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ToonyCam Pro: Toon renders, anyone? :) [Commercial] [Contest]

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  • nDelphinDelphi Posts: 1,868
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    Ok, in your original image (very nice, btw!), you're using some very fine screentones, which are actually rendering as shades of gray. ToonyCam is then cutting up areas of your render into the number of shading levels specified in the ToonyCam settings, so you're seeing blocks of different shades of gray, rather than the fine screentone you started with.

    Here's how to fix it:

    - In the Scene tab, select ToonyCam Pro
    - In the Parameters tab, you'll see all the things you can adjust with this camera.
    - Set "Shading Blend" to 1.00 (100%)
    - Set Shading Levels to some relatively high number, like 10
    - This will give you a render with no toon cel effects, just the outlines.

    I hope this helps!

    Edited to add: if this does what you want, you can select the camera and use File->Save As...-> Properties Preset... so you can easily apply these settings to future renders.


    Sadly, it looks like it will not work for me, I even upped the Shading Levels to 20.

    OK... can a feature be added to your camera to just do outlines, and nothing else? Just thought I ask.


    Also, regarding installing using DIM: you can view the readmes from within DIM -- go to the "installed" tab, filter to find the product you want, and click the "info" icon next to the product. You'll then get taken to the readme page, which in this case is here:

    http://docs.daz3d.com/doku.php/public/read_me/index/18362/start

    I know it's not that convenient. I wish the readmes were linked from the store pages, and downloaded with the product, the way they used to be. :(

    I have egg on my face, I knew about this, just forgot.

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    nDelphi said:

    Sadly, it looks like it will not work for me, I even upped the Shading Levels to 20.

    OK... can a feature be added to your camera to just do outlines, and nothing else? Just thought I ask.

    Yes, I can do that. I may not have it done for you today, but I'll provide it as a free upgrade. It should be done this week.

    Thank you for your patience....

  • nDelphinDelphi Posts: 1,868
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    nDelphi said:

    Sadly, it looks like it will not work for me, I even upped the Shading Levels to 20.

    OK... can a feature be added to your camera to just do outlines, and nothing else? Just thought I ask.

    Yes, I can do that. I may not have it done for you today, but I'll provide it as a free upgrade. It should be done this week.

    Thank you for your patience....

    Cool. Thanks.

    Yes, I understand some coding will need to take place, I am not expecting it today, or tomorrow, or even this week.

  • jakibluejakiblue Posts: 7,281
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    I don't think it would be clogging-- what's the question? :)

    (Contest winners, I'll have this product to you shortly, and the rest of you, stay tuned for another fun idea...)

    In the second pop up image, top right corner, that says "Shading Levels 1"...that's the look I'm really interested in.

    I'm curious about lighting...does the lighting used have a great effect on that? Do you use a special setup in lights? It looks quite low on shadows, which I like. I guess I'm just wondering how much of an effect the lighting will have when using this. :D

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    jakiblue said:
    zigraphix said:
    I don't think it would be clogging-- what's the question? :)

    (Contest winners, I'll have this product to you shortly, and the rest of you, stay tuned for another fun idea...)

    In the second pop up image, top right corner, that says "Shading Levels 1"...that's the look I'm really interested in.

    I'm curious about lighting...does the lighting used have a great effect on that? Do you use a special setup in lights? It looks quite low on shadows, which I like. I guess I'm just wondering how much of an effect the lighting will have when using this. :D

    I discuss that render in the thread, here:

    http://www.daz3d.com/forums/viewreply/541966/

    That's the default headlamp lighting. To get that effect, don't fuss with any lighting at all in the scene, just load the camera, frame the shot, and use the "Shading Levels 1" preset. You may want to try the different outline types (OutlineID, Normal, Depth) to see which one looks best for your image.

    @nDelphi, I uploaded an update to ToonyCam Pro this afternoon, with an additional camera, OutlineCam. This camera doesn't alter the render at all other than adding outlines.

    One thing to be aware of: if you are using shadows in your scene, use ray traced shadows, not shadow maps. Shadow Maps are implemented in DS using a two-pass render, and these outline cameras already have two passes, one for the outlines, one for the render. I may find a way to add support for shadow maps in the future, but for now, use raytracing. Since the lighting in toon images tends to be very simple, you won't find that it slows things down.

