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Sketchy is pretty versatile. You can get some really interesting looks with it, IMO. But you have to get creative with it. This is done with Sketchy - using four different sketchy shader presets that give drastically different looks and then layering them in Photoshop plus a couple of PS filters:
Having fun with this one . The model from Game DC World Collide . Extracted and corrected in Blender then export into DAZ so I can use my !JS Stylized and multipass presets
And like always corrected color and shadow in Photoshop
Awesome Harley Quinn!
Really quick test render using the free manga lights with visual style and the geometry shell outline. I am 100% loving it.
Sgts. Andrea, Cleo & Inez: Rooftop Discussion | Daz assets and set up | Blender Eevee render | Clip Studio Paint post-edit
OK, but that's the opposite of what you said in the post I quoted.
I love this! Which geometry shell outline did you use?
MagesMoon,
I have to confess I don't know much about 3Delight rendering or any of the Daz NPR add ons using 3Delight. Like yourself, I had a 'vision' in mind, a particular NPR aesthetic, when I started experimenting with NPR more than a year ago. At that point, I surveyed my options and found a good number of tools: Daz-Iray or Daz-3Delight; Blender; even Unreal. Sensing the deep dive I was about to make, I made the choice to keep things simple and and to stay with up to three options. Happily I got the look I wanted on the third try. (First was Daz-Sketchy; then Daz-Unreal using Unreal cel shaders; last, Daz-Blender with Eevee.)
I believe I understand what you're aiming for when you say you want the "softer shaded" look. I grew up appreciating anime cel shading in the 80s and 90s; to me that's the aesthetic you're trying to evoke. I also understand why you say Sketchy falls short of it. Not to hard sell it, Sketchy can approximate that with a bit of elbow grease. But seeing that you've hit the mark with 3Delight ... congratulations! I've been on that long and winding road of experimentation -- full of false turns and compromises -- and I know the satisfaction that comes with reaching one's goal.
On that note, let me say something about chasing one's golden ring such as experimenting with NPR styles. It's hard enough that the journey is fraught with twists and turns. It's harder to hear feedback that's dogmatic and discouraging. I've had my share of kibitzers who naysay; who dish out dos an don'ts that, on deeper examination, aren't well thought out, or aren't supported by practical experience. Sadly, when we share our experiments in a public space, we open ourselves up to criticism, unfair ones included. Having a thick skin helps a lot to ward off the arrows and the barbs. In the end though, the proof is in the pudding. Part of the satisfaction at accomplishing one's goal comes from proving the critics wrong.
Thick skin or not, children put the matter best when they approach the unknown with curiosity and an open mind.
Hope to see more of your work.
Cheers!
Oh yeah so I did. I'm sorry I think I had wanted to edit that post but couldn't as it was waiting to be approved. I amended it in my head only and forgot I never actually changed it. Once I played more with 3 delight I changed my mind on trying NPR with Iray at all.
Some mashup exploration between IRAY ( for getting Bloom FX ) and pwToon for upcoming gig project.
Even I think Blender EEVEE Bloom and freestyle probably giving me better results but working in DAZ seem easier for entire project workflow .
Now I need to learn how to get proper IRAY Bloom results before I keep exporting scene into Blender :)
It's the free geoshell from the Manga Style and VSS thread. I didn't change anything here though, just applied as is. I'm also using the lights and render settings from the free pack.
Thread here
That's exactly it. I have seen what can be done with Eevee and Unreal and it's very cool. I wish DAZ would also embrace NPR because there is a strong come back going on in other communities. If we talk about it then maybe that'll help. Thank you to everyone participating in these threads they have been very helpful to me in figuring out how to approach things. I don't know much about 3 delight either but I think it'll be easier to learn then diving into Blender. Although I do recognize I might have to learn Blender anyway if support for 3 delight and VSS drops entirely. Really sad to not see a trace of pwtoon on the store as an example.
This is great! I was thinking of combining Iray effects and textures as well with canvases IF it doesn't make my workflow take too long.
I came across this effect by accident (following a tutorial for another effect, but stopped at this step). If anyone is interested, I made an action out of it that I can share for Photoshop.
Here is a before/after. No other postwork done, just applied the action.
