<P> As established in the original Star Wars trilogy of films, the troopers' most distinctive equipment is their white battle armor, which completely encases the body and typically has no individually distinguishing markings . </P> <P> Based on conceptual drawings by Ralph McQuarrie, Liz Moore and Nick Pemberton sculpted designs for the helmet, Brian Muir sculpted armor pieces for the stormtrooper costume . Muir, who was also responsible for sculpting the Darth Vader costume, worked out of the Art Department at Elstree Studios . The suit was molded and initially cast in plaster, with Muir sharpening the detail at the plaster stage . The plaster casts were then remolded and cast in fiberglass to use as the "tools" for the vacuum forming process . The suits were produced in house by Tashy Baines, the resident vacuum former, but then a problem developed with the machine . As Shepperton Design Studios had already been used to vacuum form the helmets, the fiberglass molds for the armor were then sent to them for vacuum forming the suits . By the end of production, two different helmets were produced; one for the common stunt trooper and a second design for close - ups . Fifty stunt helmets were produced in white - painted HDPE and six hero helmets were produced in white ABS plastic . Besides the material used, the two designs can be differentiated by differences in the eyes, the ears, and the mouth area . </P> <P> The prequel films establish the clone troopers as predecessors to the stormtroopers, and they were also the first generation of stormtroopers after the fall of the Republic . Clone trooper armor is typically shown to have various colorings to denote rank or unit . </P> <P> The copyright status of the armor design has undergone legal challenges . A 2004 lawsuit by Lucasfilm against one of the original prop designers, UK citizen Andrew Ainsworth, who had been selling helmet replicas made with original molds, confirmed the design to be under copyright in the US . However, a 2011 UK court decision in Ainsworth's favor deemed the costume to be industrial design, which is protected there only for 15 years . This puts the armor design in the public domain in the UK, and likely throughout the European Union . </P>

When did the empire start using stormtrooper armor