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    By the way, purchasers of ToonyCam Pro will get a discount on my next product, due out next month.... :)

    figure-study.jpg
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  • hawkonthewinghawkonthewing Posts: 136
    edited December 1969

    Is that a pro version of the free sketch cam from the holidays? *Eyes sparkle*

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    hawkonthewing said:
    Is that a pro version of the free sketch cam from the holidays? *Eyes sparkle*

    Yep. And due to the same naming concerns mentioned early in this thread, it will be called "Camera Magic: SketchyCam Pro"

    Meanwhile... anyone have some ToonyCam renders to share? I'm dying to see what you folks are doing with this. :)

  • RenpatsuRenpatsu Posts: 828
    edited February 2014

    Quite impressed :) I tried to render an image I already rendered before. The scene was not adjusted at all so there is room for adjustment, but I am actually really glad that you can just add the ToonyCam, adjust settings on it, and then render. Very easy to use I'd say and the rest comes with experience naturally :)

    Edit: Just to add, the lighting here is a distant, ray traced light plus uber environment, which I typically would consider "less optimal" for toon renders.

    Supergirl.png
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    Post edited by Renpatsu on
  • RenpatsuRenpatsu Posts: 828
    edited December 1969

    And ... already saw that I should've applied the G2F preset ... ;) You can get some quite interesting effects with just a few clicks. Very much fun to play around with and glad I bought this :)

    Supergirl3.png
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    Supergirl2.png
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  • nDelphinDelphi Posts: 1,868
    edited December 1969

    Here's a quick test with the OutlineCam from the update.

    The outlining definitely works, but looking at the hair, I can see that I will have some issues as there will be outlines where I don't want.

    I really like how the eyes came out, but I will have to mess around with the outline strength and other settings to make them less thick.

    Ninja.jpg
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  • RenpatsuRenpatsu Posts: 828
    edited December 1969

    Another, again default scene pretty much and didn't try combinations with toon shaders, yet.

    SayuriToon.png
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  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    nDelphi said:
    Here's a quick test with the OutlineCam from the update.

    The outlining definitely works, but looking at the hair, I can see that I will have some issues as there will be outlines where I don't want.

    I really like how the eyes came out, but I will have to mess around with the outline strength and other settings to make them less thick.

    Nice work! I'm glad this option is giving you more the look you want. :)

    When you are using hair with transparency, you will usually get better results using the OutlineID method instead of Normal (which is the default), and make sure the hair has a different OutlineID than the skin. This also lets you adjust where you want outlines around the eyes, etc. My presets put outlining around the eye whites and the iris -- in a shot of this distance, you might only want one or the other. I would leave the lashes the same OutlineID as the skin. Even at outline width 1, they come out too blocky for my tastes, except in extreme closeups.

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    Renpatsu said:
    And ... already saw that I should've applied the G2F preset ... ;) You can get some quite interesting effects with just a few clicks. Very much fun to play around with and glad I bought this :)

    Nice images! I'm so glad you are enjoying this camera. :)

  • RenpatsuRenpatsu Posts: 828
    edited December 1969

    pwToon and ToonyCam combined ...

    pwToonAndToonyCam.png
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  • wsterdanwsterdan Posts: 2,390
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    By the way, purchasers of ToonyCam Pro will get a discount on my next product, due out next month.... :)

    Sold!

    As to ToonyCam Pro, I love it so far, but I do have one annoying thing happening. I render and the window the render is happening in stays behind the main DS window. I have to move the main window to see the finished render.

    This doesn't happen with your other cameras, is there a setting I can change somewhere? I'm running on a Mac, if that makes a difference.

    Thanks for a great product, credit card standing by for the next one...

    -- Walt Sterdan

  • wsterdanwsterdan Posts: 2,390
    edited December 1969

    Renpatsu said:
    pwToon and ToonyCam combined ...

    Very cool; it looks like a drawing, not at all like a 3D render.

    I love the style as well. It reminds me of a toony version of Patrick Nagel's art, very impressive.

