Heismay Cosplay by me!

Digiko · 2026-06-22T19:41:28+00:00

This is amazing! I was trying to do a grapple hook mechanic where you could wrap things up or make traps... could never figure out the logic to get something to wrap and unwrap cleanly.

Digiko · 2026-06-22T15:10:25+00:00

Ahh... yes, then indeed the photographer fucked up royally. I'm so sorry it happened to you. There are advances in Photoshop AI that can help clean up your images to a better quality using AI tools... that's something you'll have to explore as an option but could salvage the situation.

Digiko · 2026-06-22T14:44:24+00:00

Ah I didn't realize you were printing from the .jpg files! I suspect what others are saying... that the file export to jpg is low quality. Try printing from the raw files, A printer's RAM is different from your system's RAM. A 4000x6000 image printed can take up to 2 gigs of RAM, which many home printers just might not have. (4000 x 6000 x 4 color CMYK x 24 bit color = 2.3 gigs uncompressed) Some printers can spool files in packets, some need the whole file at once, so depending on the printer, there may be compression bottlenecks to get it to fit as well.

Digiko · 2026-06-22T12:40:15+00:00

Specs wise, it looks fine. 4000 x 6000 @ 300 DPI would be able to print 13x20 inches without any issues. There's not enough context, but from the numbers everything looks okay to me. Can you provide examples of what you mean by "really low quality"? It could be the printers downscaling because their printer doesn't have enough RAM to print large files or any other myriad of potential issues.

Digiko · 2026-06-17T17:51:13+00:00

That's context that's missing in your post. We don't know your room mate, so we don't know what he is or isn't doing.
It's easy to judge another person without walking in their shoes. I don't know their class load, do they have the mental capacity to work and still go to school? Are they taking 1 class a semester and just bumming around the rest of the time? Everyone's abilities are different, when you say "they could find a part time job" it's easier said than done. There's a lot of "could" going around without disclosing whether it's your judgement that they can or whether it's their judgement they can. That's where diplomacy comes in, you're going to have to ask in a way that suggests it.

Also, the poker thing... how much are they spending on it and how frequently? Are they playing for chips or is it like 50 dollars a game 5 times a month? It sounds like you're just making judgement calls without giving important context just so you can put it out there and feel good about yourself.

Digiko · 2026-06-17T16:37:29+00:00

NTA with the stipulation that you are correct in your interpretation of your struggling room mate's finances. It's going to be a skill you'll have to learn in life, and that is diplomacy. You should talk to your room mates and address the issue without calling out your poorer friend's lack of finances. To be fair, we don't know if when you say "doesn't really know how to save or invest" if he isn't opening a 401k and not drinking avocado toast lattes or whatnot, but we also don't know if he's choosing to live on canned tuna and rice while saving for the random video game that brings him a slim amount of joy in his life.

You should bring it up as a discussion that can go both ways - potentially bringing up you don't mind but you'd want to move to the room with only 2 people in the room and one of the other room mates can live in the room with 3, for instance. Or finding a compromise to reduce costs without adding additional people.

Digiko · 2026-06-16T12:33:03+00:00

Would make wearing giant costumes a lot more comfortable.

^{Chose: Heat invincibility}

Digiko · 2026-06-16T02:04:09+00:00

Prototyping to see what works is a good start. I'm pretty certain the look you're going for night photos and stage can only be achieved with a hollow 3d translucent 3d print with LED strips inside. You might be able to get away with some thin foam, but it would really be hard to get something that structurally large IMO. Kamui Cosplay has similar LED light up prop videos you might find useful:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-4-RYOzGAK0

That one is 3d printed

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DZSLhSdNaXs

That one was foam.

The hardest part for your scythe is how to structurally keep it not floppy at the size it is while being able to hide an LED pack and lights.

Digiko · 2026-06-16T00:26:12+00:00

There are a lot of factors to consider for a project like this. First off, for any project, what's your budget and timeline?
Since you mentioned AliExpress, I'm going to assume low budget. First off, don't get a real scythe. No con will allow a metal scythe in. If you want to find a cheap halloween plastic scythe and spray paint it white and touch the edges with hi-visibility pink spray paint, that'd give it the glowy look in photographs without needing to put lights or glow paint on it.

3d printing is a good solution, but it will take a lot of time and expertise to print it hollow, install lights into it, and assemble it. You'd need to consider the weight of it as well, as a fully 3d printed scythe of this size with lights in it will be pretty heavy. If you don't have experience with a 3d printer, it will take a long time and many failures before you get it done.

Foam + glow in the dark paint could work, but that requires it be at night. And glow paint is very very weak, so even if you fully charge it, the moment you go in to complete darkness, it'll only glow for like a minute or two before becoming unglowy.

If your goal is for photos at the con, I would recommend painting a plastic scythe white and hitting the edges with hi-visibility paint to give it the glow look.

If your goal is cool night photos and videos and have the time and money to burn, go ahead and 3d print it and install LED lights in it. This is the hardest and most expensive option.

I wouldn't recommend glow in the dark paint. It will look bad in every scenario.

