What type of clay did the ID team use?

[raymoohawk]

does anyone know if they used regualar water based clay? or was it like plasticine that doesnt dry?

[vadrig4r]

Looking at pictures from various sources it looks more like oil-based modelling clay or plasticine, but perhaps someone knows categorically.

http://imgur.com/a/P7jZJ

[NoXion]

I take it they posed the models in order to produce the various frames for the sprite animations? Would the clay have split at any point? I suppose it would have been easy enough to fix, though.

I'm kind of reminded of how they made films in earlier decades, making more use of physical props and hand-crafted items as opposed to the CGI and green screen they use a lot nowadays. I guess games have changed in a similar kind of way as well; I don't imagine they make physical models which are then scanned into 3D meshes, or if they do it's a rare thing indeed.

[david_a]

NoXion said:

I take it they posed the models in order to produce the various frames for the sprite animations? Would the clay have split at any point? I suppose it would have been easy enough to fix, though.

I'm kind of reminded of how they made films in earlier decades, making more use of physical props and hand-crafted items as opposed to the CGI and green screen they use a lot nowadays. I guess games have changed in a similar kind of way as well; I don't imagine they make physical models which are then scanned into 3D meshes, or if they do it's a rare thing indeed.

I'm guessing you missed the interview with Greg Punchatz that I submitted to the front page a few days ago? :)

[NoXion]

david_a said:

I'm guessing you missed the interview with Greg Punchatz that I submitted to the front page a few days ago? :)

Indeed I did. Thanks for that, reading now.

[Maes]

Well, the interview mentions "clay", but "clay" is kind of an umbrella term. It might mean the mineral & water-based stuff that actually hardens after a few hours, as well as plasticine or more specialized types of clay. I presume they must have used a soft/pliable material, in order to be able to re-pose their models. Otherwise they'd have to create a different sculpture from scratch for each pose, or perform all posing and scanning really quickly, before the model permanently set into a fixed pose.

It's also mentioned that the Doom 64 models were made from hard clay and that they were designed so that they could be broken apart. Perhaps that explains why they look so stiff compared to the original Doom's more organic sprites.

[raymoohawk]

mhhh, i had always thought that the stiffness of the d64 monsters was due to the compination of low frame count and higher resolution

water and mineral clay can be kept fresh if wrapped in plastic, so i guess you could also use it for something like this, tho im not sure if it would be very posable, wven with maniquins undearneath

[darkreaver]

poop mos def

[Maes]

Now, if they were made with mineral water-activated clay, wouldn't they harden at some point and be available as props today? Or was the clay reusable (and expensive enough) to warrant recycling it?

darkreaver said:

poop mos def

Maybe from hepatitis.