Hello and welcome to November's Doll News Monthly.
So as time went on doll creation got more and more detailed and realistic looking.
Companies have added in painted on layers to add in veins and shadows and such.
But things started to get more and more realistic as fake skin textures where added to the molds to create a simulated looking skin texture.
This really started to make the dolls look more and more real as time went on.
Well some of the more advanced companies started to create methods to capture both body shapes and the skin textures from real human models and then transfer this over to the molds .
Today we talk about a company that I contacted about this interesting technology and they was generous and told me a bit about the process and even gave me some photos of the stages at how the molds are created..
Now I have to say I find this quite amazing that they are able to get a model to stand still this long in order to do the steps that are needed to create these fantastic body molds..
So the company I reached out to was a company called Galatea..
They where very friendly and happy that I wanted to review them and showcase there amazing technology here on the magazine.
I asked them to tell me a short bit about themself and a general idea of what they do to create these amazing skin details..
This is what they said..
At Galatea, we replicate real human skin textures and combine them with advanced 3D modeling to create incredibly realistic skin for our dolls. The imprinted skin details are embedded during production, ensuring that they remain durable and won’t wear off. Our talented artists then apply fine details over the entire surface of the doll, further enhancing the realism. The result is lifelike skin that looks and feels authentic.
Now I was still willing to poke around some more and asked a bit more..
They gave me an idea of how things work and some photos of the steps ..
Lets check that out..
So my understanding is after you 3d scan a person you end up with a basic shape file of the person.
This 3d scan can be opened into software and tweaked into a 3d model that can be made into a final mold to make dolls from.
The problem with this was the mold was often just smooth and had no texture at all to the end product.
So many companies simply created simulated textures into the molds with software that created a skin like texture on the dolls.
But this was not a true skin texture and companies wanted to go a step further and see if they could capture the models actual skin textures and apply those to the final mold used to make the dolls..
So Galatea went a few more steps further and captured the real models skin texture using different types of fast curing materials over parts of the model and then after cured cutting these layers off in sections and then re scanning those parts to capture the skin textures of the model.
Here are some photos of this process.
Makes ya wonder how fun it must have been to stand still while they did this process..
So they use some kind of quick curing material and cover parts of the model and let it cure.
Then they cut those parts off in sections and use some kind of high tech scanner that picks up the skins details off the parts.
Then they digitally merge those onto the 3d scan of the woman.
Below are pictures of them working with the skin detail scans and adding them to the 3d body file on a computer.
As you can see its pretty amazing how this is done.
Its like magic or something haha ..
So after managing to get the actual skin details merged onto the 3d model of the real woman they then need to create a mold from this.
Below are some examples of molds that are created from this amazing process.
Now they have completed molds ready to start the molding process..
This step is also quite complex and many do not even know how much work goes into pouring just one doll.
First you have to take a prepared skeleton that the joints have been wrapped with a special cloth material to protect any silicone or foam materials that might be in contact with it.
Often the skeletons are coated with a foam material that takes up space inside of the mold in order to reduce the amounts of silicone needed to fill the mold.
This process not only lessens the amount of silicone needed but is mainly used to reduce the weight of the finished doll.
They take the skeleton and lay it into the back half of the mold and wire it up into place so its floating perfectly center inside of the mold.
While this is being done the other half of the mold is being worked on having a layer of silicone coated into the breast areas and then filled with gel materials to make the breast soft.
After both halfs are ready they carefully bolt both halfs together creating as much of a perfect seal as they can between the two halfs.
The mold is stood up and depending on the company either the silicone is poured into the mold by hand from buckets or the mold is moved under a nozel that they pull and silicone comes out and fills the mold.
After the silicone has cured inside of the mold it is removed and then the seams are hand trimmed and preped for final detail paintings and seal coats.
As said before this is an amazing process and every step must be done correctly in order to yield a perfect doll.
Below are example photos of parts of one of there dolls after its been completed .
You can see the real human skin details on the body.
And there you go a finished doll.
So what are my thoughts on all of this?
It blows me away at how much work and time goes into making each and every single doll.
Many of us take this for granted and are just happy to own a doll with these features.
But tech nerds like me love it :).
This is what makes the dolls better and better is innovation like this.
I personally want to thank Galatea Doll for sharing what information they did with me and allowing me to share it with all of you.
The next time you see an amazing looking doll like this you can now know just how much innovation and time went into making it :).
Please also note that probably half of what I said here was mixed up greatly but is a general basic idea of how things are done .
Below is one final image of one of Galatea Dolls models .
If you are interested in checking out these amazing dolls here are links to there Website and there Doll Forum threads..
https://galateadoll.com
https://dollforum.com/forum/viewforum.php?f=741
Thank you for reading and ill see you next month .
