People ask VR sculptor Simon Clark why he’s building a full-size Tyrannosaurus Rex and 3D printing it one piece at a time.
“Why not?” Clark replies. “If people can’t have, or don’t have VR, what better way to put it out in the real world so people can actually see it?”
At 75 kilograms (165 pounds) of 3D printing filament so far, the New Zealander estimates he’s nearing the mid-point of his full-scale model of a complete T-Rex skeleton. He already sold the smaller one he made in 2020 and his ongoing learning process in VR modelling has brought him to new tools with bigger aspirations. He used SculptrVR for his initial work, but he’s got his hands in Shapelab now and is moving the work into tools like Blender, animating them in Masterpiece Motion, and even publishing them for visitors in VRChat.
Clark’s T-Rex is available in one VRChat world while another is home to a collection of large-size animated insects he’s designed.
“We are still only early days of this whole VR development creativity side of things,” Clark told UploadVR during a recent tour of his work. “It’s just getting better and better every year.”
Here’s some images of Clark, known as Topgunsi online, alongside the gigantic 3D-printed dinosaur as it is coming together:
Check out the tour and extended look at his process in the video interview below:
