Blender Claymation: A Simple Guide for Beginners

Blender is an incredibly powerful tool that gives artists endless ways to experiment with style, texture, and atmosphere. One of the most trendy and charming looks you can create is a claymation-inspired material that mimics the handmade feel of stop-motion animation! From subtle surface imperfections to visible fingerprints pressed into the model, this effect can bring a surprising amount of personality to your work. In this ‘How To’, you’ll learn how to build a procedural clay material using Blender’s shader nodes, bump maps, and textures. This guide is best suited for intermediate Blender users who are already comfortable navigating the interface and working with material node trees. By the end, you’ll have a flexible clay shader you can apply to characters, props, or entire scenes to achieve a handcrafted clay look.

Before you begin, make sure you have a model ready for texturing. Unless you’re aiming for a low-poly model, your topology should be subdivided to keep the surface smooth and provide enough geometry for clean textures. 

1. To start, choose colors that best fit your 3D model using the Principled BSDF shader, which Blender automatically assigns whenever a new material is created.
2. Next, add a ColorRamp node and connect it to the Roughness input of the Principled BSDF shader. This helps create subtle highlights that give the material a soft clay appearance. Adjust the values in the ColorRamp until you achieve a look you like.
3. Add an Image Texture node and connect its Color output to the ColorRamp’s Factor input. This texture is one of the key elements in creating the claymation effect. For the most realistic result, use a high-resolution fingerprint texture. 
4. Create both a Mapping node and a Texture Coordinate node. These nodes control how the texture is positioned on the model. Connect the Mapping node’s Vector output to the Image Texture’s Vector input, then connect the Texture Coordinate node’s UV output to the Mapping node’s Vector input.

At this stage, the effect may still appear subtle, but the material really starts to come together once you introduce a Bump node! 

A bump node creates the illusion of surface detail without changing the actual geometry of the model. It allows materials to appear rough, uneven, or textured while the mesh itself remains smooth. 

5. Add a Bump node next to the Principled BSDF shader. Connect the Bump node’s Normal output to the shader’s Normal input. This begins generating the surface texture. Adjust the Strength and Distance values until you achieve the desired look. To give the clay material more depth and an uneven handmade feel, you’ll now create additional texture variation.
6.  Add another ColorRamp node and connect its Color output to the Bump node’s Height input. 
7. Create a Voronoi Texture node and connect its Distance output to the ColorRamp’s Factor input. 

This introduces the subtle lumps and imperfections commonly found in clay!

8. Add another Mapping node and connect its Vector output to the Voronoi Texture’s Vector input. 
9. Then, create another Texture Coordinate node, connecting its Generated output to the Mapping node’s Vector input.

Experiment with these settings until the material has the amount of texture and lumpiness you want. Once satisfied, you can begin layering in the fingerprint details to complete the stop-motion effect!

10. Create a second Bump node and connect its Normal output into the first Bump node’s Normal input.
11. Finally, connect the Image Texture’s Color output into the second Bump node’s Height input. The fingerprint texture should now appear across the surface of the model, giving it a convincing claymation look.

From here, experiment with renders, lighting, and material settings to refine the final result. This material works in Blender’s Eevee render engine, but for more realistic lighting and detailed shadows, Cycles will generally produce better results, but will take significantly longer to render. 

Have fun experimenting!