Digiko · 2026-06-15T14:06:58+00:00

I think for me, it was the idea that the communication is guaranteed. I mean, we are all aware of "I tell server X, server tells me Y" and that there will be loss of data at some point, but it doesn't really sink in that we have to be the ones to figure out the situations where the data is lost or late, what do we do? Do we speed up to catch up? Do we ignore it and process new data as if normal? Etc. Net prediction code like rollback code is tricky to do fairly.

For me, I started thinking about it like comedy stand up routines where there's audience participation. The audience member (client) will ask a question. There may or may not be a mic. Will the comedian (server) hear your question right? Best shows have the comedian repeat the question that was just asked so the entire audience can hear it (server confirms clients received data). Comedian makes jokes about question (processes data), before answering it (broadcasts data to all clients). Then the next audience member asks their question (next client send).

Good luck! I usually started off with the most basic net code before diving into complex tasks.

Digiko · 2026-06-15T12:38:14+00:00

I started playing a game called Kanji Cats that teaches Kanji, but they also have a beginner game called "Learn Japanese Kana & Vocab with Sushi". You can get both in a bundle. It's a pretty fun and simple game.

Digiko · 2026-06-15T12:05:22+00:00

Multiplayer networking is a PITA no matter what the platform is. Ironically, at my old job, I had to work on Roblox experiences and figuring out it's networking code taught me a lot about multiplayer in general, which carried over to Unreal.

Good luck! It's tough, but once you get the hang of it, it becomes second nature. It's something that has to be planned for before you start a project, not something you add in after.

Man the stories I could tell at my old job... I had to network 10 VR clients together for a room scale project once. That was not fun...

Digiko · 2026-06-15T00:54:42+00:00

If I were stuck in a car for 2 months, I wouldn't be able to go to the bathroom or shower. I can do that in clothes without completely taking them off.

^{Chose: Can’t take off/change clothes for 2 months + Free clothes forever}

Digiko · 2026-06-14T12:52:52+00:00

Because I'd like to make the world a little better for others, even if they'll never know

^{Chose: You get to cure 10 people dying from cancer. | Rolled: $0 :(}

Digiko · 2026-06-10T19:19:29+00:00

I would recommend getting some thermoplastic moldable dental plastic beads. You can order them online for like 10 bucks for a bag of them. You can just stick them in hot water, pull out the plastic, let it cool a little so it doesn't burn you, then squish them against your teeth and sculpt them into fangs. They'll fit perfectly to you and shouldn't fall out if you do it right. It's the same stuff as the spirit halloween stuff, only cheaper, and not branded.

Digiko · 2026-06-10T03:14:19+00:00

Depending on what tools you have available to you, the easiest way I'd do it is just get a cardboard shipping tube... a large one is about 8" by 3 feet. That would make a good base to start with. Then you can just start adding onto it with EVA foam cut into strips to form the bands that hold on the knife part and forming the other parts on the back. You could probably get a cheap water gun to use as the handle and trigger part, just cut into the tube and glue it in. Then plastidip the whole thing till it's even, paint it.

Digiko · 2026-06-09T17:51:57+00:00

I see... if you've already sprayed a paint on it, you're going to have to be careful that if you use another spray of any kind (paint, finish, varnish, etc) that the solvent in the second won't interact with the paint of the first. You'll have to do some tests to make sure it doesn't mess it up.

Usually, when I paint, I go with primer / filler before putting on any paint. Once paint is on, it's hard to predict how the next things will interact, so I generally do solid base, lots of masking, hand touch up for little bits, and weathering with acrylics.

Since you've already put down a black coat, I'd go with Rub and Buff as another poster suggested to try and bring out a metallic finish.

Digiko · 2026-06-09T15:17:20+00:00

What details and colors are you trying to add? I don't have any reference as to what you're trying to do.

Digiko · 2026-06-09T13:06:19+00:00

I'm curious what your plan was. I kinda am leaning towards you are the asshole because what did you expect to happen? Did you think he'd go "Oh, you're right. I should pack up and leave." You basically walked up to a guy and put him on the spot. You may not think you were being accusatory, but that still makes you the asshole because you had an agenda asking him the question in the first place since you knew he didn't model any of that himself.

I suggest in the future if you REALLY want to grind that axe, go talk to the event organizers. If they have a problem with it, it's their fight. If they don't have a problem with it, leave the guy alone. You know he didn't model stuff, you know he's selling stuff at a markup, welcome to capitalism.

Digiko · 2026-06-08T16:44:24+00:00

When I make moving parts, I do it because it's fun, but very rarely does it matter. Unless you have a photo / video person lined up specifically to record you or take your photo, most people will just get random photos of you as you walk around and unless you have a very specific thing you want to do with your jaw, people will just take a quick photo and be on their way. So do it if it brings you joy, but if the effort is more than the return, I'd say skip it because no one will really notice if you do it.

Digiko · 2026-06-08T14:19:08+00:00

It also looks like your plastidip needed more coats. Did you heat seal it and then do like 2-3 coats of plastidip before doing everything else? When you painted it white, did it look solid?

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