Club Penguin Behind the Scenes - The 3D Penguin

It's a flashback to 2006 as I walk through one of the original 3D files that held the Club Penguin penguin and clothing items.
Skip to 6:14 if you just want to see the penguin stuff.
Part 2: • Club Penguin Behind th...
NOTE: Just because I happened to find this doesn't mean that I have every old and archived file from the early days of Club Penguin. If you're looking for something specifically, archives.clubpe... would likely be a far better resource for you.

[@LandyRShambles]

I went 12 years without knowing they had eyelids

[@shprite781]

RIGHT

[@tessaforth841]

NO WHY WOULD YOU POINT THAT OUT

[@Fa1seP0sitive]

I never played and I knew they had eyelids...

[@flines]

WHAT

[@doggo896]

I am so confused

[@Van-Leo]

27:30 when mom let you use the credit card to get 1 month membership

[@MyPing0]

😂😂

[@White_Slugger]

666 likes seems ligut

[@Van-Leo]

@@White_Slugger OH DANG

[@zxcmnbzxc6522]

ngl wearing everything in the game looks pretty cool

[@jnbplaysgames]

And you leave it all on when you lose it lol

[@redspyro99]

Man, I'm surprised by just how tall the model actually is! They're just so squat and round in the normal view and in the player card.

[@Ducky_Lucky]

This is kinda just making me think of them as super ungodly tall to a point where its very ominous

[@nicholasgawler-collins5754]

Looking at the Penguin model from the front, it actually looks worse than the Club Penguin Island model.

[@ky-gp4sz]

It’s because of the beak obscuring part of his body. It makes it less noticeable.

[@tuxedobird]

@@nicholasgawler-collins5754 I’m sure that’s partly because it was always intended to be viewed from one angle

[@heroyolkie]

28:01 if Club Penguin was still up, I'd actually want "the everything costume" to be readily available for anyone brave enough to wear that monstrosity.

[@Chomuggaacapri]

19:43 Kowalski, Analysis

[@ChrisHendricks]

KOWALSKI: So far, sir, the only thing I've found is that wearing these things in broad daylight is a horrible idea. PRIVATE: (dazed) myYyyyYy eeyyyyyes....

[@Wooktent]

@@ChrisHendricks That was surprisingly flippin spot on on their personalities.

[@axoh3202]

@@Wooktent I feel like Chris is a huge penguins of Madagascar fan and he saw this one chance to make a joke

[@zaksnow2233]

8:09 *flashbacks to that one card-jitsu power card intensify*

[@rayredondo8160]

Yeah, that's exactly what I thought about too!

[@callu342]

yes

[@orangy57]

6:23 it's so weird seeing the penguin at an angle that doesn't make it look chonky, like I've imagined the penguins to be chubby for 12 years now

[@PastelHime]

Me too omg

[@bingoccolon]

15:18 you can hear the fear in his voice, and from that we know he has had nightmares involving the original 3d penguin without eyes towering over him menacingly

[@ChrisHendricks]

GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!

[@AngelHarris-j2b]

@@ChrisHendricks XD *NO*

[@Tech70]

The penguin with ALL the items though... I can't unsee that.

[@notfish]

I mean, not like you'd want to unsee it.

[@dcook435]

19:43 seeing the club peinguin model in 3d at front is actually scary

[@myang12003]

They were actually taller than what they look like in game? What an optical illusion!

[@Fupicat]

That's so surreal! I never imagined there was so much manual work put into the clothing items, mainly because there were so many.

[@snakedeadly]

@Jorimkek Yo quiero taco bell

[@Bolonis-boloniasca]

eu vim do futuro,e isso é real ou feike

[@eduardozgz]

@@snakedeadly That wasn't Spanish

[@acronyx8880]

Yo quiero mcdonalds

[@snakedeadly]

@@acronyx8880 Uh no, Yo quiero Taco Bell!

[@theclodofclods]

Learning that the penguins were actually not small and just forced perspective has changed my reality

[@pugstudio4876]

Princess Penguin: Chris Hendricks: *Vietnam flashbacks*

[@zilog1]

It amazes me that there are still so many 3d/cad softwares that I've never heard of thats not autodesk or blender

[@MondoMurderface]

I'm impressed you remember it so well. I think back 17 years onto my old 3D projects and its just a fuzzy blur of weird applications and strange workflows I can't quite recall. I vaguely remember something called milkshape and a weird photoshop clone that did a nice frost effect.

[@ChrisHendricks]

It's easier to remember certain things when the entire Internet has recorded elements of it for future reference. Keeps the memory fresh. :)

[@q_q123]

Even as a kid I was kinda amazed at how there were 3D models of every clothing item. I liked to play around with 3D modeling. Thank you sir for making my childhood packed with fun adventures.

