Using Toon Shader (New for 5)

To rotoscope 3D animation in iClone, you may use the Toon Shader feature. This feature traces the color of every object (Sky, 2D Background and Textures of the 7 channels on objects are excluded), and converts them into cartoon styles. Cartoon rendering and cell shading allows animators to create a flat-looking 3D image with a cartoonish look, typically exemplified in artistically animated movies. You may then profile objects with outlines and blend the Diffuse, Ambient and Specular colors of each object with the color settings of the Toon Shader to convert these objects into three color levels: Light, Midtone and Shade.

Profiling Outline of Objects

With the Toon Shader feature, you are able to trace the outline of objects, and define the color and the width of the outline.

Enabling the Toon Shader

1. Go to Stage >> Atmosphere.
2. In the Toon Shader section on the Modify panel, enable the Toon Shader box.
   

   Toon Shader = Off	Toon Shader = On

Modifying the Edge

• The width and strength of the edges on objects can be modified to create more artistic projects.

  Edge Width = 1	Edge Width = 6
  Edge Intensity = 20	Edge Intensity = 100

• The edges can be defined to a solid color or use the color-swatch or the colors of the adjacent faces.
  Color Picker

  Silhouette Edge = Red, Green and Blue	Silhouette = Texture Color (The color is defined by the color of the adjacent face)

• By adjusting the value of Normal Threshold, the edge lines are drawn according to the angle formed by two adjacent faces. The higher the threshold value is, the fewer edges are traced.

  Threshold = 0	Threshold = 100

• Because the the normal directions of some polygons, from same or different objects, can be identical; the edge lines will be vague or even ignored when the objects are hindered by each other. Turn on the Visible Intersection Lines and the edge lines will be forced to appear.

  Visible Intersection Lines = Off A: The line is vague. B: The line is totally eliminated.	Visible Intersection Lines = On

Defining the Range of Three Color Levels

The Toon Stylization feature uses three color levels (Light, Midtone and Shade) to present the 3-dimenstional sensations of objects. You may custom the range of each level to set the objects brighter or darker. The ranges of the levels are as described as in the illustrations below:

• You may drag the middle two anchors to adjust the range of each level.
• You may also adjust the Light and Shade colors by clicking the triangle besides the color-swatch . The gradient color of the three levels between these two colors will be automatically generated.

  Adjust the Light and Shade color. The midtone color will be auto-generated.