    -- Walt Sterdan

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    wsterdan said:
    zigraphix said:
    By the way, purchasers of ToonyCam Pro will get a discount on my next product, due out next month.... :)

    Sold!

    As to ToonyCam Pro, I love it so far, but I do have one annoying thing happening. I render and the window the render is happening in stays behind the main DS window. I have to move the main window to see the finished render.

    This doesn't happen with your other cameras, is there a setting I can change somewhere? I'm running on a Mac, if that makes a difference.

    Thanks for a great product, credit card standing by for the next one...

    -- Walt Sterdan

    It's a side effect of the two-pass render needed to generate the outlines, apparently. I coded a render message displaying to tell you the render has dropped behind the main DAZ Studio screen. That message gets blocked by a spurious warning having to do with Shader Mixer scene min and max, which DAZ tells me is a bug that will be fixed. You may be able to use a View menu command to pull the render window back to the front. while it is rendering, rather than moving the main DS window out of the way. It's kind of fun to watch a larger render build the different color areas, then fill in with the toon render. :)

    Perhaps there's a script command that can force the render window to the front, as well. I'll look into it.

  • wsterdanwsterdan Posts: 2,390
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    [Perhaps there's a script command that can force the render window to the front, as well. I'll look into it.

    Much appreciated, but don't assign it a high priority... I'd rather you got the next camera out the door first.

    I freely admit that I'm greedy. ;-)

    -- Walt Sterdan

  • nDelphinDelphi Posts: 1,868
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    nDelphi said:
    Here's a quick test with the OutlineCam from the update.

    The outlining definitely works, but looking at the hair, I can see that I will have some issues as there will be outlines where I don't want.

    I really like how the eyes came out, but I will have to mess around with the outline strength and other settings to make them less thick.

    Nice work! I'm glad this option is giving you more the look you want. :)

    When you are using hair with transparency, you will usually get better results using the OutlineID method instead of Normal (which is the default), and make sure the hair has a different OutlineID than the skin. This also lets you adjust where you want outlines around the eyes, etc. My presets put outlining around the eye whites and the iris -- in a shot of this distance, you might only want one or the other. I would leave the lashes the same OutlineID as the skin. Even at outline width 1, they come out too blocky for my tastes, except in extreme closeups.

    This is the part where I am going to need some guidance with. How exactly do I add different outline IDs, and to separate items?

  • hawkonthewinghawkonthewing Posts: 136
    edited December 1969

    I am loving this camera!

    Ok, here are the first two I tried. The first one I used Outline ID, did Genesis presets for both figures. I set the LAMH to a different outline ID. I set all the outlines to "diffuse by color". I set the outline color to a medium grey. Shading levels 3, blend of 0.4 I like how this one turned out.

    The second one, I thought I would see what Normal would do if the outline color was set light. So I set that to a slightly lighter grey than the previous one, shading levels 4, blend of 0.4. That one came out a little dark, but I actually like the effect on the fur. I'd prefer a bit darker on the other parts though, which leads to the third version.

    The third one is rendering now, but that one will take a bit to finish. I'm playing with rendering in layers and combining in postwork for that one.

    I was curious what the camera would do with a photograph, so I thought I would toss on onto a plane as a background, then set up a figure for contrast. I think it turned out rather nicely, and that just increased the list of what I'll be able to do with this little gem...

    Yangtze_test.jpg
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    Nutcracker_toonycam_2.jpg
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  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    nDelphi said:
    zigraphix said:
    nDelphi said:
    Here's a quick test with the OutlineCam from the update.

    The outlining definitely works, but looking at the hair, I can see that I will have some issues as there will be outlines where I don't want.

    I really like how the eyes came out, but I will have to mess around with the outline strength and other settings to make them less thick.

    Nice work! I'm glad this option is giving you more the look you want. :)

    When you are using hair with transparency, you will usually get better results using the OutlineID method instead of Normal (which is the default), and make sure the hair has a different OutlineID than the skin. This also lets you adjust where you want outlines around the eyes, etc. My presets put outlining around the eye whites and the iris -- in a shot of this distance, you might only want one or the other. I would leave the lashes the same OutlineID as the skin. Even at outline width 1, they come out too blocky for my tastes, except in extreme closeups.

