Sketch and Toon
Sketch and Toon Programming Team Christian Losch, Philip Losch, Richard Kurz, Tilo Kühn, Thomas Kunert, David O’Reilly, Cathleen Poppe. Plugin Programming Sven Behne, Wilfried Behne, Michael Breitzke, Kiril Dinev, Per-Anders Edwards, David Farmer, Jamie Halmick, Richard Hintzenstern, Jan Eric Hoffmann, Eduardo Olivares, Nina Ivanova, Markus Jakubietz, Eric Sommerlade, Hendrik Steffen, Jens Uhlig, Michael Welter, Thomas Zeier. Product Manager Marco Tillmann. QA Manager Björn Marl.
MAXON Computer End User License Agreement NOTICE TO USER WITH THE INSTALLATION OF SKETCH AND TOON (THE “SOFTWARE”) A CONTRACT IS CONCLUDED BETWEEN YOU (“YOU” OR THE “USER”) AND MAXON COMPUTER GMBH ( THE “LICENSOR”), A COMPANY UNDER GERMAN LAW WITH RESIDENCE IN FRIEDRICHSDORF, GERMANY. WHEREAS BY USING AND/OR INSTALLING THE SOFTWARE YOU ACCEPT ALL THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF THIS AGREEMENT. IN THE CASE OF NON-ACCEPTANCE OF THIS LICENSE YOU ARE NOT PERMITTED TO INSTALL THE SOFTWARE.
. Transfer (1) You may not rent, lease, sublicense or lend the Software or documentation.
which the date of the purchase according to the invoice is decisive). The Licensor is free to cure the defects by free repair or provision of a faultless update. (2) The Licensor and its suppliers do not and cannot warrant the performance and the results you may obtain by using the Software or documentation. The foregoing states the sole and exclusive remedies for the Licensor’s or its suppliers’ breach of warranty, except for the foregoing limited warranty.
12. Other (1) This contract includes all rights and obligations of the parties. There are no other agreements. Any changes or alterations of this agreement have to be performed in writing with reference to this agreement and have to be signed by both contracting parties. This also applies to the agreement on abolition of the written form. (2) This agreement is governed by German law. Place of jurisdiction is the competent court in Frankfurt am Main.
Contents Introduction ..........................................................................................................1 How to use this manual ......................................................................................................................... 2 Registration ........................................................................................................................................... 2 Installation....................................................................
Contour........................................................................................................................................... 48 Isoparms ......................................................................................................................................... 51 Splines ............................................................................................................................................ 52 Particles ..................................................
Cel Shader..................................................................................................................................... 130 Hatch Shader ................................................................................................................................ 134 Spots Shader................................................................................................................................. 143 6 Sketch Style Tag ....................................................
INTRODUCTION • 1 Introduction Images © 2003 by Holger Schömann. Welcome to Sketch and Toon, the CINEMA 4D module for non-photorealistic (NPR) rendering. Quite simply, Sketch and Toon is the most powerful NPR software money can buy. Sketch and Toon delivers a huge toolset that allows you to achieve an unlimited number of different looks. This module doesn’t just add lines to your work, it adds style. Now, a huge tool set normally sets alarm bells ringing for many prospective users.
2 • INTRODUCTION How to use this manual To learn how to use Sketch and Toon, we recommend you proceed as follows: - For a quick impression of what you can do with Sketch and Toon, see Chapter 1, “Overview.” - To get up and running with Sketch and Toon, see Chapter 2, “QuickStart.” - To move on to the more advanced features, work through the video tutorials located on the CD. These tutorials are your primary learning tool. They are the easiest way to learn the software.
1 Overview
OVERVIEW • 5 1 Overview Sketch and Toon is a non-photorealistic (NPR) renderer that fully integrates into CINEMA 4D. Essentially its job is to simplify 3D scenes and represent edges with lines to give an illustrative feel to the final result. NPR software generally has two main areas: lines and shading. With Sketch and Toon, lines are added to 3D objects using CINEMA 4D’s post effects functionality.
