Sketch & Toon Question

[Per-Anders]

Yes it's a straight render afaik, just use the cel shader to do those effects.

[spirozero]

You think the cel shader was used on the shorts?

I'll post my results tomorrow when I get back to work. In the meantime, do you think it's possible to outline the Poser figure's facial features (nose, lips, eyes) & clothing wrinkles using S&T, like the Jonny Quest characters?

[acmepixel]

Sketch & Toon works best for a ''Venture Brothers'' look. Johnny Quest is sooo 20thCen.

[just kidding]

sorry for the waste of bandwidth.

[LucentDreams]

yes all sketch lines and cel shader. the cel shader is a very powerful gradient.

all the lines like johnny quest eh. yes and no. First you have to model the characters right, this is the first mistake with most cel shaded work.

Second is creases, they are your friend and enemy for such a style.. The typical thing we all do when modeling characters is jsut set the phong angle to 180 or turn off the angle limit. this makes things too smooth. for example, take the otto model that comes with cinema 4D throw the default sketch material onto otto and see what happens. now set the angle of the phong to 30. See how much more detail there is around his eyes. Take it down to 25 and you can see a lot more detals in his collar and such, perhaps too much now though its starting to look messy and with such a low setting we are sure to see lines show and disappear quickly causing flickering. Just delete the phong tag and use the crease settings angle to set it to 30 this is the typical default I use, and then tweak from there.

Next using edges to define permanent lines. MR.quest always has those smile lines on the side of his jaw, so why not make them permanent instead of trying to model a weird crease to get a line that changes. predictable lines are safer so when you can force a line to draw, do it.

Sometimes the crease and folds settings dont' quite reach as far as you'd liek them to for certain lines. You can try using the cel shader cet to camera, or perhaps a fresnel shader multipled over your shaders in the luminance channel to get a nice extended line that tapers naturally with the model.

Finally along witht he idea of using edge selections, why not splines. It can sure slown down a character, but attaching poitns of a spline to the surface of a character is a great way to force lines as well. a simple example of forcing lines using splines is the Bubba the bunny that I did for computer arts tutorial years ago. his arms have three large arm hairs that cross over the forearm for that old comic book style forarm hair. they are simply splines childed to the forearm bone.

Finally, Materials. Materials are a handy way to draw a line because not only does the material restriction or alpha draw a line, but you can set the line color to sample the surface thus picking up that surfaces color. again this was used on the bubba character. If you can I highly reocmmend getting that issue of computer arts on a back order, the bubba model had some really nice sketch effects going for him.

[spirozero]

I googled "bubba bunny" and found this: http://www.catsdogs.com/bubba.html

Is that the Bubba you're talking about? :D

Seriously, which issue of CA? Do you remember? I can't find it.

Thanks for all the insights. I'm especially curious about the spline technique, although I'm not exactly sure how to go about it. I'm sure I'll be posting again later today.

[LucentDreams]

had to scrumage to find the magazine, then checked their site seems they only have back issues to issue 60, the issue was issue 58 :/

I will write to them to see if I can have permission to post it on my blog.

[LucentDreams]

Wow, I got permission faster than expected. Its almost 4 Am here was just checking email before bed. I'll post the tutorial and files on my blog and post a link later today.

[spirozero]

Here are my S&T attempts. In the first photo the original render is on the left. On the right I put a cel shader on the shirt. The red marks are where I don't want lines to appear. The green lines are where I wish lines would appear.

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x140/spirozero/Poser_01.jpg

More S&T renders. Lines visible on the left figure; no lines on the right figure ...

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x140/spirozero/Poser_02.jpg

More examples from Jonny Quest ...

http://i180.photobucket.com/albums/x140/spirozero/Quest.jpg

[LucentDreams]

http://blog.kaithestuffguy.com/2007/06/29/computer-arts-tutorial/

[StanrickKubley]

Kai, thanks for all the info. I'm working on a cel shaded show (with Maya), but I'm chomping at the bit to see what Cinema 4D can do. It's nice to see get actually settings to start with.

[ChrisCousins]

http://blog.kaithestuffguy.com/2007/06/29/computer-arts-tutorial/

Hi Kai - thanks for this, movie looks great - but the link to the files seems to be broken?

[spirozero]

the link to the files seems to be broken?

I can't download it either.

[LucentDreams]

stupid blog systems. no clue why the movie worked and the file didn't. uploaded it manually and set a new link, tested it this time and it works.

[ChrisCousins]

...tested it this time and it works.

Great stuff! Thanks for posting. Looks like Spider Post has cropped up again though, it seems to prevent rendering?

[LucentDreams]

actually its set to software mode, but thanks for pointing out spider post. forget that that one automatically attaches itself Should probably remove the distance falloff for those that don't have it either.. I'll update the files. I also made the PDF a little more compact.

[ChrisCousins]

actually its set to software mode, but thanks for pointing out spider post. forget that that one automatically attaches itself Should probably remove the distance falloff for those that don't have it either.. I'll update the files. I also made the PDF a little more compact.

Got it - thanks again for this, there's lots to learn from this li'l guy, not just the sketch stuff. Will enjoy dissecting him!

C

[LucentDreams]

yeah thats actually a newer version of the file that I used in my reels in 2005 so theres some nice additions of HUD's and a background and floor for studio environment stuff.

[mastajappa]

Which issue of CA was it where this tut was published in? I think I have that issue somewhere and it will help me find it :shrug:

[robcrumb]

You guys need to check out Studio Artist. Their vector controls would be ideal for this. You can get any look you want with that program.
All you do is render out your animation, then import it into Studio Artist and play around with styles. I work with one frame, then apply it to the whole.
It's cheaper than Toon, and you get a lot more control.
http://www.synthetik.com/

[LucentDreams]

Which issue of CA was it where this tut was published in? I think I have that issue somewhere and it will help me find it :shrug:

Computer Arts Projects Issue 58

[CGTalk Moderation]

This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.