14-Foot-Tall, 3-D Printed Creature Lands in San Diego, Greets Comic-Con 2014 Attendees

MINNEAPOLIS and REHOVOT, ISRAEL—July 25, 2014—Stratasys Ltd., a global leader of 3-D printing and additive manufacturing solutions, announced it has collaborated with the Stan Winston School of Character Arts, Legacy Effects, Condé Nast Entertainment and Wired to create a 14-foot tall giant creature which is being showcased at the Comic-Con International 2014 conference. The conference started yesterday and runs through Sunday in San Diego.

The giant creature was designed by artists at the Stan Winston School. Engineers and technicians at Legacy Effects—the studio that brought to life Iron Man, Avatar, Pacific Rim and RoboCop characters—worked closely with Stratasys to build dozens of 3D-printed parts to create the character.

"Everything about the giant creature project was ambitious, including size, weight, delivery schedule and performance requirements," said Matt Winston, co-founder of the Stan Winston School. "Without the close involvement of our partners at Stratasys, whose 3-D printing technologies are, in our view, revolutionizing not only the manufacturing industry but the entertainment industry as well, none of it would have been possible."

More than one third of the giant creature was 3-D printed, including the chest armor, shoulders, arms and fingers. A variety of Stratasys 3D Printers were employed in the build process, including the Fortus 900mc which uses FDM 3D printing technology to build durable parts as large as 36x24x36 inches.

The parts were created using ABS-M30 thermoplastic material, which has excellent mechanical properties suitable for functional prototypes, jigs and fixtures and production parts.

In addition to 3-D printed parts, the creature integrates a variety of video and sensor technologies to offer attendees at the event, as well as fans online, a unique interactive experience with the character.

"The main advantage to 3-D printing was going directly from a concept design to an end use, physical part, helping avoid any interpretation by hand or casting in a different material," explained Jason Lopes, lead systems engineer at Legacy Effects. "There is a reason why Legacy Effects has always been a Stratasys house, and this giant creature build shows why."

Visit Stratasys' Facebook page for updates on the Giant Creature's schedule of events during Comic-Con. In addition, Wired recently premiered the new digital season of How to Make a Giant Creature on thescene.com/WIRED. The series will give an insider's look into the making of the nearly 14-foot-tall creature, leading into Comic-Con where it will be unveiled to the public.

"We are excited to debut the series, "How to Make a Giant Creature on The Scene" with our partners," relayed Michael Klein, executive vice president, programming and content strategy, Condé Nast Entertainment. "With last year's success, we are eager to provide audiences with something bigger and better, which this new creation definitely is."

During last year's Comic-Con International, the Stan Winston School and Legacy Effects also collaborated with Stratasys, Wired and YouTube to introduce an interactive robot suit, which incorporated several 3-D printed parts primarily for the robot's facial structure.

"3-D printing is opening up an entirely new world of possibilities in nearly every industry, including entertainment," added Gilad Gans, president, Stratasys North America. "The giant creature represents the perfect marriage of technology and art coming together in an innovative way."

Visit Stratasys' Facebook, Twitter, and company blog for multimedia and other content before and during Comic-Con International 2014. To learn more about the art and technology of character creation, visit the Stan Winston School of Character Arts Website, Facebook page and YouTube channel. For more about character creation studio visit Legacy Effects, YouTube channel and Facebook page.

Stratasys Ltd. (Nasdaq:SSYS), headquartered in Minneapolis and Rehovot, Israel, is a leading global provider of 3-D printing and additive manufacturing solutions. The company's patented FDM, PolyJet, and WDM 3D Printing technologies produce prototypes and manufactured goods directly from 3D CAD files or other 3-D content. Systems include 3-D printers for idea development, prototyping and direct digital manufacturing. Stratasys subsidiaries include MakerBot and Solidscape, and the company operates the RedEye digital-manufacturing service. Stratasys has more than 2,500 employees, holds over 550 granted or pending additive manufacturing patents globally, and has received more than 25 awards for its technology and leadership.