Legacy Effects Uses Bambu Lab X1C for Superman 2025 — Hollywood 3D Printing Comes of Age

Hollywood's practical effects pipeline is being transformed. Legacy Effects, a US-based visual effects studio, has integrated Bambu Lab's X1C 3D printing systems into nearly every corner of their fabrication workflow for Superman 2025 — and the results are remarkable.

From Prototypes to Production Parts

The studio entered production facing familiar pressures: shrinking schedules, growing complexity, and a workflow that forced trade-offs between turnaround speed and part quality. Their existing fleet of industrial machines from Stratasys, Markforged, WASP, and Raise3D each had strengths, but none could bridge the gap between a quick rough print and something camera-ready.

That changed when the team began testing Bambu Lab's X1C on the Hammer of Boravia armor. What started as a trial quickly revealed something unexpected: parts were coming off the machine fast and polished. As the studio noted internally, the platform had reached a point where FFF output was "of sufficient quality to serve not only as prototypes but, in some cases, as final parts."

What Got Built

The scope was broader than most would expect. Full stunt suits for the Hammer of Boravia and LexCorp Raptors were assembled as multi-part FFF prints, fitted to performers, stress-tested through action choreography, and revised — sometimes multiple times in a single day.

Mr. Terrific's mechanically transforming flying chair combined printed structural components with MJF joints and metal hardware, then went through sanding, priming, and painting to achieve a reflective hero finish. For the Fortress of Solitude's animatronic robots, internal brackets and articulation mechanisms were first printed in PLA, then migrated to PA-CF once tolerances were confirmed — cutting weight and collapsing what had previously been multi-component metal assemblies into single integrated parts.

Material Strategy

Material choices were deliberate throughout:

• PLA handled rapid iteration and decorative surfaces
• TPU (95A) stood in for silicone during actor fit testing — Mr. Terrific's T-shaped mask had to flex with realistic facial movements
• PA-CF supported structural loads, replacing metal parts

Additionally, the team successfully ran Markforged's Onyx filament through the X1C on a generic profile, achieving output speeds that outpaced the filament's native hardware.

No On-Set Failures

The absence of on-set failures was cited as a meaningful benchmark — a confirmation that 3D printing has moved from a support role into something closer to a primary fabrication tool in high-end practical effects work.

"Digital sculpts and scanned clay models moved directly into the printer without interpretation or rework on the shop floor," the studio noted. "Engineering teams ran five or six part revisions in a day, while mold-making and art teams worked in parallel rather than waiting in sequence."

The Bigger Picture

3D printing is increasingly becoming a primary fabrication tool in Hollywood. For the final season of Stranger Things, production teams used 3D printing to create life-sized, digitally scanned replicas of child actors to stand in during dangerous sequences. In Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein (2025), 3D printing produced a 30-foot gothic tower, accelerating production and reducing reliance on full-scale builds.

The studio anticipates increased use of 3D printing in future productions, with demand growing for larger-format machines, reliable hardware, and connected workflows.