6 • CHAPTER 1 2B or not 2B? Images © 2003 by Samir Kharchi. With Sketch and Toon, any style is possible, including sketch. Now you can delight your clients with sketches of the your project that look as hand-drawn as you want them to. Technical support Image © 2003 by Artur Bala. Sketch and Toon supports all areas of NPR rendering including technical style. You have tremendous control on exactly where lines are drawn.
OVERVIEW • 7 Spot the difference Spaceship © 2003 by Michael Welter, character © 2003 by Toshihide Miyata. The halftone dots look is more popular the ever. You’ll be pleased to know that Sketch and Toon boasts a powerful spots shader that is ideal for these effects, and more. Manga juice Image © 2003 by Michael Welter.
8 • CHAPTER 1 Pick ‘n’ mix Image © 2003 by Toshio Fuji. Sketch and Toon’s tight integration with CINEMA 4D allows you to choose which objects are “sketched” and which objects CINEMA 4D should still take care of. Where next? We recommend you read Chapter 2 next, “QuickStart”, which will show you how to get started with Sketch and Toon.
2 QuickStart
QUICKSTART • 11 2 QuickStart Can’t wait to get started with Sketch and Toon? Then you’ve come to the right chapter. In these pages, you’ll learn the basics of how to use Sketch and Toon, and, most importantly of all, where to find the main controls and what they do in general terms. Adding the Sketch and Toon post effect All it takes to add the Sketch and Toon effect to your scene is a single menu pick. First you’ll need an object. Create a sphere.
12 • CHAPTER 2 Adjusting the line The material that is added automatically when you add the post effect is called the Sketch material. This controls the look of the lines, such as their color and thickness. In a nutshell, the Sketch material is the material used by the post effect to draw the lines. In the Material manager, double-click the Sketch material’s thumbnail to display its settings in the Material editor. On the Color tab, choose a new color for the line such as shocking pink.
QUICKSTART • 13 What does the post effect do? The Sketch and Toon post effect is the main control center for the effect. Among other things, it controls the post effect shading for objects and which Sketch materials are used by the effect. To see this in action, you’ll need to create a second Sketch material. In the Material manager, choose File > Sketch Material to create a new Sketch material. In the Material editor, change the material’s thickness to 1 and color to red. Rename the material to “red.
14 • CHAPTER 2 Drag and drop the red material’s thumbnail from the Material manager into the Default Hidden box. Render the scene. The red material is now used for the hidden lines in the scene (i.e. the lines that in real life would be hidden behind surfaces). If you were now to drag and drop the red material into the Default Visible box, the red material would be used for both visible and hidden lines.
QUICKSTART • 15 In the Material manager, choose File > New Material to create a new standard CINEMA 4D material. Double-click the new material to display its settings in the Material editor. On the Color tab, set the color to green. Rename the material to “green.” Apply the green material to the sphere and render the scene. Sketch and Toon lets you shade the objects using standard CINEMA 4D materials. The post effect quantizes the result of the CINEMA 4D rendering.
16 • CHAPTER 2 Using the Sketch shaders Sketch and Toon includes four powerful channel shaders: Art, Cel, Hatch and Spots. These enable you to create an endless variety of effects. You can use these shaders in any material channel which accepts a texture, but in general they work best in the Luminance channel. In the Material manager, choose File > New Material to create a new material. Double-click the new material to display its settings in the Material editor.
QUICKSTART • 17 Click on the Spots preview below the Texture triangle button to access the settings for the Spots shader. Set the Scale value to 30%. Apply the Spots material to the sphere. Render the scene. The Spots shader is ideal for a halftone dots effect. Note how the spots shrink the brighter the surface is to give a fantastic impression of light to dark shading.
18 • CHAPTER 2 In the Object manager, double-click the cone’s Sketch Style tag to display the tag’s settings in the Attribute manager. The Sketch Style tag has many similar settings to the post effect. It overrides the settings in the post effect for the object. In other words, the object will use the tag’s settings instead of those in the post effect. On the Lines tab, you’ll notice the new Sketch material has already been assigned to the tag.
QUICKSTART • 19 Select the cube and in the Object manager, choose File > Sketch Tags > Sketch Render. The Sketch Render tag has a few useful render options such as the ability to switch off lines for the object. Double-click the cube’s Sketch Render tag to display the tag’s settings in the Attribute manager. Disable the tag’s Allow Lines and Allow Shading options, and render the scene. The post effect is now switched off for the cube.
20 • CHAPTER 2 Where now? This completes the QuickStart. You now know where the main controls are and what they do in general. To recap: - The Sketch material controls the look of the lines. - The Sketch and Toon post effect is where you’ll find the general scene-wide controls, such as which Sketch materials are used for visible and hidden lines. - The Sketch Style tag is where you can set an individual style for an object to override the post effect’s style.
3 Sketch and Toon Post Effect
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 23 3 Sketch and Toon Post Effect The Sketch and Toon post effect is the main control center and line rendering engine used to create your non-photorealistic (NPR) render. This is where you’ll find the settings for the line render, postrendered shading, multi-pass, editor display and scene-wide line styles. The Sketch and Toon post effect is to be found on the Render Settings > Effects tab. See your CINEMA 4D reference manual for general details on using the Effects tab.
24 • CHAPTER 3 Effects tab settings Some of the following settings are available only when the Control Level is set to Intermediate or Advanced. Look up “Control Levels” in the index. Main Control Level Look up “Control Levels” in the index. Load Style, Save Style You’ll find various presets in the Sketch folder within CINEMA 4D’s Library folder. These commands enable you to load and save styles.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 25 About lines and layers To understand how lines work with settings such as Combine (see below), it can be helpful to think about each line type created being given its own layer (internally this is exactly what happens). When Sketch and Toon creates lines for an object, a new layer is created and the line types inserted. If Combine is enabled, all line types that can be merged are placed onto the same layer.
26 • CHAPTER 3 Hidden Cull, Self-Culling To switch off hidden lines, set Hidden Cull to Self and clear the Default Hidden box or local Hidden box. These settings control which lines are visible and which are hidden. The Hidden Cull mode sets which objects in the scene are used to find out if a line is hidden. In the following examples, the visible lines are black, the hidden lines are red. Self In Self mode, only the object which created the line is used to find out if the line is hidden.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 27 Scene In this mode, the line is checked against all objects in the scene to find out if it is hidden. Objects This mode uses the objects in the Objects box to find out if a line is hidden. Default Visible, Default Hidden, Line Materials Use the Default Visible and Default Hidden boxes to specify which Sketch material to use for visible lines and which to use for hidden lines (drag and drop the materials from the Material manager into the boxes).
28 • CHAPTER 3 Each box has a triangle button to its right which you can click to access the following commands: Clear empties the box. In other words, it unassigns the Sketch material. Show In Manager activates the Material manager and scrolls it if necessary to display the Sketch material. Select Element selects the Sketch material in the Material manager and displays its settings in the Attribute manager.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 29 How CINEMA 4D’s antialiasing affects the lines There are two parts to CINEMA 4D’s antialiasing: the Antialiasing mode (None, Geometry, Best) and the Filter option, which are both specified on the Render Settings > Antialiasing tab. Antialiasing If your scene needs to use CINEMA 4D’s Best mode for antialiasing, you can sometimes reduce render times by setting Line AA to Off. The Sketch and Toon lines will then be antialiased by the CINEMA 4D renderer only.
30 • CHAPTER 3 Mode, Objects You can also control which objects Sketch and Toon renders using the Sketch Render tag and Sketch Style tag. Here you can choose which objects are rendered by Sketch and Toon. All objects are rendered by default with Mode set to Exclude and the Objects box empty. To include or exclude specific objects, set Mode to Include or Exclude and drag and drop the objects into the Objects box. Thickness Scale This is a global scale setting for line thickness.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 31 For example, suppose you’ve set the line Thickness to 10 pixels and the image is 400 by 300 pixels when you render in the viewport and 800 by 600 pixels when you render to the Picture viewer. If Base Resolution is set to Render Settings, the lines will be five pixels thick in the viewport and ten pixels thick in the Picture viewer. To set the base resolution in Custom mode, do one of the following: - Enter the width and height into the Base Width and Base Height boxes.