[@bwrowr]

"Here's the penguin in all it's glory" fantastic

[@TorqueCP]

Man, towards the end I definitely got some heavy nostalgia. My mind took be back to when I was a kid playing this game. Time has flown by hasn't it? 😭😭

[@Guh-tw4io]

if you want you can play the millions of private servers i know alot if u want normal nostalgia go to club penguin rewritten but it you want to expierience alot of stuff at once go to free penguin

[@morgankasper5227]

@@Guh-tw4io they seem pretty public to me

[@morgankasper5227]

@@keirsten054 cpo is dead cause its the island one club penguin rewitten isnt dead youve just been going to the wrong servers and its updated alot so it will probs get that feature if it dosent already have it

[@Oliver_Saer]

This is so interesting. I remember when I was a kid, I sent a message to Club Penguin support asking them how they made the penguin models (I think I had it in my head at the time that I could make a clone of the game and become rich). They never responded to my message. Now, almost two decades later, I finally have my answer.

[@grogcito]

Holy shit, this video just made me appreciate blender so much more than I already do. Tbh, swift 3D makes valve's hammer look like a professional cad software

[@TheXppp1]

Seeing you struggle to do basic stuff in this software just makes me glad modern 3D software is so intuitive and quick

[@bloodakoos]

it's him, the penguin behind the scenes

[@charley473]

haha thanks for the avatar!

[@rebecarush8113]

But the sombrero and red shirt are missing:(

[@tentacletherapist6451]

A year later this dude has the same pfp

[@Alex1331xela]

Now that’s commitment

[@shleemyd8169]

Commitment is off the charts

[@emilyy03]

and its gone now ;(

[@hiturana3290]

I totally lost it at 16:37 when you described the bow as 'something a girl might... wear???' that exactly describes some people's view on women's clothing :D i love this series, i always wondered how it was all done and why certain items looked so different when you bought them at the gift shop vs how they looked when you put them on. Thanks for showing us this!

[@peachnkey]

Not gonna lie, being a little girl myself back in the day I would’ve really loved that hairbow 😅 Is exaggeratedly cute and a nice baby-pink color actually! I love seeing all of these old models and stuff, god this program must’ve been a nightmare to work in, no bones, damn! I’m definitely able to appreciate it now, thank you guys for all that hard work 😄

[@ChrisHendricks]

There were so few animations that the lack of bones wasn't so bad. It was the lack of quads. Modelling a polygonal shape with only triangles is dreadful.

[@KiraSlith]

@@ChrisHendricks I can see what their engineers were thinking at the time. It all bakes down to tris one way or the other, and in software terms quads are just 2 tris with a fixed line drawn in between. Drawing in tris is more flexible, even if the artists find it inconvenient to work with.

[@user-ll5vv7rv9p]

The bow would look so cute with the princess dress

[@justarandompaper4238]

This man could recreate 50% of Club Penguin

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

This man CREATED 50% of Club Penguin in the first place!

[@snakedeadly]

@@TheSmart-CasualGamer I think he ment to revive it not sure though just my 2 cents

[@godsguitar7]

Fantastic video, I've been waiting for ages for a video talking about the 3D side of Club Penguin. As a 3D modeler, it is really hard to model CP stuff when the whole game was art focused. I am so happy this video was made, thank you so much for making this video. I can now perfect the penguin model we use for Club Penguin 3D and also just be more satisfied with the accuracy. So happy people are seeing the process of how it was all done as well. Thanks a bunch!

[@grubbba7586]

yay will cp3d be reopened earlier now

[@flameyoshi07]

Cool

[@Steffsh]

"cp" hol up

[@chubbsmcgee5393]

@@Steffsh lmao

[@technoguyx]

@@Steffsh *F B I, O P E N U P*

[@j0ee07]

5:17 leaked image of what the new penguin design will look like in Club Penguin 2

[@RandomNAME-cs6kw]

Club Penguin really changed after the art style "change" in clothing items. The first example that comes to mind is the classic straight ball caps versus the newer hats that were fit "sideways" on the heads. Pretty sure the art style change was around the time that Disney bought the company, could be totally wrong. I really preferred the classic clothing items!

[@justbny9278]

It was a good while after the Disney Bought out

[@messofabeing9392]

Also they put so many shadows on the outfits and made them really big. They never really fit the penguin model, it made them look squished and weird

[@cizd]

This explains so much. I'm glad no one works like this anymore...Well I honestly think you might be the only ones that ever worked like this in the first place.

