More Non-photorealistic Renders (NPR III)

WillowRaven

I do have pwToon from way back when ... pre-iray.

 

juvesatriani

@WillowRaven if you have pwToon here the link I also have another preset for smooth style toon  . If you have problem with those presets feel free to ask in those thread

@vrba79 I kind agree with you about extreme setup to get NPR with IRAY , since lighting in IRAY designed for smooth shadow to enhance realism , in contrast NPR depend on hard shadow with simple shape and placed in proper areas . I do believe this shadow things ( which in final outcome presenting as shading)  makes "break or work" for NPR  . But there is always solution if people not thinking that postwork is forbidden LOL 

 

 

juvesatriani

Here what I mean if you`re OK doing some postwork . In this example I`m seperating each element using multipass . Then mashup + mask out each light and shadow to get more (almost) clean painterly look with complex shadow/shading .

Then you can tweak further with another postwork techniques if you want

NOTE : This technique should be work with whatever render engine or software you choose as long those possible to create separate output for each channel ( AO - LIGHT Passes - Diffuse Color -Oultine etc)

vrba79

This is why I like the sun/sky light setting with Iray. You have these exagerated patches of light hitting the figure, which when combined with postwork that blends the lighting edges together, it makes that painted effect.

vrba79

In my quest to use things in a manner different than what it says on the label, I'm playing with Sketchy, to make things that look decidedly not sketched.

This isn't even post worked. Its just how it came out of D|S. I'm sure I can tweak this into something more uniform looking.

vrba79

You can mix Yuzuru from Daz3d and Tidazo from Renderosity to make an anime fella that looks better than either of them! Boom! Here's my solution to no male Sakura.

vrba79

Likewise mixing Daz3D's Sakura and Renderosity's Tahiza.

This requires a bit of extra help. Namely in the form of 3D Outlaw's Sakura eyes, which has an additional morph which allows Sakura to use default eyeballs. With this turned on, you can blend in other facial shapes without her eyeballs looking wrong-shaped.

3Diva

Sketchy is definitely underrated - it's a part of my workflow for one of my comics. I've made some custom shader presets with Sketchy that have been a big help with my comic art. Once I have a bit of free time I'll try and post some examples to see if you guys might be interested in the presets. :)

3Diva

juvesatriani said:

@vrba79 @csaa and @tdkrobert , Awesome images !!

Here another experiment  and Direct render ( no postwork this time) using my pwtoon freebie (!JSFlat) . Play with rim Color mode to get nice color gradient in clothes surfaces . BG is simple design and used as Environment Backdrop

This is stunning! No postwork? WOW! Color me impressed!

Do you have a webcomic? 

juvesatriani

@3diva thanks for nice words . Yeah that without postwork , if you have pwToon try my free presets (!JSFLAT) . You can find it in freebie forum . 

About webcomic , unfortunately I dont have one . It seem ironic since I`ve learned Poser then DAZ to help my dream to make comic LOL . 

Right now i`m just use those knowledge for storyboard or concept design works 

Artini

Nice work, @vrba79.

My dream is to get a NPR look, like yours or @juvesatriani in Unity,

without any postwork, so I could easily create videos from real time renders in Unity.

 

juvesatriani

@Artini , thanks again . Sorry I  still dont have propper time to explore UNITY , but I will share my thinking process so you can emulate those tricks in any workflow you`ve prefer .

My method mostly borrowed from manual coloring technique  from COMIC BOOK`s artist  tutorials . Getting each element right  should be your priority . And slowly build on top of it .

I.E.  Dont bother with Shading or specular  if your DIFFUSE TEXTURE /MATERIAL/BASE COLOR still not flat enough . Same rules applies with specular or Glossy FX .

• You can try plug them into ambient or emission to get proper flat illusion . Special Toon Shader( like pwToon) already doing something like that when Blending option set in value (below) 30% or 0 , find the equivalent setup for your render engine or software . 
• After getting proper FLAT , you can start with shadow or shading . Depend on what NPR style you want to achieve, but general rules for CEL SHADING is CLEAR and HARD SHADOW especially in FACE or Head area . Use Strong Directional Light . Pay attention where the shadow fall . Remove all setting which designed for soft shadow or realism 
• It still  possible to use multi light setup as long you`ll using them to enrich shading for Wardrobe or props , but never point them in face or head area . 
• For specular use specular maps if possible and control them with gradient ramp . Notice that how hard and soft the specular mostly controlled by blending value in FLAT part , thats why you should get proper flat in first place . The rules is simple , use soft ones if the area is BIG and set using hard ones if the area is small 
• After all already setup , try play with blend value . You`ll surprise how work with Blend value after all already in place give you plenty of  style variations including RIM LIGHT illusion 

 

 

csaa

3Diva said:

Sketchy is definitely underrated - it's a part of my workflow for one of my comics. I've made some custom shader presets with Sketchy that have been a big help with my comic art. Once I have a bit of free time I'll try and post some examples to see if you guys might be interested in the presets. :)

@3Diva,

Yes, please. We'd like to see the work you've done with Sketchy!

There's certainly an uphill climb when it comes to using this Daz shader. For me it was the lack of people who used it that I could ask. Imagine, the non photorealistic folks in the Daz community is already small to begin with; the number of Sketchy users is even smaller. I ran out of creative ways to use it and folks who could inspire me.

Below is one of my last Sketchy renders -- mixed in with photorealistic elements. This was April last year. I think I was aiming for a porcelain-puppet aesthetic suitable to a cyberpunk police story I was conceiving. The anime Psychopass was my inspiration, hence the wan and bleached colors.