32 • CHAPTER 3 To multi-pass render the Sketch and Toon effect: - On the post effect’s Render tab, ensure the Post Render option is enabled. - On the post effect’s Multi-Pass tab, enable the passes you want to include. - On CINEMA 4D’s Render Settings > Multi-Pass tab, click the Channels button and choose Post Effects from the menu that appears. Render to the Picture Viewer.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 33 Background, Texture Alpha, Lines, Objects, Strength, Alpha 2 1 3 4 1 Background texture; 2 Background texture and the same texture used for the alpha texture with Lines enabled; 3 With Objects enabled; 4 With Lines and Objects enabled. The Background drop-down list lets you switch off the color for the background or pick a color or texture for the background.
34 • CHAPTER 3 Shading This is an extension of the old CINEMA 4D Cel renderer. It quantizes the illumination based on a set number of brightness levels (Model set to Quantize) or gradient (Model set to Gradient). With both models, enable the Illumination option to ignore the scene’s lighting and light all surfaces with 100% brightness instead, and disable the Shadows option to switch off shadows.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 35 The Quantize model controls the number of brightness levels allowed by the post effect. The Gradient model does the same as Quantize except it uses a gradient to control which brightness values are allowed. The Colorize option enables you to colorize the shading using a color gradient — the Strength value controls the strength of the effect.
36 • CHAPTER 3 Editor Display Why wait for a render to see the lines? On this tab you can switch on the display of lines in the viewport. Show Lines Enable the Show Lines option to display lines in the viewport. Full Redraw This option gives you realtime refresh of the lines in the viewport. The lines will then update constantly — try extruding some polygons with Full Redraw enabled and you’ll see how useful this feature is.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 37 Draw 2D Lines 3D Lines Sketch and Toon offers two types of viewport display line: 2D lines and 3D lines. 2D lines are drawn flat onto the viewport, 3D lines are drawn within the 3D scene. 2D lines are the best option overall because they are crisper and more accurate than 3D lines.
38 • CHAPTER 3 Line types Only enable the line types that are actually needed. Enabling each type adds to the time it takes to create the lines. Sketch and Toon offers over a dozen line types. In these pages, you’ll find a description for each line type and its settings on the Lines tab if it has any. In general, Folds, Creases and Border are all you need for a basic toon. About line ownership The object that creates a line “owns” it.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 39 Outline, Folds, Overlaps For these lines to appear correctly, the mesh must be complete and joined and the surface normals must point in the correct direction. A quick way to get an outline around objects is to enable the Folds line type and set no culling (assign the same Sketch material to both visible and hidden lines), then set that material’s Clip Render mode to Outside Geometry (Render tab).
40 • CHAPTER 3 Lines tab settings Outline Culling, Self-Culling (Outline only) The Outline Culling mode controls which objects will combine their outlines if they overlap. Self Outlines are not combined between overlapping objects, but look up “Self Culling” in the index. Children, Hierarchy Children mode (left) and Hierarchy mode (center). In Children mode, the back cone has a separate outline because it isn’t a child of the middle cone.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 41 Scene The overlapping outlines of different objects are combined. Objects Sketch and Toon combines the outline of each object in the Objects box with the outline of any other object it overlaps. Self-Culling Original single object (left), Scene mode with Self-Culling disabled (center) and Self-Culling enabled (right). If the Self-Culling option is enabled, each object will combine its own (Self) overlapping outlines. The same applies if Outline Culling is set to Self.
