If you are making a movie, and you need special props and effects, you call New Zealand-based Weta Workshops. And when Weta wants to make specialty props, they use 3D printing.

The studio makes armor, costumes, vehicles, and pretty much everything else you can think of. Weta worked on the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and recently worked on the upcoming Hobbit films. They used 3D printing extensivly to build props, including swords and spears used in the film. In the above video, make sure to check out the huge robotic arm they are working on turning into a massive 3D printer.

This summer's stop motion animation film ParaNorman also made news for using 3D printers. Animation studio Laika used 3D printers to create faces used in the film, which were printed in full color on a 3D Systems ZPrinter 650. Using the technology allowed the studio to have 1.5 million unique facial expressions for the main character. For comparison, in Nightmare Before Christmas, Jack Skellington had only 800 possible expressions.

Via: WebProNews and engadget