Models

This is a sub-page of Development:Portal.

To do: File paths/directories are needed for everything here. If it wasn't leaked, move to and discuss on prerelease page instead. Get some proper model renders of these.

Early Map Models#

models/props/aperture.mdl

A model of an early Aperture Science logo, featuring animations of it spinning in different ways. Seen in the lab_lvl3a and art_testroom maps.

Early Weighted Storage Cubes#

The earliest cube model that was used during 2005-2006, featured a simple rustic appearance with some bumps to it. This was later changed to the modern clean design when the game changed from the Half-Life 2 Nova-Prospekt look to the final Aperture Science look in 2006. The cube was changed to a design that was similar to the final design but was more square-shaped and lacked a proper texture, simply just being a gray noise texture. Later in 2006, the cube design was finalized to the one seen in the final game. Both the 2005 and 2006 cubes can be found in the leak under: models/props/metal_box_2005.mdl and models/props/metal_box_2006.mdl respectively, though they both would've originally be called just 'metal_box' like the final model, but were renamed to have them organized stored in the same location with everything else in the leaked asset files.

2005-2006 Cube	2006 Cube	Final Cube

Early Portals#

To do: The portals themselves featured two alternate early designs before the 2005 portals. Might need to add them here.

The portals created during 2005 featured a rougher purple-and-cyan look to them and lasted until mid 2006. They later got a slight adjustment, sporting the modern colors (albeit darker), as well as a vine design, made during the trailer and were replaced in the X06 conference which introduced 'Swirl' Portals which featured a distinct oval shape, and a much bigger swirl effect with swirl particles and these were intended to be the final Portals for a short amount of time. It was redesigned to the modern look when Valve began work on the console ports during the timeframe of GDC as apparently the Xbox 360 wasn't capable of rendering the Swirl Portals. However, there is a step in between design of the Swirl and Final Portals they feature the final design and the Swirl particles from the GDC showcase but was changed in E3 to how it looks in the final game today.

2005-2006 Portals (Recreation)	2006 'Vine' / 'Fire' Portals	2006 'Swirl' Portals

2007 GDC Final Portals With Swirl Particles	Current Portals

Early Portal Guns#

The earliest Portal Gun that is known is a simple pistol model with no animations, while the 2005-2006 Portal Gun is reminiscent of the Gravity Gun from Half-Life 2, with unfinished animations. Interestingly, the latter continued into the transitional phase of Portal's aesthetics during Early - Mid 2006 (and also is seen in pre-release screenshots). The new 2006 Portal Gun saw the beginning of the modern look but had a a slightly zoomed out view model with wonky animations. The F-22 Portal Gun was a revision of the gun, with "F-22" oddly added to the side. Interestingly enough, the light color for the secondary portal on the first two guns were purple, despite the portals themselves already being recolored orange for quite a while at this point in development.

Interestingly, There also used to be visible hands on the view model that would be seen visibly holding the gun as seen in the GDC video and the E3 videos for the game. The left hand would be cut close to the end of development and the right hand was left unfinished in the final released version, where it has missing textures as they do not align properly but do appear fine on console ports.

Earliest Portal Gun	2005-2006 Portal Gun	2006 Portal Gun

F-22 Portal Gun	GDC and E3 Portal Gun (Recreation)	Current Portal Gun

Blue Glow Changes#

The blue glow from the portal gun was a bit more teal in older builds, but was changed to better match the cooresponding portal.

2006 - Early 2007	Late 2007 / Final

Early Elevators#

In the early points of development where Portal had a Half-Life 2 Nova Prospekt art style, the elevators were of the Half-Life 2 variant. It is the only elevator to have the door as a separate entity. Some 2005 map have broken links that would have opened the door but are broken because the Combine Elevator that was introduced (which has a door built-in). The Half-Life 2 variant was replaced with a unique design known as the Combine Elevator due to its Combine art style (found in the leak under: models/props/combine_elevator.mdl). In 2006, a new elevator was introduced that had a whole new design compared to before and it resembles the final one but has early textures (found in the leak in the same places as the final ones: models/props/round_elevator_doors.mdl and models/props/round_elevator_body.mdl). In the end of 2007, the final elevator that we're familar with was introduced.

The prefabs for the Half-Life 2 elevator were found in the Half-Life 2: Episode One SDK Portal prefab folder. A VisGroup of the Combine Elevator was found in the 2006 version of background1.vmf called elevator that has the broken links that would have open the doors on the previous version of the elevator.

Half-Life 2 Elevator	Combine Elevator

2006 Elevator	Final Elevator

Early Emancipation Grills / Fizzlers#

The 2005 Brush Emancipation Grill can be seen in a VisGroup from the 2006 version of testchmb_a_01.bsp called _old_cleanser. It features a rough metal border with a metal top with six small round projector like objects which display three small glowing green bars in a horizontal position. It functions exactly like the normal fizzler. In 2006, the design was revamped to fit the new aesthetic and now features long glowing 'lines'. Later on, this would be changed to a different looking 'warp' effect which would be the inspiration used for the ones used in Portal 2. Later on, the design was changed to the final version,

2005 Grid	Early 2006 Grid

2006 Warp Grid	Final Grid

Early Elevator Prefabs#

Two Elevator Prefabs were found in the Portal's Source SDK Prefab folder. extreme_elevator.vmf last modified on July 15 2005 and transition_elevator.vmf last modified on July 29 2005. Both maps feature the Early Half-Life 2 Style Elevator. extreme_elevator.vmf is modified from the one seen in Black Mesa East in Half-Life 2 that goes up instead of down. It also has a button that the user needs to press to open the door. transiton_elevator.vmf is from Kleiner's lab and functions more like the ones in Portal. The elevator is also taken directly from Test Chamber 00 or intro_lvl1, as seen in the transition entity that would have taken the player in a missing intro_lvl2 map. These prefabs and more files related to these are available here on gamebanana uploaded by Wolfcl0ck.