42 • CHAPTER 3 Fold Direction (Folds only) The Fold Direction setting defines which types of folds are created: all folds (Any), folds in the direction of front to back, or folds in the direction of back to front. The Fold Direction can be useful if you notice many unwanted lines forming creases. Generally the Fold Direction should be set to Any, otherwise it reduces the number of lines created, which can result in gaps.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 43 Sketch and Toon checks each edge for the angle between its polygons. If the angle is within the Min to Max range, an angle line is created for that edge. Lines tab settings Min, Max The Min and Max values define the range within which angle lines are created. Border A border is any edge with only one polygon attached to it, such as the outer edges of a Plane object.
44 • CHAPTER 3 Lines tab settings These settings are available in the Sketch Style tag only. Mode, Tags The Mode defines whether to include or exclude Texture tags for edges around alpha maps or materials. Drag and drop the Texture tags into the Tags box. Combine If the Combine option is enabled, Sketch and Toon will combine the outline for any overlapping alpha maps.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 45 Intersections If an object doesn’t have intersecting polygons, ensure the Self-intersection option is disabled, otherwise Sketch and Toon will waste time checking if the polygons intersect. A cube and cylinder... Without intersections With intersections These are lines where polygons intersect each other. Lines tab settings Objects This mode defines which objects are used to find out if there are intersections.
46 • CHAPTER 3 Triangulation A cube... With Triangulation With Triangulation & Edges This creates a triangulation line for each quadrangle. Motion Motion lines do not work with CINEMA 4D Net. Render the animation to the Picture viewer to see the motion lines. They cannot be rendered in the viewport because the previously rendered frames are needed. These settings create motion lines when an object or polygon selection moves faster than a threshold value.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 47 Lines tab settings Number Of Lines The number of motion lines to create. Mode, Limit, Trail, Bias Velocity mode creates motion lines based on the object’s current velocity — the greater the velocity, the longer the lines. The lines will only appear if the object is travelling at least as fast as the Threshold velocity.
48 • CHAPTER 3 Spline Uses a spline object (the Spline LINK control). The spline is used from the XY plane with the dimensions of the Spline object (the object matrix is not used). Length, Scale X, Scale Y Length is the scale for the velocity. Scale X and Scale Y scale the motion lines. Offset, Relative The Offset is the size of the gap between the object or polygon selection and the motion lines.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 49 Try using Contour lines with a marker-style pen. Lines tab settings Angle mode Angle The Angle setting defines which axis is used. You can choose the X, Y or Z-axis of the object or world coordinate system, or the view’s (i.e. camera’s) X, Y or Z-axis. Min, Max These define the range of angles over which the contour lines will be created. 0° means planar to the axis chosen (see “Angle” above). Steps This is the number of contour lines to create.
50 • CHAPTER 3 Position mode Position In Position mode you can choose the axis along which the contours are created. You can choose the X, Y or Z-axis of the object or world coordinate system, or the view’s (i.e. camera’s) X, Y or Z-axis. Spacing, Variation, Min, Max, Steps, Offset The Spacing mode gives you two ways to control the distance between contour lines: Relative mode and Absolute mode.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 51 UVW U V This is which coordinate to use: U or V. Min, Max The Min and Max values define how far along the object the lines start (Min) and end (Max). Steps This is the number of contour lines to create. Isoparms Culling may not be accurate with isoparms. This is because culling uses the object’s real geometry, and isoparms do not always fit their geometry exactly. Hence the polygons may cull the isoparms slightly.
52 • CHAPTER 3 Splines These are lines for spline objects. You can use any type of spline, including text splines and freeform splines. However, they do not work with parent deformers. Nor do they work inside generator objects such as the Array object, Instance object and Symmetry object. As a special case, they will work inside a HyperNURBS object because the HyperNURBS does not affect the spline itself.
SKETCH AND TOON POST EFFECT • 53 Lines tab settings Mode, Limit, Trail, Velocity Scale From left to right: the flight paths of two particles; Trail mode with Limited disabled to give the entire trail; Trail mode with Limited enabled to give only the most recent part of the trail; Velocity mode to produce a straight line from each particle’s current position — the length of the line depends on the particle’s current velocity. There are two modes for controlling the length of the particle lines.
