LulzBot System76_Team
The System76 team with their 'Guy Tux' masks.
System76, a computer production and reseller company, has taken advantage of LulzBot 3D printing technology to produce its latest marketing campaign.
The LulzBot TAZ 3D printer’s capability to produce disturbingly realistic masks was highlighted last month, and it looks like System76 had a not too dissimilar idea to Hyperflesh’s Landon Meier.
Their schedule offering little margin for error, System76’s team of designers and makers decided to leverage the LulzBot TAZ to meet their Fourth of July promotion’s tight deadline. The campaign seeks to promote the concept of open source platforms and greater freedom for the users of the latest technology platforms – something LulzBot developers, Aleph Objects, also believe in.
LulzBot Guy_Tux_Mask_and_LulzBot_TAZ_3D
A 'Guy Tux' mask in production on a LulzBot TAZ machine.
One of the protagonists of the campaign, the story told in three parts here, dons a mask and preaches to the public the importance of open source freedom. His face, a ‘Guy Tux’ mask, was developed by System76 using a suite of free software programs, including Blender and Cura LulzBot Edition, to design and model the mask. Then, the models were produced on a LulzBot TAZ, which ran almost constantly for nearly a month, according to System76.
“This was the first time we used our LulzBot TAZ 3D printer for this level of mass production,” said Jason DeRose, chief of research and development at System76. “I was extremely impressed with its reliability. The first two masks were used as props in the video shoot and each took roughly 30 hours to print. The remaining masks used a tweaked model to reduce the print time, and these masks were sent out to the press, previous System76 SuperFan winners, and other friends of the company.”
With the amended design, the masks took 21 hours to print. Made in LulzBot nGen filament, the masks were later painted, and just like that System76 were able to roll out their eccentric marketing campaign.
