Introduction: How to Publicly Ridicule Chris Christie With a 3d Printed Action Figure

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I been making 3d prints for a while now... i recently ventured into color 3d printing and put couple of models up for sale.. While thinking on ideas for action figures i saw Chris Christie's interview where he joked about the Bridgegate scandal.

He thought it was hilarious that a city was shut down and people were stuck in traffic for DAYS.. About 5 days to be exact.. Anyways instead of finding out what happened or accept responsibility for the mess. He actually was annoyed he was bothered by such petty thing.. Annoyed by the reporter he joked that as a matter of fact he was out there "working the cones" "wearing overalls" and that this was actually a "Traffic Study" because this spoiled city had 3 toll booths of it's own.

I made couple of other figurines after this interview and as i keep track of the story this image of him "working the cones" grew and grew in my head..i had a very disturbing mental picture of a goofy Chris Christie wearing a cone on his head with a construction vest directing traffic. 




Eventually all of the stuff he spilled during that interview was proven to be a huge LIE.. There was no traffic study.. or if there was there was no data gathered.. The town had no dedicated toll booths like Christie argued.. People got fired and people quit.. His senior most staff members are now pleading the 5th.. This has grown out of proportion and Christie has still to come clean on what really happened. The reason this is still news is because Christie has no provided an answer nor named the ones responsible for the bridge scandal.. no one is in jail and everyone is hiding behind their lawyers including Chris Christie himself.


That funny picture Chris Christie was not so funny anymore after reports of kids not being able to get to school (poor driver!!!).. Ambulances getting stuck in traffic 

This scandal is not going anywhere soon.. This Bridgegate will be remembered as the scandal that costed Chris Christie his presidential nomination. So what a better way to pile on Chris Christie and poop on his traffic parade? An action figure commemorating the Bridgegate scandal!!.

So if you know anyone who was stuck in traffic for those horrible 5 days... give them one of these guys. Do you know any democrat who voted for this guy? give them one of this. Do you know any republican who said this guy was their white shining knight for 2016? give them one of this.. Are you a political junkie who needs a morning laughter every morning to cheer you on when you get to your desk? Get one of this guys!!.

Here is the link for the Large 5 inch  Figurine
https://www.shapeways.com/model/1674852/chris-christie-directing-traffic-bridgegate.html
here is the link for the medium 3 inch figurine
https://www.shapeways.com/model/1725900/small-chris-christie-directing-traffic-bridgegat.html

Visit my blog for more of my work and to help me decide on my next 3d printed figurine
http://politicalsculptor.blogspot.com/ or follow me on twitter https://twitter.com/politicalsculpt

Step 1: Gather Reference Pictures and 3d Model

Pretty much anyone can make a 3d scan of an actual person. anyone can make a 3d model character.. So i wanted to make something that made it clear it was chris christie when you see it... SO it needed to be accurate but still funny.. Pretty much think about it as a political cartoon in 3D.. I had to summarize the whole bridgegate in a 4 inch figurine (2 1/2 inch also available)

I didnt do much sketching on this figure because i already had the mental pic on my head.. So i just had to get Chris Christie's face right.. i found like 20 reference pics and started to model.. 

i'm only posting some reference pics for copyright issues.. so dont think i only used 2 images.. 

After many late nights i finally had the model done.. Which believe it or not was the easy part..

Making the model watertight, with clean geometry, non manifold, etc etc is the hard part.. ONce your model is done you might think is over right? WRONG..

Step 2: Reduce the Cost of the Print by Hollowing Out the Object

uploading the model to shapeways this way would cost you about 80 bucks to print... because they charge you for the amount material used.. So all the infill in the figure increases the cost exponentially..

in order to reduce the price of the print you need to hollow out the object yet leave a minimum 2mm minimum of thickness for the entire object.. This is extremely hard and complicated especially if you have complicated geometry..

Anyways once hollowed out.. the price is reduced exponentially.. this went down from a 80 dollar action figure to 37 bucks!!..