4 Sketch Material
SKETCH MATERIAL • 57 4 Sketch Material Sketch and Toon’s lines may each have their own material, the Sketch material. As with standard CINEMA 4D materials, the Sketch material has dozens of properties you can set on various tabs in the Material editor or Attribute manager. By combining these properties, you can create almost any look for the lines, from gritty chalk to a thick marker to advanced brush effects.
58 • CHAPTER 4 To add the Sketch material using the automatic setup: Do one of the following: - In the CINEMA 4D render settings, on the Effects tab, click the Post Effect button and choose Sketch and Toon from the menu that appears. A new Sketch material will be created and assigned to the post effect if this option is enabled in the Sketch and Toon preferences. - Select an object in the Object manager, choose File > Sketch Tags > Sketch Style. A Sketch Style tag will be added to the object.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 59 Material editor settings Some of the following settings are available only when the Control Level is set to Intermediate or Advanced. Look up “Control Level” in the index. You’ll find various Sketch material presets in the Sketch folder within CINEMA 4D’s Library folder. Load these using the Material manager’s File > Load Materials command. Main Control Level Look up “Control Levels” in the index.
60 • CHAPTER 4 Strokes 1 Only enable strokes if you really need them. Strokes slow down rendering, use more memory than normal lines, and generally are more prone to animation problems than normal lines. 2 3 4 5 When Sketch and Toon creates lines for an object, the lines are initially made up of unconnected line segments. You can see the line segments for the capsule above clearly in Figure 3, where a gap has been placed between each line segment for illustrative purposes.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 61 Enable This switches on strokes. Close Path Close Path disabled (left) and enabled (right) for a cube’s distorted outline. If Close Path is enabled, Sketch and Toon will try to join the start and end of the stroke.
62 • CHAPTER 4 Match, Threshold, Distance Although the lines generated by Sketch and Toon come from a 3D scene, the lines themselves are only 2D because they are drawn flat onto the screen. This means you can get line segments that overlap on the screen and could be connected that are actually from different depths of the scene. These settings tell Sketch and Toon how to deal with such line segments. You can set Match to the following modes.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 63 Filter Strokes, Mode, Length You can also filter strokes using the Total Length modifier for Thickness in the Sketch material. When strokes are generated, a small number of lines are often “left over” and form very small strokes or no strokes at all. These tend to look like artefacts or “blobs.” Enable the Filter Strokes option to remove these unwanted lines. There are three modes for the strokes filter.
64 • CHAPTER 4 Screen, Object From left to right: Angle set to 0°, 90° and 220°. Sketch and Toon will try to start drawing the strokes from the angle you specify, where 0° means from the center of the screen or object upwards (left sphere above). Random This starts each stroke from an available line segment chosen at random. Mesh In Mesh mode, the stroke starts with the “oldest” available edge (i.e. the one with the lowest index number in the Structure manager).
SKETCH MATERIAL • 65 End, Length, Angle, Variation These settings control when Sketch and Toon ends a stroke. If End is set to Off, Sketch and Toon will create each stroke until it cannot continue anyway (i.e. until it runs out of suitable connections).
66 • CHAPTER 4 About Miter Joints Miter joints take longer to render than Bevel joints and Round joints. However, you can optimize their rendering speed using the Miter Limit value. The optimum setting is the smallest angle of any joint. 126.8˚ 53.2˚ Increase the value for faster rendering but avoid setting it higher than the smallest angle or some or all of the joints will be rendered blunt instead of sharp (left diamond). Pattern A pattern with strokes disabled (left) and enabled (right).
SKETCH MATERIAL • 67 Adjustment The Adjustment tab enables you to make various adjustments to the lines. For example, you can offset the lines from the geometry, rotate them in 3D space and add overshoots. Stroke Original stroke (left), resized with Recalculate enabled (center) and resized with Recalculate disabled (right). For the center and right cube, Start and End were set to 40% and 80% respectively.
