EnvisionTEC supports Aardman’s latest feature ‘The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists’

Faced with the challenge of creating thousands of detailed parts for an animated movie, Aardman turns to EnvisionTEC’s Perfactory® Standard 3D printers to finish the project on time and within budget.

For their latest feature film, The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists! Aardman chose the EnvisionTEC Perfactory® Standard machine as their first choice for 3D Printing of the heads and mouths. This technology was chosen for a number of reasons.

With the possibility of over 20,000 mouth replacements, planned accuracy was an essential feature of the printing method. The mouths also needed to be interchangeable, all exactly fitting the characters’ heads. With such a large number of mouths required during filming, the system needed to run 24/7 and be capable of producing hundreds of pieces every day.

EnvisionTEC UK supplied Aardman with four Perfactory® Standard machines, all set to produce the mouths within 30 micron accuracy and running the E-shell range of materials. Aardman started work in 2009 manufacturing heads with interchangeable mouths for all the main characters and they also used the technology for making prototypes. The film was produced on time and within budget with the help of this latest technology.

The Pirates! In an Adventure with Scientists 3D, Hugh Grant stars in his first animated role as the luxuriantly bearded Pirate Captain – a boundlessly enthusiastic, if somewhat less-than-successful, terror of the High Seas. With a rag-tag crew at his side (Martin Freeman, Brendan Gleeson, Russell Tovey, and Ashley Jensen), and seemingly blind to the impossible odds stacked against him, the Captain has one dream: to beat his bitter rivals Black Bellamy (Jeremy Piven) and Cutlass Liz (Salma Hayek) to the much coveted Pirate Of The Year Award. It’s a quest that takes our heroes from the shores of exotic Blood Island to the foggy streets of Victorian London.

Along the way they battle a diabolical queen (Imelda Staunton) and team up with a haplessly smitten young scientist (David Tennant), but never lose sight of what a pirate loves best: adventure!

Pirates! In an Adventure With Scientists is directed by Peter Lord was released by Sony Pictures Releasing UK on 28 March 2012.