[@ChrisHendricks]

You might be right. It was a great solution for what we needed in 2005, but it had definite drawbacks later on.

[@cizd]

@@ChrisHendricks definitely. There is a reason club penguin was able to be so successful. These days we're a bit spoiled in terms of how accessible pro level tools are.

[@bravestdumbass]

its been over a decade, club penguin is shut down, and i still want that beta hat

[@xXTakingChances]

club penguin rewritten has risen, check it out

[@kuma477]

Wolverine looking at photo meme

[@OmegaChase1002]

@@kuma477 cue the hat on the photo.

[@jreli]

Same lol. But it's almost 2023 now 😭

[@-bugbite]

I don’t know maybe party parrot or box critters will have it

[@menselv7142]

23:53 “the *P O N C H O* was a nightmare”

[@dragonfire7965]

I’m sure at least someone woulda worn the hair bow. Recently I was looking at how the clothes were on the penguin in 3D and was like “did they… model every clothing item?” I cannot believe you actually did with no bones, damn. And that software looks so hard to use too

[@dragonfire7965]

Thank you for making my penguin look so cool

[@ChrisHendricks]

Every single item. Though honestly, modelling each item and rendering it was actually faster than trying to create each item by hand drawing it.

[@keepyourshoesathedoor]

I would’ve 😂😂😂

[@Ellaliluleloka]

Now i understand why in the early years Penguins drawn in 2D looked more tall and slim vs. penguins drawn years later that seemed more chonky. It is because the OGs knew what the 3D model actually looked like without the perspective used in game.

[@LetThereBeMayhem]

I want to just congratulate you on working hard and well on club penguin, me and the game have many joyous memories together, too bad the game was discontinued.

[@vapor404]

Really love seeing the technical side behind my fav childhood game kind of amazed that the 3d software used couldn’t support 4 sided polygons especially since that’s industry and educational standard now

[@_Otterocket]

I really liked club penguin and i just want to say thank you and all the other team members... thank you for making my childhood a reality

[@ryleyw3684]

Glowiebgv Do you know about CPR?

[@_Otterocket]

@@ryleyw3684 yeah

[@Yoyoitsyoji]

Huh, I never really thought that they were 3D models converted to sprites. Really interesting. Also the front view of the model is terrifying

[@PenguinMaths]

The transparent faces were caused by inverted normals. Apparently swift3d uses backface culling for the viewport which is a pretty common technique where only the front of faces are rendered for efficiency.

[@Bentroen_]

17:53 I'm glad you mentioned Aunt Arctic 'cause I immediately reminded of her! But yeah, she wore a different thing.

[@moonflame1170]

These videos make my heart ache, just the tiniest bit. This was all so long ago... We're all different people by now. It's weird.

[@thunderlina3237]

Wait, YOU designed the infamous beta hat? That's so cool!

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Why "infamous"?

[@TheEmeraldSword04]

@@TheSmart-CasualGamer Chris said it's the most requested item in Club Penguin in this video.

[@rodrigofuentes7907]

6:16 *_the penguin_*

[@scrump11]

Club penguin took up such a big part of my childhood since '06. Never thought id be able to see something so behind the scenes like this.

[@glassjoe1677]

it's him the one the only

[@wofi784]

A moustache was released later on, in fact, many were, but not that one.

[@KiwiLuvsPieOfficial]

Maybe he doesn’t remember or he wasn’t around at that time

[@strawberrylemonadelioness]

Seeing the behind-the-scenes stuff is so cool! I used to love this game as a kid so much and I miss it

[@DarkRelm22]

For the first 3 minutes or so I was having anxiety because of how complex it looks... then it became easier to understand as he showed us. This is really cool!

[@Cynderace]

no one is gonna talk about the moment 7:06 which literally contains the special dance

[@AscensionUSA]

27:30 only true OGs walked around like this

[@aluna_planet]

I was blessed with this recommendation today. Thank you Chris Hendricks.

[@tiago9679]

I actaully never knew the penguin was a 3D model until now :b

[@Pejelo]

This a real Club Penguin Developement stuff

[@finsterhund]

Workarounds with old 3D animation software are always super interesting to me. The beakless renders are incredible and cursed. Thanks for sharing.

[@OmegaChase1002]

My favorite memory of this 3D model is that one Music Jam party where there was this glitch where if you played the guitar while wearing the new guitar shirt, the penguin would be doing the "playing the guitar" animation, but the shirt would be doing the "throw a snowball" animation.