If you are new to 3d printing.. 37 dollars for a 5 inches tall figurine is freaking good.. Stuff like this used to cost hundreds of dollars.. This new technology is amazing.. So be thankful prices have gonne down this much.

However, the main complain i got from people was the price.. I understand the price is considerably more than your regular chinese made 5 dollar bobblehead.

Please understand that this is using 3d printed technology which alone makes it a great conversation piece.. Also understand that these are not made in china at slave like wages.. No one is jumping off the roof or dying in the assembly line.. This are made in AMERICA by an american company providing American jobs..

However, i understand that a lot of people in new jersey have been screwed by Gov. Christie.. Pensions of teachers, cops and government employees have been ravaged by Christie and his Cronies.. Pay has been cut or not increase in years.. not to mention the countless of jobs lost thanks to his administration.

So in order to make this affordable enough that a new jersey teacher might be able to afford i went back.. i reworked the model and spend a lot of time and reduced the size from 5 inches down to almost 3 inches.. So you can now buy this 3d Printed Chris Christie "bridgegate" action figure for 25 bucks instead of 37 bucks..

Now everyone can own the very 1st political oriented 3d action figure in the world!!..

Step 3: Texture Your Model and Export It Correctly

When i 1st got into color printing i had no idea of what to expect.. i was hoping i could use separate lamberts with different colors in order to color certain polygons a different color.

However, The only way to get the colors to print correctly is by using a texture file and stretching and laying out the UVs.

This process done for gaming, movies etc.. This process gives you a lot more freedom with texturing your model but is a bit more complicated when it comes to texturing an object

One of the greatest advantage of such process is that you can paint or use photo images to create the textures.. So i created a stop sign texture.. found a construction best texture made my cone head texture.. etc..

The trick is to keep textures at 1024 pixels, 2048 pixels etc... if you don't it won't get recognized by shapeways.. your final product must be a .WRL file for your model and a .JPG file for your texture.. compressed into one file..

So if you modeling software doesn't export .WRL file.. you need to export it as an OBJ file.. and use Meshlab to export it into a .WRL file..

Step 4: How to Poop on Gov. Chris Christie - the Payback

Now the whole reason why i made this action figure is because i wanted to poop on Chris Christie's parade.. I wanted to ridicule him just like he ridiculed teachers, reporters, his own citizens and people of new jersey..

When i was in the playground when i was little and a big bully picked in other kids i learned a very interesting lesson. There is plenty of ways to fight a bully but the best way is to ridicule him publicly. Reduce his public image and ridicule him in front of his peer.. Well What a best way to ridicule him than make a funny figurine and have everyone laughs at his expense. 

Christie has ridiculed people countless of times when they asked him the thought questions.. He attempted to ridiculed the reporter who first asked him about the BridgeGate scandal by joking about it... He made light of the question and was annoyed a dumb reporter asked him about petty issues like SHUTTING down a whole TOWN. 

So it's time for payback.. I want this to go viral and hopefully get Chris Christie to see this figurine.. maybe  get a picture of him and this figurine!!..

This has gone already viral.. but i still need your help

It was posted on the Star-ledger at NJ.com

http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/02/photos_orlando_designer_creates_christie_bridgegate_doll_with_3-d_printer.html

The Trentonian
http://www.trentonian.com/opinion/20140219/jeff-edelstein-3d-printing-gives-us-the-chris-christie-bridegate-in-action-figure

New York Daily
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/chris-christie-figurine-commemorating-bridgegate-article-1.1621117
Salon.com
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/20/chris_christie_update_guv_buddies_up_with_wal_mart_and_readies_for_his_first_post_bridgegate_town_hall/

Channel 12 News!!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYLm7bKR4ww
and MSNBC's Hardball
http://www.msnbc.com/hardball/watch/bridgegate-action-figures-appear-in-nj-162476099994

The mission is almost accomplished.. I just need to get a picture of this figurine and Gov. Chris Christie and my mission will be accomplished!!

So i'm issuing this challenge.. If you get Chris Christie to see this figurine and take a picture of him and this action figure.. i will refund your money for the figurine!!.. So happy hunting my friends!!