68 • CHAPTER 4 Screen Offset From left to right: original stroke, with Start offset, with Start and End offset, with positive X and Y offset. The Start and End settings offset the line based on the direction of the normals at the start and end of the line (center oil tanks). You can also offset the stroke using the X and Y boxes, which define how many pixels to offset the stroke in the computer screen’s X and Y directions (right oil tank). The Variation boxes vary the offset per stroke.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 69 Overshoot Use Overshoot to add extensions to lines. Image © 2003 by Artur Bala. The Overshoot settings add straight extensions to the lines. The Start and End boxes define the length of the overshoots at the start and end of the line, either as a percentage of the line’s length (Relative enabled) or in pixels (Relative disabled). The Variation boxes vary the length of the overshoots per stroke. 0% means no variation, 100% means maximum variation.
70 • CHAPTER 4 Distort 1 2 3 4 5 1 Original stroke; 2 Type set to Cubic and Close disabled on the Strokes tab; 3 Type set to Cubic and Close enabled on the Strokes tab; 4 Type set to Akima; 5 Type set to B-Spline. The Distort settings enable you to add imperfections to the lines such as curves and wobbles. They are also useful for smoothing out strokes created by low poly objects. You can optionally specify a vertex map to control which lines are distorted and by how much.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 71 Mode From left to right: Mode set to Sin, Noise and Spline. The Mode settings add distortions to the lines. Choose from four modes: None (switches distortions off), Sin, Noise or Spline. Sin Sin mode distorts the lines based on a sine wave (left cube above). The Wavelength and Displace settings define the wavelength and amplitude respectively of the sine wave, in pixels. Noise The Noise settings are ideal for adding a natural look to the lines such as wobbles.
72 • CHAPTER 4 Spline For details on using spline graphs, see your CINEMA 4D reference manual. The Spline mode distorts the lines using a spline graph. The Displace value is the strength of the distortion.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 73 Color, Thickness, Opacity These three tabs give you complete control over the color, thickness and opacity of lines. They enable you to create any type of line effect, from simple lines that fade out to complex brush effects. Each tab works in a similar way: - Set the general color, thickness and opacity using the Color, Thickness and Opacity settings at the top of the tabs. - Modify the color, thickness and opacity using the modifier options.
74 • CHAPTER 4 Distance modifier (Original) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Distance modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on distance from the camera. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Range, Min, Max The Range setting defines the range over which the color, thickness or opacity is modified. Object This range is from the part of the object nearest the camera to the part furthest away.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 75 Along Stroke modifier (Original) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Along Stroke modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on position along the stroke. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Range The Range setting is the range over which the color, thickness or opacity is modified. Line This range is from the start to end of each stroke (or line segment if strokes are disabled).
76 • CHAPTER 4 Position modifier 1 (Original) 2 3 Color 4 Thickness Opacity 5 All three The Position modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on the object’s position along the camera’s X, Y or Z-axis. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Axis, Min, Max The Axis is which camera axis to use. The Min and Max values define range over which the parameter is modified.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 77 Total Length modifier (Original) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Total Length modifier modifiers the color, thickness or opacity based on the length of each stroke (or line segment if strokes are disabled). Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Min, Max These define the minimum and maximum line length in pixels over which the parameter is modified. Other settings Look up “Common modifier settings” in the index.
78 • CHAPTER 4 Scale modifier This modifier is based on the scale — not the size — of the objects! (Original) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Scale modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on the object’s scale along an axis. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Axis, Coordinates The Axis setting is which axis to use: X, Y or Z. The Coordinates setting lets you choose whether this axis is an object axis (Local) or world axis (World).
SKETCH MATERIAL • 79 Facing Angle modifier (Original) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Facing Angle modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on the direction in which the lines are facing relative to the camera. Hidden lines are also affected if shown. Blue visible lines and red hidden lines via the Facing Angle modifier. Material editor settings Look up “Common modifier settings” in the index. Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs.
80 • CHAPTER 4 Illumination modifier This modifier works best with spotlights. (Original lighting) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Illumination modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on the illumination falling onto the line. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Mode, Brightness (Color tab) On the Color tab you can use the modifier in two modes: Intensity and Color.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 81 Invert This inverts the modifier’s effect. Other settings Look up “Common modifier settings” in the index.