[@WeegeepieYT]

WILLIAM'S BEEN WAITING FOR THIS xd

[@AlvaroTheAlbertFan]

XDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD

[@godsguitar7]

You right

[@pikaman2319]

Wesh c’est improbable je regarde la chaîne d’un des créateurs de club penguin et je tombe sur toi puis ensuite je vois que t’es abonné à Paulok

[@gabgab1240]

Hi loogi

[@azurda7483]

I never realize the models were actually that tall, they look really short from the in game perspective

[@1998Anderson]

it makes me miss it so much, this year my penguin would turn 10 years old

[@justsomeguy1998]

This satifies all my chilhood observations

[@daniellarossetto]

this is amazing! i was 9 when i started playing club penguin back in 2006 i think and now seeing this as a designer is sooo interesting!! plsss post more about the process

[@DanMizu]

I remember the ninja outfit! one of my favorites. this video is great not only for club penguin nostalgia but for beginner game creators/modelers/animators. thank you so much for this.

[@CyanCreate]

Man I wish I had that model

[@DARKINBLADE.]

This is some cool stuff, and shows how far technology and game development has come in just 20 years time. Thank you for being a really magical part of my childhood, and so many others.

[@nathanalexandre137]

Thank you for sharing this very BTS thing. It is so "dark", I really think no one has ever talked about the 3D models (by the way, seeing that tall penguin is pretty bizarre since we all, players, only saw the perspective form of it, and it's fun that drawn version of the penguin is the perspective one). Nice to know some of thr scrapped items that aren't even listed on the CP Wiki page of scrapped items! :D By far, one of my favourite "episodes" of BTS (even tho, it's not a musical one)!!

[@zweks]

Exactly, it's such an worried angle, id love to see the pov

[@dombjomb]

You are doing the Lord’s work, my dude

[@ChrisHendricks]

I hope so! And not just in the videos I make. :)

[@frostflaggermus]

I REMEMBER THE SOMBRERO SNORKEL PENGUIN AHH also gosh it's fun to see the snorkel actually poke out of the hat. like it would with 3d models anyway. edit: the miniclip forums omg.... i used to browse those as a kid, from fall 2006. too young to legally join them yet, but i definitely miss them. i never knew the blue cape was because of that place!! :O

[@martineriksson03]

it’s so weird seeing these penguins from the front view

[@mr.froglito1474]

I’ve never seen the penguins so tall!

[@kilian4219]

Watching all this, I just can't imagine how long it took to create a room like the town at Swift 3d. You should make a video talking about that Chris!

[@ChrisHendricks]

Oh, that would have been virtually impossible. Everything except the penguins was drawn in 2D.

[@Toaster278]

Ah, the bad ol' days of horrifically clunky 3d software. Though in seriousness being able to render a 3d object directly to 2d vector shapes is actually really cool and something I could totally use now

[@RobbieSpofford]

Could you explain, in the comments or in another video, why penguins had to take everything off except one item for special dances? Hovering with the jet pack could only be done if you had nothing on except the jet pack itself, for example. (With the notable exceptions of the Red Music Jam Shirt with certain musical instruments and the reflective vest with the hard hat)

[@ChrisHendricks]

Well, everything had to be rendered. So, to make a clothing item compatible with a special dance, it had to have that dance rendered on it. (Remember, these are 2D vector penguins walking around, not 3D.) We might have been able to make an exception for certain special dances, like the propeller hat hover dance, since it's really just a standing position that's slightly off the ground. But anything with penguin movement would have been too difficult to make all of the clothing items do. (Club Penguin Island was a different story, as those penguins were fully 3D).

[@RobbieSpofford]

Ah, that makes sense. Thank You!

[@frostflaggermus]

Pretty sure it was already kinda explained here. They exported these 3D renders to 2D flash sprites. Most items didn't have the special animation frames applied to them. The red music jam shirt had the instrument animations rendered, the reflective vest had the drilling animation rendered. Meanwhile, items like the whistle, the bell, the ping pong ball, all used an existing animation. The waving animation. No new animation needed to be rendered for that, so anyone could wear anything they wanted while using the item. Club Penguin Island, on the other hand, is fully rendered in 3D rather than in 2D Flash, so there's no need to strip down to do special animations there.

[@omegasynth2775]

He's as beautiful as the day we lost him...

[@LukeTheLPSWolf]

I actually remade this model in blender, I might showcase it soon

[@emmab4587]

Okay I feel like I just witnessed a legend or something. This is amazing! Also can I just _be_ that Penguin at the end because it’s all of my happiness in a file

[@ChrisHendricks]

I mean, he looks cool and all, but it's actually pretty hot under all of those clothes.

[@emmab4587]

Chris Hendricks you know you raise a good point

[@penguinmaster7]

27:30 looks like something that would happen to Rookie...

