted glaze or sealer to bring it all together. One thing about theatrical scenery is you want lots of contrast so when looking at it under the theatrical lights and from a distance 30 to 100 feet it still reads. It is by no means fine finishing but is an art form in it's own way. Picture 1 shows what it looks like under normal lighting, the rest of the pictures show how it can change under the theatrical lighting. To give an idea how important lighting is we have a Lighting Designer who's job it is design and coordinate some 300 lights for show.
I hope that gives an idea as to the finishing process.