“World of Shadows” Character Comes to Life with Amazing 3D Printed Replica

When it comes to video games, I must admit I’m probably one of the most uncoordinated and least talented players in the world. I feel as though a 2-year-old playing with one hand and standing on one foot could beat me in just about any game I play. Still though, I have a special place in my heart for the hard work that goes into creating highly detailed video games, as well as the talent required on the gamers’ end, in order to play these sophisticated games.

When you realize all of the modeling and attention to detail that it takes to create just a single character model in these elaborate games, it really makes you appreciate video games, not just as a form of entertainment, but as a really beautiful work of art as well.

One video game, which has really begun to catch on over in Europe, and has been gradually inching its way to the United States, is “World of Shadows,” a mobile browser-based MMORPG that now has over 21 million players worldwide. Developed by a company called playtox, the game is available on just about any smartphone.

Playtox recently held a contest asking their fans to develop 3D models of the various characters from the game. Many designers participated, but to us, one really stood out. His name is Gregory Krasnoperov, an art university graduate from Nizhny Tagil, Russia. He chose the character “Armour of Pain” from the game, and then proceeded to model this character to the best of his ability.

“The organizers of the contest provided participants with some 2D concepts to choose from,” Krasnoperov tells 3DPrint.com. “I chose this character, Armour of Pain. First I began by drawing a few pencil sketches and then made a couple of quick 3D sketches in Zbrush.”

He then chose the sketch that he thought turned out the best and began to sculpt a high-poly model of it. He added details and texture and then decided to have his model 3D printed. After preparing it for 3D printing using netfabb, and sizing it so it stood 140mm high, he used Shapeways to have the model 3D printed. He has printed the model in full color, as well as in simple white polyamide which can later be painted. In fact, anyone can now buy their own copy on Shapeways; that is of course if you don’t mind spending a minimum of $110.

The contest was held on the website Render.ru, and ultimately the designer’s model was was printed by Prototypster, which provided these photos.

What do you think of this incredibly detailed model, created from 2D concepts from a video game? Which took more talent? Designing the actual character for the video game, or designing a 3D printed version? Discuss in the Amour of Pain forum thread on 3DPB.com.