After Sketchy I tried NPR in Unreal (Plan B), found it too unwieldy, then moved on to Blender (Plan C). That was all in the past year. Along the way I realized that a manga-style aesthetic best expressed what I wanted. I believe the Daz-Unreal toolchain has become stable since then, but for now I'm very pleased with Blender cel shading I use.

Cheers!

Sgts. Andrea & Inez | Daz mixed Sketchy render

Sgts. Andrea & Inez: Hacking the Bot | Daz assets and set up | Blender Eevee render | Clip Studio Paint post-edit

 

vrba79

I'm kind of trial and erroring my way through figuring out Sketchy.

vrba79

Sketchy w sun/sky only + Sharpen/Smooth postwork.

 

Artini

juvesatriani said:

@Artini , thanks again . Sorry I  still dont have propper time to explore UNITY , but I will share my thinking process so you can emulate those tricks in any workflow you`ve prefer .

My method mostly borrowed from manual coloring technique  from COMIC BOOK`s artist  tutorials . Getting each element right  should be your priority . And slowly build on top of it .

I.E.  Dont bother with Shading or specular  if your DIFFUSE TEXTURE /MATERIAL/BASE COLOR still not flat enough . Same rules applies with specular or Glossy FX .

• You can try plug them into ambient or emission to get proper flat illusion . Special Toon Shader( like pwToon) already doing something like that when Blending option set in value (below) 30% or 0 , find the equivalent setup for your render engine or software . 
• After getting proper FLAT , you can start with shadow or shading . Depend on what NPR style you want to achieve, but general rules for CEL SHADING is CLEAR and HARD SHADOW especially in FACE or Head area . Use Strong Directional Light . Pay attention where the shadow fall . Remove all setting which designed for soft shadow or realism 
• It still  possible to use multi light setup as long you`ll using them to enrich shading for Wardrobe or props , but never point them in face or head area . 
• For specular use specular maps if possible and control them with gradient ramp . Notice that how hard and soft the specular mostly controlled by blending value in FLAT part , thats why you should get proper flat in first place . The rules is simple , use soft ones if the area is BIG and set using hard ones if the area is small 
• After all already setup , try play with blend value . You`ll surprise how work with Blend value after all already in place give you plenty of  style variations including RIM LIGHT illusion 

 

 

Thanks a lot for the tips.

Will try to find my way with them.

 

csaa

Something from a while back. I don't believe I've shared it here.

Cheers!

Lukas Half-Orc | Daz asset and set up | Blender Eevee render | Clip Studio Paint post-edit

 

tkdrobert

Playing around with @juvesatriani PW Toon presents and some new workflows.

 

vrba79

G8F using Sakura 8, but with her morphs set at 50% and some of her pre-packed morphs applied and 3D Outlaw's default eye morph added. If you own Sakura, buy 3D Outlaw's companion product. You'll be glad you did!

I like this. It's Iray Sketchy again, but I'm getting a similar effect to using PWToon after you've played with the Rim boundaries. I applied my sharpen/blur postwork and then bumped the vibrance up.

csaa

vrba79 said:

I'm kind of trial and erroring my way through figuring out Sketchy.

vrba79, tkdrobert.

Just wanted to point out one Daz user who regularly uses Sketchy in a way that approximates your respective styles: XxGreyxX whose images I've seen on this NPR thread, I believe. Check out XxGreyxX's cool gallery page to see for yourselves.

Cheers!

 

vrba79

Well that just confirms that I'm on the right path then. Judging by some of their work made with it, it looks like Sketchy can be a proper replacement for PWToon.

tkdrobert

csaa said:

vrba79 said:

I'm kind of trial and erroring my way through figuring out Sketchy.

vrba79, tkdrobert.

Just wanted to point out one Daz user who regularly uses Sketchy in a way that approximates your respective styles: XxGreyxX whose images I've seen on this NPR thread, I believe. Check out XxGreyxX's cool gallery page to see for yourselves.

Cheers!

He needs to do some tutorials.

vrba79

BandoriFan

I adjusted the environment settings to get the sky closer to anime. It's from Orestes Starry Night. I used the JK Outfit and hid the sleeves 

I made the hair spheres myself and used ultra sci-fi shaders to color them and added the white part in Clip Studio 

The set is Streets of Japan plus some buildings from another site's free pack while I adjusted the lighting on the buildings myself since the windows are their own material zone. I feel like these buildings match Streets of Japan nicely for a background 

I used the high schooler morph from the Growing Up bundle then made her calves and thighs longer to match the animation style and made more face adjustments 

csaa

Hello, NPR people! A work in progress I wanted to share. Hope you like it.

Cheers!

Sgt. Andrea | Daz Studio assets and set up | Blender Eevee render | Clip Studio Paint post-edit

 

Artini

Making experiments with outlines and posterization in Unity.

vrba79

One wierdness I'm noticing with Sketchy is that you can accidentally make it emit light by piddling with the secondary diffuse and outline options. The manual is really bad at explaining this stuff. Its frustrating.

vrba79

I'm using the same character for various Sketchy tests.

vrba79

Ideally, I want to use a basic lighting for a lot of renders, as most of my comic pages won't call for mood lighting.

csaa

 

Sgt. Andrea & Inez: Ambivalence | Daz asset and set up | Blender cel shading | Clip Studio Paint post-edit

Sgt. Inez: Kata and Tonfa | Daz assets and set up | Blender Eevee render | Clip Studio Paint post-edit