    This is the part where I am going to need some guidance with. How exactly do I add different outline IDs, and to separate items?

    When you turn on outlines, a new surface parameter is added to all the objects in your scene. This is like the diffuse parameter where you can set a different diffuse color, or the opacity parameter, where you can choose how transparent something is. It usually shows up near the bottom of the surfaces tab.

    Use the surface selection tool (the one that looks like a hand of playing cards) to select the surface you want to change, then look in the Surfaces tab, and scroll down. OutlineID is a color-- you set it differently for each surface you want to have its own outline.

    By default, my outline script assigns a different outlineID to every surface in the scene. I also provide presets that set all objects in the scene to one OutlineID per object, or you can set the OutlineID to the diffuse color, or by the diffuse image map. I included scripts that set all the outlineIDs of most figures to the same values except the eyes, since I found myself wanting to set OutlineIDs that way in most cases.

    Using the OutlineID method takes more experimentation than the other two outlining methods, which is why I used the Normals method as the default for the camera, but it also gives you the most control in your image. It's a lot less work than having to put a separate geometry shell around every item in the scene, I think. You usually only have to adjust the surface parameters of human figures, since they tend to have mat zone boundaries where you won't want outlines.

    Try playing with this and let me know if you have more questions. :)

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    hawkonthewing said:
    I am loving this camera!

    Ok, here are the first two I tried. The first one I used Outline ID, did Genesis presets for both figures. I set the LAMH to a different outline ID. I set all the outlines to "diffuse by color". I set the outline color to a medium grey. Shading levels 3, blend of 0.4 I like how this one turned out.

    The second one, I thought I would see what Normal would do if the outline color was set light. So I set that to a slightly lighter grey than the previous one, shading levels 4, blend of 0.4. That one came out a little dark, but I actually like the effect on the fur. I'd prefer a bit darker on the other parts though, which leads to the third version.

    The third one is rendering now, but that one will take a bit to finish. I'm playing with rendering in layers and combining in postwork for that one.

    I was curious what the camera would do with a photograph, so I thought I would toss on onto a plane as a background, then set up a figure for contrast. I think it turned out rather nicely, and that just increased the list of what I'll be able to do with this little gem...

    I love how the DOF came out in your Mouse King images. :) You used a lot of shading levels in these... Did you experiment with fewer shading levels and darker outlines, to get a stronger toon effect? Just curious....

    ToonyCam will "toonify" a photograph, but it can't add lines, as there's no geometry to recognize the edges of. But often that's what you want for a background, anyway. :)

  • hawkonthewinghawkonthewing Posts: 136
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    hawkonthewing said:
    I am loving this camera!

    Ok, here are the first two I tried. The first one I used Outline ID, did Genesis presets for both figures. I set the LAMH to a different outline ID. I set all the outlines to "diffuse by color". I set the outline color to a medium grey. Shading levels 3, blend of 0.4 I like how this one turned out.

    The second one, I thought I would see what Normal would do if the outline color was set light. So I set that to a slightly lighter grey than the previous one, shading levels 4, blend of 0.4. That one came out a little dark, but I actually like the effect on the fur. I'd prefer a bit darker on the other parts though, which leads to the third version.

    The third one is rendering now, but that one will take a bit to finish. I'm playing with rendering in layers and combining in postwork for that one.

    I was curious what the camera would do with a photograph, so I thought I would toss on onto a plane as a background, then set up a figure for contrast. I think it turned out rather nicely, and that just increased the list of what I'll be able to do with this little gem...

    I love how the DOF came out in your Mouse King images. :) You used a lot of shading levels in these... Did you experiment with fewer shading levels and darker outlines, to get a stronger toon effect? Just curious....

    ToonyCam will "toonify" a photograph, but it can't add lines, as there's no geometry to recognize the edges of. But often that's what you want for a background, anyway. :)

    I have not tried that yet, that's part of the next go-around. I was actually playing with the higher levels to see if I could get a more dramatic background, given the lighting I had. Unfortunately, I have to wait until I get home from the day job to play.

