More Non-photorealisitic Renders (NPR II)

Starlaw

Artini said:

You can use some kind of screenshot maker (in Unity store there are many of them, also the free ones)

and take a screenshot at higher resolution, like 4K or more and then resize the image to the smaller one in Gimp or Photoshop.

It can help with jagged lines, especially if you adjust Anti-Alising or use some smoothing filter in the image editor.

Just wonder, how did you achieved such a nice toon effect in Unity?

Thank you  for the tip, that will really help

mmitchell_houston said:

Artini said:

You can use some kind of screenshot maker (in Unity store there are many of them, also the free ones)
and take a screenshot at higher resolution, like 4K or more and then resize the image to the smaller one in Gimp or Photoshop.
It can help with jagged lines, especially if you adjust Anti-Alising or use some smoothing filter in the image editor.
Just wonder, how did you achieved such a nice toon effect in Unity?

I was also wondering what type of toon effects or shaders you were using. I've only toyed with Unity for a day or two, here and there, but I keep thinking it is a powerful tool that I should spend more time investigating.

 

Absolutely, i plan on definitely sharing my process and methods I used during the release of one of my future unity tools. Stay tuned

If im permitted to link this page... I found this to be an amazing resource for CelShading - Unity Forum Resource

https://forum.unity.com/threads/guilty-gear-xrd-shader-test.448557/

also this video is lengthy and but explains some of the best details i have seen for replicating drawn art ALA Dragon Ball Fighter Z

To sum it up I have been using various CelShaders. From what i have learned they are all similarly capable regardless of shader. The quality on the cell shade usually depends on the geometry, light/shadow settings and the texture being used.  My shader settings usually have lighting disabled and/or uses 2 value shading ramps. 

Headwax

 

 

 

 

Sorry wrong thread ! 

 

 

 

 

Artini

Starlaw said:

Artini said:

You can use some kind of screenshot maker (in Unity store there are many of them, also the free ones)

and take a screenshot at higher resolution, like 4K or more and then resize the image to the smaller one in Gimp or Photoshop.

It can help with jagged lines, especially if you adjust Anti-Alising or use some smoothing filter in the image editor.

Just wonder, how did you achieved such a nice toon effect in Unity?

Thank you  for the tip, that will really help

mmitchell_houston said:

Artini said:

You can use some kind of screenshot maker (in Unity store there are many of them, also the free ones)
and take a screenshot at higher resolution, like 4K or more and then resize the image to the smaller one in Gimp or Photoshop.
It can help with jagged lines, especially if you adjust Anti-Alising or use some smoothing filter in the image editor.
Just wonder, how did you achieved such a nice toon effect in Unity?

I was also wondering what type of toon effects or shaders you were using. I've only toyed with Unity for a day or two, here and there, but I keep thinking it is a powerful tool that I should spend more time investigating.

 

Absolutely, i plan on definitely sharing my process and methods I used during the release of one of my future unity tools. Stay tuned

If im permitted to link this page... I found this to be an amazing resource for CelShading - Unity Forum Resource

https://forum.unity.com/threads/guilty-gear-xrd-shader-test.448557/

also this video is lengthy and but explains some of the best details i have seen for replicating drawn art ALA Dragon Ball Fighter Z

To sum it up I have been using various CelShaders. From what i have learned they are all similarly capable regardless of shader. The quality on the cell shade usually depends on the geometry, light/shadow settings and the texture being used.  My shader settings usually have lighting disabled and/or uses 2 value shading ramps. 

Thanks a lot for the link - awesome discussion there with further links.

 

philebus

PhotoDonut2 - they've dropped the subscription model!

A long time ago now, I splashed out on PostWorkShop Pro, which I happily ugraded each time up to version 3 before it became PhotoDonut, which is when I dropped it as they had adopted a subscription model. Well, PhotoDonut2 has been releasted in a pro only version with a launch offer price at about £30 (PostWorkShop Pro was $99), as a one off payment. I can't see anything different about the new version from the old save for that change but no matter, I'm happy to have it. (I won't link as it's now being sold by what DAZ might term a competitor)

I had a quick go with an old render and a couple of pre-sets I downloaded but will try and put it through its paces over the weekend. I'll say that it is quite a bit faster than PostWorkShop3 although it think it will still be a bit of a memory hog for some more complex styles. Sadly, the old styles I was familiar with don't appear to have been included this time around and I'm not sure if my old styles that I created will work in it (I should be able to re-create them though).

