Jordan Duncan has turned his prop making hobby into a lucrative business, Henchmen Props, thanks to 3D printing technology.

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One vast area that has been greatly impacted by rise of 3D printing technology is prop making, cosplay, and costume design.

Though generally looked upon as a hobby by many, some makers have managed to hone their creative skills and turn these recreational projects into a solid business venture.

This is exactly the case with Jordan Duncan, a prop designer who took his skills and started Henchmen Props. Now made up of eight employees, his company creates props and costumers for major video game developers like Blizzard and Respawn.

In order to reduce production times and rapidly prototype their parts, the prop making company has been utilizing a pair of Ultimaker 2 Extended+ 3D printers. Duncan was first introduced to 3D printing technology when he first started his company.

Recognizing the extreme details and extensive work that is required in prop making, Duncan quickly realized that 3D printing could help create an entire part and speed up the production process considerably.

The new workflow greatly reduces the time and effort that traditional prop making usually requires, leaving only post-processing and assembly to be done by hand.

Henchmen Props Bring Joy to Gamers & Developers

To start their process, Henchmen Props first takes the original video game model and fine-tunes the parts for 3D printing.

After these parts are produced on their Ultimaker 3D printers, they are assembled, sanded down, and then painted. For instance, their most recent project — Soldier: 76’s gun from the popular Blizzard game Overwatch — was originally printed in 27 different parts.

Duncan explains:

“Seeing people’s faces light up and really recognize the characters that they’ve had their hands on for months or years designing just puts smiles on all our faces.”

By integrating the two Ultimaker 2 Extended+ 3D printers into their workflow, Henchmen Props has greatly expanded the potential of what can be created. The models created by Duncan’s company are now used in video game trailers and in-game videos, becoming an actual part of the world created by these big league video game developers.

According to the prop maker, the most rewarding part of his work is getting these models into the hands of video game designers and showing them the result of their countless design hours and hard-earned effort.

Source: Ultimaker