I am experimenting with the Depth Of Field in images and I like it very much, so far.
Below are some of the examples. What do you think?
Slight adjustments. I think, I like it better.
Sgt. Inez: Walk in the Park | Daz assets and set up | Blender Eevee render | Clip Studio Paint post-edit
I took a break from photoreal renders and took a deep dive into the Toon material available within Octane Render for a personal project - so far I'm super happy with the results. The only post work was to add a little grain and chromatic aberration for style:
Phloki3D,
I don't see much of Octane here in the forum, photoreal or not. It's certainly interesting to find posts showcasing Octane toon shaders! (Typically I turn to Instagram where Lino Grandi frequently shares Octane-toon renders.)
When the free Daz-Octane add on came out a while back, I tried it and had a blast. Others on the forum didn't take to it very well. The major complaint they had was the extra effort required to customize the Octane materials and renderer. Why bother, they seem to say, when iRay and Daz does most of that from the get go.
But exporting Daz assets to another application, and re-jigging shaders, lighting and what not, comes with the NPR territory. More and more I see people scaling those heights to produce bespoke renders in Blender, Unreal or Unity just to name a few. So why not with Octane too, given that's its such a capable renderer.
Thanks again for sharing these images. Hope to see more of your work.
Cheers!
@csaa thanks for the comments and also for pointing me in the direction of Lino Grandi's work - definitely interesting to see their workflow.
For me, Octane within Daz has always been my go-to render engine, so it's become second nature to configure materials within it's material tab as opposed to the native Surfaces tab. I tend to just leave the viewport on Smooth Shaded and use Octane's live Viewport so I can alter materials and see the results on-the-fly.
I can understand why it might not be convenient to some though, ease of use comes with the territory of Daz after all, but for me I like to tweak materials and presets anyway so it was natural.
Besides, the time taken to configure the materials within Octane means I don't have to export the models anywhere, I don't have to run multiple passes, the render is almost instant and I've achieved the look that I want (I'm lazy and impatient in that sense). So, the trade-off of the learning curve is worth it in my opinion!
The settings for the Toon shader itself are simple. Here's the basic shader settings for the character's face, but for each body part or piece of clothing I tweak the outline thickness to suit. Certain pieces that I want to use highlights on I'll set the lighting mode to Camera Lighting:
Most of the magic though comes down to pairing it with a suitable texture and morph to sell the look. I avoid anything that uses complicated transparency maps (hair in particular) as they just don't suit the toon look in my opinion. I also replace all textures with flat colours and then add in necessary detail.
What you will note however is that whether the lighting mode is set to Toon Lighting or Camera Lighting only really effects the specular highlight. Neither option seems to cast a shadow (for example the hair doesn't cast a shadow onto the face). In fact, lights in the scene don't seem to do anything at all, apparently this setting is only really for Octane Standalone. For the style I'm going for though, this isn't important and I can manually add a shadow onto the texture (like under the chin) if needed. The Camera Light setting does add some nice highlights out of the box most of the time however.
Here's another render with all outlines turned off so you can see what's actually powered by the texture
Hope that helps!
Thank you very much.
I like very much images with DOF applied, made in 3D programs or on photos,
so that is why I have started to experiment with DOF also for NPR.
Tried creating a few (hopefully cohesive) panels using the above techniques.
See, I'm not super into the 3Delight/pwToon looks that make up the bulk of this thread, but this is definitely a look I could get into.
Well, thought I'd give Octane toon rendering a shot, but I figured I should see if I could make flames look good before I spent too much time converting the rest of my Avatar fanfilm.
@phloki3D thanks for sharing your setup . Nice render .
It always refreshing to see everyone produce nice NPR images with their own way just like @csaa @artini @3Diva @Loremisthre @magesmoon etc already achieved .
TBH I dont see some magic toon shader better over another in this thread. Your effort to make it works with whatever tool you like , is something I called as MAGIC
Thanks again for sharing guys
I'm glad you like it. This is my first time sharing an action or uploading anything to ShareCG, so if it doesn't work, please let me know.
https://sharecg.com/v/99232/view/15/2D-Resources/Free-Cartoon-Style-Photoshop-Action#