If you've not come accross it before, it is essentially a filter engine with much in common with Filter Forge, with a node based style editor that favours natural media.

mmitchell_houston

Very nice effects. I'll take a look at them to see if I could work them into my workflow.

The second image you posted seems particularly effective. The shade of blue you're using reminds me of the blue ball-point pens I used to sketch with back in school. 

Any chance of you posting the original render so we can see where you started from?

Headwax

Thanks Philebus, yes I couldn't see any difference in the new version  either.

Second render is terrific

First two below FilterForge and Topaz Impression. Third is photodonut.

 

 

 

 

Artini

The same image of Sydney 8 filtered in DAP and PhotoDonut 2.

Artini

... and one more from PhotoDonut 2

mmitchell_houston

Artini said:

... and one more from PhotoDonut 2

This has an odd organic look to it! I'll be honest and say that I don't find it really attractive (although I do like the way the prop she's sitting on came out), but it is definitely "interesting."

Artini

Thanks a lot.

 

Oso3D

PWToon + FotoSketcher

I find it a fun, fast, combo; PWToon isn't perfect but it renders VERY fast, and those imperfections generally vanish once it gets into FotoSketcher. While some options are slow, oil pastel option is also pretty fast and produces results I like.

vrba79

I'm thirsty for more of that good Star Wars stuff you're doing.

Oso3D said:

PWToon + FotoSketcher

I find it a fun, fast, combo; PWToon isn't perfect but it renders VERY fast, and those imperfections generally vanish once it gets into FotoSketcher. While some options are slow, oil pastel option is also pretty fast and produces results I like.

PwToon's speed is one of my favorite things about it. It can render full scenes in the same amount of time it takes to render just a lone figure with some of the other options out there. Honestly the only toon option I use that's faster, is the less capable free toon shader option that comes with D|S, but that can be coaxed to do some nice things as well.

Oso3D

Yeah. LineRender9000 does a much better job at outlining... but the SPEED of PWToon means I almost always just make do (particularly since I like to do additional filters that make it less critical).

LR9k is king of making nice neat consistent outlines, and I like both for making 'clean' outlines without a lot of garbage noise of other methods.

 

Oso3D

I experimented with a bunch of post filters but was annoyed by loss of detail in each... so whatever, here it is straight PWToon.

 

tkdrobert

Oso3D said:

I experimented with a bunch of post filters but was annoyed by loss of detail in each... so whatever, here it is straight PWToon.

 

Do you use Topaz Studio?  You can use it to bring back some of the details after simplifing it, if that makes any sense.

Oso3D

I don't have Topaz, no. Good to know... I'll consider it. ;)

I'm honestly a little confused by the Topaz Labs product page. Are they plugins to a core program? Enh?

 

tkdrobert

Oso3D said:

I don't have Topaz, no. Good to know... I'll consider it. ;)

I'm honestly a little confused by the Topaz Labs product page. Are they plugins to a core program? Enh?

 

They can be used as plugins to Photoshop or used indepedently.  Since I have Photoshop, I use them as plugins. 

dreamfarmer

Topaz Studio is what they moved to after the Photoshop plugin approach; Studio is free and standalone (but also can run in Photoshop). There's samples of all the plugins and 30 day trials, I think. I rely on it heavily for my NPR stuff...

tkdrobert

dreamfarmer said:

Topaz Studio is what they moved to after the Photoshop plugin approach; Studio is free and standalone (but also can run in Photoshop). There's samples of all the plugins and 30 day trials, I think. I rely on it heavily for my NPR stuff...

Yeah, I bought Simplicity before Topaz went to the Stufio model, so I have both installed and I still use both.

mmitchell_houston

Hey guys! I'm looking for a quick approach to doing "painterly" effects (I promised a buddy I'd do a book cover for his sci-fi project). I haven't looked at Topaz in ages (it didn't suit my line art needs). Is Topaz worth the investment of time and money, or should I start elsewhere?

