James Bond (Goldeneye 64 - DK Mode) - Making of

So here’s where I go into nerdy depth about how I made my awesome James Bond costume this year. I’ll start off with a quick summary of what it is and how I made it.

The character is James Bond from the 1998 Nintendo 64 game Goldeneye which was very critically acclaimed and did very well and changed multiplayer forever. One of the unlockables in the game was DK Mode (Donkey Kong who had a huge head) which made all the players heads huge. It was quite hilarious.

So I got the idea for the costume from this guy’s portfolio where he did a 3D self portrait using Papercraft. I thought it was awesome but wanted something more recognizable so I decided on Bond since it was low-poly therefore much easier (or so one would think). Then, using the tools at the package design internship I currently have, I made the amazing creation that is James Bond 64 out of cardboard. To put together took around 12 hours but it took a lot of prep work so maybe around 20-24 full hours to complete this thing. Twas a beast. On to the HOW-TO!!

So I searched for the actual model of James Bond online but couldn’t find it so of course I had to do things the hard way. I had to extract the 3D model from the Nintendo 64 game. I did this using a N64 emulator and Goldeneye rom file (Hey I still own my N64 and the actual cartridge, chill out!). I used a program called 1964 and a plugin outlined here which allows you to essentially screenshot the game and capture all of the models and textures currently on the screen. I won’t detail that here as it’s very complicated and there are tutorials elsewhere. Just google it.

I converted and imported that vrml file to a MA (Autodesk Maya) file so I could open it and wala! This is what it looked like. It’s the very first level of Goldeneye 64. I deleted all the unnecessary geometry and was left with the head, hands and the legendary PP7. I modified the geometry a bit so it would extend under my clothes when I put it all on.

Here’s where the magic happens… I used a program called Pepakura to import and unfold the 3D model as well as add glue tabs to model. Here’s what the program looks like.

So I modified the cuts and size which I ended up doubling since the first time I printed it it barely fit my head. I saved the EPS vector art as well as the huge bitmap of the James Bond texture. I also printed a layout of the entire thing with numbered tabs to help me when I printed it all out and had to start gluing.

This is the part that took around 12 hours to do completely. There were over 100 tabs to glue so you can see why. But first I used a huge large format printer at my internship and then used a cardboard laminator to stick the texture onto the cardboard. After that I used a giant table with a mini-saw and little wheel to load up the vector cut and crease lines from Pepakura and it did it all automatically. So I got lucky here since that cut out an immense amount of work.

Next I creased all the parts and started gluing. Hands first.

Then the head slowly formed.

And formed.

Until finally it was done! I did end up cutting a slit in the right hand for the PP7 to slide in and out of. And I cut down the neck some as I didn’t size that part correctly and it came out too big.

Then finally I cut some little eye holes in it so I could see although I didn’t want to butcher my masterpiece so they were rather small and useless.After that it was just a matter of putting on my suit and hittin the town! Aw YA!

Be sure and check out my Flickr set with lots more high resolution pictures of it all here!