[@cookievideomaker4042]

27:31 this character can defeat thanos

[@ChrisHendricks]

Only with an Infinity Mitten.

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

@@ChrisHendricks Which, sadly, is a Bait Item.

[@Ping54]

Am I the only one that at 27:31 thought "well maybe you weren't wearing your sombrero in a goofy fashion"

[@kixlepixel]

damn, and i thought blender was hard to get used to at the beginning of my game development course, if i had needed to use this i think i would've cried. big props for making cool stuff with limited software

[@ChrisHendricks]

As a fellow Blender user, I can confirm that while Blender is quirky, Swift 3D was far less useful.

[@skykingjason]

This is such a nice video to see. I grew up playing Club Penguin for years, and soon after got into 3D modeling. I was actually texturing something until I clicked this video! It's strange how I kept having to remind myself that I'm watching a Club Penguin video and not a 3D modeling tutorial lol. I can't believe I never noticed you went the N64 route of no bones, it's like Super Mario 64! By the way there's a lot of great thinking that went behind the workflow, pretty ingenious being able to quickly render 3D animations into vectors like that. Also, can't believe you actually listened to the MCCP forums lol, those were some good times.

[@pacomatic9833]

Actually they had bones back then But the N64 devs used little pieces like they did here because the console was too weak to have bendy limbs

[@runforitman]

I cant believe how much I take blender for granted

[@belladawn3540]

Releasing that model could help CPR somehow create new clothes instead of being stuck with recoloring old ones.

[@simonnouchuu]

CPO has custom clothes

[@belladawn3540]

martha Yes but they’re in the new art style, which I don’t associate with my childhood.

[@primezone416]

Disney would most likely sue him as the assets are still technically under ownership by them even if club penguin doesnt exist anymore.

[@survivorxp-oldalt9381]

Club penguin archive wiki. Cough* cough*

[@TheSmart-CasualGamer]

Actually, they're working on this right now!

[@GeorgeCowsert]

Unironically this model has a better style and design than what CPI had. It has that same old Flash feel, but with the flexibility of being a proper 3D model. Plus it also doesn't feel kid-ified and altered to fit what the industry views as advertiser friendly.

[@Ricoxemani]

I always thought my whole life that the penguin sprites were made in 2d

[@JUAN-ee5do]

The 3d penguin model is so beautifuul

[@zachanikwano]

That whole part about the bowtie and perspective bit reminded me of Zelda A Link Between Worlds and how everything was tilted in order to give it the same look and feel as A Link to the Past. Neat! Also loving these videos. Found your channel through Pengicitis. It’s so fun looking at how a game I used to play endlessly as a kid was made. Plus I’ve got a blooming interest in game design hobby so this is just pure delight. Thank you so much!!

[@doofs]

Hey, I don't have much to say beyond my appreciation for making these videos Chris. I don't have much memory of my Childhood, but the things I remember the most vivid are my experiences on CP. I'm completely blown away with all of the developers being so in touch with the community, and it really warms my heart.

[@jorgilusty]

I'm dying at 17:19 🤣🤣🤣 "no..no...no"

[@Speed-TV]

No way! I remember spending hours every day playing club penguin with my grandma!

[@hylt0n]

That last part was amazing, I love the model with everything visible. 💯

[@fenderat1713]

thank you for subtitles as someone with a sound disorder I love you

[@MilkDestroyer]

This man sounds broken. (thank you so much for sharing!!)

[@Alzter0]

Interesting how the penguin design changed over the years but the overworld penguin stayed the same. Cool stuff!

[@RBRat3]

Never played club penguin but I remember trying out swift3d as a teen and did some fun stuff, never thought it would've been used this extensively. Thanks for the nostalgia trip :D

[@johnnyr.2558]

Thanks for working on a childhood favorite game of mine. I would have never guessed I would gain passion for 3D animation and later on come across this video.

[@mondo912]

Oh you skipped the black hoodie too, big fan favorite! Great video, it's nice to see the process and all the 3D stuff behind Club Penguin items and animations!

[@ChrisHendricks]

Shoot, I did skip that one. That wasn't intentional.

[@keepyourshoesathedoor]

This is so cute. I wish I could make custom items on top of the penguins.😂

[@KellyAesop]

thank you for developing this. it made me happy as a kid in 06 :)

[@VenomSnakeMGS]

Wow I just found this channel and its great. Thank you for making these videos. I played CP when I was a kid and this stuff is neat.

[@snowyvanter7114]

You got me to sit through a half hour uncut barley edited video with only your voice, congrats youre entertaining asf

[@wozniakowski1217]

12:01 omg for a moment there I was sure he was going for a swastika XD

[@flines]

LOL