And cost is not a key driver to what I will approach. I mean, I don't want to invest in Corel Painter or something like that (mainly because it would just sit on my hard drive unused for a long time), but I'm not just looking for cheap tools. I really want something cool that will work with the tools I already have and know (Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, and so forth).

All advice is welcome!

Oso3D

I'm a huge fan of FotoSketcher. Which is also free, so worth playing with!

 

tkdrobert

mmitchell_houston said:

Hey guys! I'm looking for a quick approach to doing "painterly" effects (I promised a buddy I'd do a book cover for his sci-fi project). I haven't looked at Topaz in ages (it didn't suit my line art needs). Is Topaz worth the investment of time and money, or should I start elsewhere?

And cost is not a key driver to what I will approach. I mean, I don't want to invest in Corel Painter or something like that (mainly because it would just sit on my hard drive unused for a long time), but I'm not just looking for cheap tools. I really want something cool that will work with the tools I already have and know (Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, and so forth).

All advice is welcome!

I use Topaz for ALL my painted images (non-comic book).  I use Topaz Simplicity (the one I paid for) for my photo real ones too.  I use a slider in their called structure that makes the details pop out.  

If you liked my renders “The Watering Hole” or “Rebels (Updated)”, than I would say it’s worth it.  You may be able to do what you want using the free Topaz Studio and the free filters.  Keep in mind however, I had to experiment a lot to get the look I wanted and I still experiment.  When you find a filter that you Ike, you can favorite it.  You can also make adjustments to the filters, then save that adjustment as a new filter to use again.  I love Topaz.  

Headwax

mmitchell_houston said:

Hey guys! I'm looking for a quick approach to doing "painterly" effects (I promised a buddy I'd do a book cover for his sci-fi project). I haven't looked at Topaz in ages (it didn't suit my line art needs). Is Topaz worth the investment of time and money, or should I start elsewhere?

And cost is not a key driver to what I will approach. I mean, I don't want to invest in Corel Painter or something like that (mainly because it would just sit on my hard drive unused for a long time), but I'm not just looking for cheap tools. I really want something cool that will work with the tools I already have and know (Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, and so forth).

All advice is welcome!

Topaz Impression is very good.

Photodonut has a good filter called random painter.

You can also 'hand paint' in it. But that keeps crashing on me.

Both work out of PS as plugins.

As with all effects you have to use a little of this and a little of that and combine them in layers

A good workflow is Buzsimm simplify 

reduce saturation

erase parts that are too simplified

Copy everything and paste

Take it into impression

Hit it with a painterly effect

Reduce opacity of that layer till happy

Paste original render on top and reduce opacity till happy

Copy and paste everything

Hit it with another painterly effect 

etc

To almost finish add an overlay parameter to a layer of 50 percent grey and dodge and burn

Finally add a texture on a similar layer and adjust levels and opacity till happy

Carrara renders out object passes for isolation of elements so you can work on background elements by themselves with more abstracted or painterly effects (as an example) 

What style does the client want? 

Artrage is good for paintovers - but it's not a quick approach as you do it by hand.

 

last work in this album is an overpaint https://www.facebook.com/andrew.finnie.artist/media_set?set=a.10202808382000322&type=3

 

for context - here is a bunch of real life paintings https://www.facebook.com/andrew.finnie.artist/media_set?set=a.10214401873190356&type=3

 

 

mmitchell_houston

Headwax_Carrara said:

mmitchell_houston said:

Hey guys! I'm looking for a quick approach to doing "painterly" effects (I promised a buddy I'd do a book cover for his sci-fi project). I haven't looked at Topaz in ages (it didn't suit my line art needs). Is Topaz worth the investment of time and money, or should I start elsewhere?

And cost is not a key driver to what I will approach. I mean, I don't want to invest in Corel Painter or something like that (mainly because it would just sit on my hard drive unused for a long time), but I'm not just looking for cheap tools. I really want something cool that will work with the tools I already have and know (Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, and so forth).

All advice is welcome!

Topaz Impression is very good.

Photodonut has a good filter called random painter.