  • ArtiniArtini Posts: 9,672
    edited February 2014

    This camera is so much fun to use. Well done, zigraphix.
    Below is the render of FWSA Tansy.

    Tansy03pic01crop.jpg
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    Post edited by Artini on
  • eldileldil Posts: 14
    edited December 1969

    OK, First of all: Love the camera... I stayed up all night just playing around with the different settings. I'm amazed at how everything comes out, even with no lights or anything.

    I do have a question though. When I try to use the "Selected OutlineIDs" scripts, I get an error. The "All Outline IDs" scripts work fine, and actually the "Selected OutlineIDs by Diffuse color" works as well. The three others are giving me an issue. Am I missing something?

    This is from my Log file:
    Executing DAZ Script file: C:/Users/Public/Documents/My DAZ 3D Library/Camera Presets/ToonyCam/OutlineID Utilities/Selected OutlineIDs by Diffuse Map.dsa
    WARNING: Script Error: Line 47
    WARNING: ReferenceError: Can't find variable: i
    WARNING: Stack Trace:
    ()@:47
    Error in script execution!
    Executing DAZ Script file: C:/Users/Public/Documents/My DAZ 3D Library/Camera Presets/ToonyCam/OutlineID Utilities/Selected OutlineIDs by MAT Zone.dsa
    WARNING: Script Error: Line 25
    WARNING: ReferenceError: Can't find variable: i
    WARNING: Stack Trace:
    ()@:25
    Error in script execution!
    Executing DAZ Script file: C:/Users/Public/Documents/My DAZ 3D Library/Camera Presets/ToonyCam/OutlineID Utilities/Selected OutlineIDs by Node.dsa
    WARNING: Script Error: Line 23
    WARNING: ReferenceError: Can't find variable: i
    WARNING: Stack Trace:
    ()@:23
    Error in script execution!


    And here's a quick and dirty render with no lights or background... just because I wanted to join the sharing...

    Eresine_Toon_3.png
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  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited February 2014

    eldil said:
    OK, First of all: Love the camera... I stayed up all night just playing around with the different settings. I'm amazed at how everything comes out, even with no lights or anything.

    I do have a question though. When I try to use the "Selected OutlineIDs" scripts, I get an error. The "All Outline IDs" scripts work fine, and actually the "Selected OutlineIDs by Diffuse color" works as well. The three others are giving me an issue. Am I missing something?

    This is from my Log file:
    Executing DAZ Script file: C:/Users/Public/Documents/My DAZ 3D Library/Camera Presets/ToonyCam/OutlineID Utilities/Selected OutlineIDs by Diffuse Map.dsa
    WARNING: Script Error: Line 47
    WARNING: ReferenceError: Can't find variable: i
    WARNING: Stack Trace:
    ()@:47

    (...)

    And here's a quick and dirty render with no lights or background... just because I wanted to join the sharing...

    Cool image!

    I'll see if I can reproduce your errors on my system, and if so, I'll upload a fix. Thanks for reporting this!

    One question: are any of the selected items you tried the scripts on parented to other items in the scene? I've been trying to determine if that causes a problem, and I've been getting mixed results.

    Post edited by zigraphix on
  • eldileldil Posts: 14
    edited December 1969

    Yes, I've been specifically trying to use them on hair...

    I believe I've also tried it on unparented items, but I can't recall with 100% certainty. Once I get a chance to get back in to DAZ, I'll try some variations and report my results...

  • PendraiaPendraia Posts: 3,598
    edited December 1969

    Great work Zi...took me a while to get it to work (my errors due to being home sick) but works beautifully now.

    forever fiends with tansy applied.

    fiendsforever_toonycam_pro_norma_on.jpg
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  • bad4ubad4u Posts: 684
    edited February 2014

    These cams are awesome. Using the different options has a bit of learning curve, but playing around for about 2,5 hours now is really part of the fun for me. Need some more adjustments on my lion image from earlier this thread, so this needs to wait until weekend as I don't have time before, but I thought I post one of my test renders from today :)

    (Note: The violet triangle in the upper part of the image is in the textures, it's not a fault)

    candy_toony2.jpg
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    Post edited by bad4u on
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