You can also 'hand paint' in it. But that keeps crashing on me.

Both work out of PS as plugins.

As with all effects you have to use a little of this and a little of that and combine them in layers

A good workflow is Buzsimm simplify 

reduce saturation

erase parts that are too simplified

Copy everything and paste

Take it into impression

Hit it with a painterly effect

Reduce opacity of that layer till happy

Paste original render on top and reduce opacity till happy

Copy and paste everything

Hit it with another painterly effect 

etc

To almost finish add an overlay parameter to a layer of 50 percent grey and dodge and burn

Finally add a texture on a similar layer and adjust levels and opacity till happy

Carrara renders out object passes for isolation of elements so you can work on background elements by themselves with more abstracted or painterly effects (as an example) 

What style does the client want? 

Artrage is good for paintovers - but it's not a quick approach as you do it by hand.

 

last work in this album is an overpaint https://www.facebook.com/andrew.finnie.artist/media_set?set=a.10202808382000322&type=3

for context - here is a bunch of real life paintings https://www.facebook.com/andrew.finnie.artist/media_set?set=a.10214401873190356&type=3

Thanks for the detailed info. Didn't I just miss a sale on PhotoDonut? Rats. I will look into it and Topaz (plus glance at what I already have – there is a good chance I have some software (including the free Topaz tools) already installed. I just need to dive into the project and then figure out what I need to do.

mmitchell_houston

Here's a draft of something different I was working on. I am publishing a short story in a small press magazine and this is the illustration I created for it.

If anyone would actually like to read the story, PM me with your email and I'll send you a Word doc (or PDF, your choice).

I call this a "draft" because I'm hoping to have time before Monday (due date) to touch up the inking a little and add some more red highlights along his scabbard and arms. Maybe tweak a few things. I would love to take out the gradient background and replace it with shadowy trees, but I really don't think I'll have time for that because I have to work this weekend. (Oh, and if anyone notices, yes, this is a recycle of an earlier illustration of the Arton character designs – I needed something quick and I just happened to have an illustration of a guy running, which is a major part of the story – I added the, belt, harness and sword to the earlier illustration which just had the guy in what looked like sweat pants.)

Headwax

Pleasure - sorry to ramble on. I guess it just depends on the style you want.

"Doom at The Water's Edge' = Nice illustration - lots of drama - the red sings with the black.

 

 

 

combo of photodonut and studio filters

Nik filters for fine tuning - plus final tone mapping for local contrast  with affinity photo

 

 

 

 

mmitchell_houston

Headwax_Carrara said:

Pleasure - sorry to ramble on. I guess it just depends on the style you want.

"Doom at The Water's Edge' = Nice illustration - lots of drama - the red sings with the black.

combo of photodonut and studio filters

Nik filters for fine tuning - plus final tone mapping for local contrast  with affinity photo

Thanks! Black, Red & White are easy colors to use for drama, and how could I pass it up with a name like "The World of Blood Moon" in the title?

I really like the effect you achieved. Very attractive. I'me getting a kind of 60s vibe from it. This really captures the look of a hand-drawn illustration. I think you're really onto something with this style.

mmitchell_houston

Here's a new version of the illustration, although I'm not sure if anyone can actually see the differences, as they're subtle:

• Darker controur line to his right.
• Thicker hair at the top.
• More red on his skin.
• More red on the sword scabbard.

I would love to add trees, but the deadline is on me. If this going out Monday, I need to put it to bed now. I'll take one more glance before I send it out, but this is it.

tkdrobert

Here is an example of an image rendered in IRAY, before and after Topaz.

For some reason I can't upload the images as attachments.

Oso3D

TKDRobert, what helmet/head is that on the left? I think I recognize most of the body.

https://www.daz3d.com/ancient-horus-for-genesis-8-male

https://www.daz3d.com/elebeast-for-genesis-3-male

https://www.daz3d.com/fleet-ops-admirals-cabin

https://www.daz3d.com/solaris-station

https://www.daz3d.com/hfs-interstellar-officer-for-genesis-3-male-s

https://www.daz3d.com/time-soldier-outfit-for-genesis-8-male-s

And, of course, https://www.daz3d.com/pwtoon