82 • CHAPTER 4 Join Angle modifier This modifier works with strokes only. (Original) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Join Angle modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on the angle of the joints in the stroke. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Ends The Ends mode controls what happens at the ends of the stroke. No Change The very start and end of the stroke use the parameter’s full value.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 83 Texture modifier This modifier is available on the Color and Opacity tabs only. With the exception of the Coffee modifier, this is the most powerful modifier in Sketch and Toon. It offers considerable control over the rendering of the lines and enables you to create countless brush effects. Material editor settings Color tab. Opacity tab. Load Brush, Save Brush You’ll find various presets in the Sketch folder within CINEMA 4D’s Library folder.
84 • CHAPTER 4 Spacing From left to right: Spacing set to 100%, 200% and 50%. The default Spacing value of 100% places one texture tile directly after another. Use a higher or lower value to move the tiles apart or overlap them. Scatter U, Scatter V, Count Original Scatter U Scatter V Scatter U & V Count = 8 The Scatter values scatter the tiles in the U and V directions. 0% means no variation, 100% means maximum variation. To mix in extra tiles, increase the Count value.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 85 The Size controls the scale of the tiles. The Variation value lets you vary the size of each tile from 0% (no variation) to 100% (maximum variation). Roundness From left to right: Roundness set to 100%, 35% and 200%. The Roundness value squashes (less than 100%) or stretches (greater than 100%) the tiles in the line’s U direction. The Variation value varies the roundness of each tile from 0% (no variation) to 100% (maximum variation). Angle This value rotates each tile.
86 • CHAPTER 4 Aspect Aspect disabled (left) and enabled (right). If the Aspect option is disabled, the texture tile is stretched to fit the whole line. Enable the option to use the texture’s width to height ratio instead. Invert (Opacity tab only) The texture (left) and Invert disabled (center) and enabled (right). Enable the Invert option to invert the texture’s effect. Transparent parts become opaque and vice versa. Tile Tile disabled (left) and enabled (right).
SKETCH MATERIAL • 87 Bend Bend disabled (left) and enabled (right). Enable the Bend option if you want the tiles rotate to follow the direction of the line. Other settings Look up “Common modifier settings” in the index. Making a brush with the Texture modifier Figure 1. - Start a new scene and draw a spline similar to the one above. - In the Material manager, choose File > Sketch Material.
88 • CHAPTER 4 - Render to check the progress of the line (Figure 3, left line). Figure 3. - On the Opacity tab, enable the Texture option and in the Texture settings that appear, click the Texture triangle and choose Load Image. Use the dialog that opens to load the chalk_chunky.jpg texture from CINEMA 4D’s library/pattern location. - Set Spacing to 8% to form a continuous line of tiles (Figure 3, right line). - The stroke looks too uniform.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 89 Screen Angle modifier (Original) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Screen Angle modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on the line’s direction on the computer screen. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Rotate The Rotate setting lets you rotate the modifier’s effect. Other settings Look up “Common modifier settings” in the index.
90 • CHAPTER 4 From Surface modifier This modifier is available on the Color tab only. (Original) Normal lines From Surface enabled The From Surface modifier modifies the color of the line based on the color of the surface. Material editor settings Color tab. Brightness 33% 66% 100% This controls the brightness of the lines as a percentage of the color sampled from the surface. In other words, the higher you set this value, the brighter the lines and the more they blend in with the image.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 91 Vertex Map modifier This modifier is available on the Thickness and Opacity tabs only. (Original map) Thickness Opacity The Vertex Map modifier modifies the thickness or opacity based on a vertex map. To choose which vertex map is used, assign a Sketch Style tag to the object if it doesn’t have one already and set the map on the tag’s Maps tab (drag and drop the tag into the Thickness Map or Opacity Map box).
92 • CHAPTER 4 From Line modifier This modifier is available on the Color and Opacity tabs only. (Original) Color Opacity Color + Opacity The From Line modifier modifies the color or opacity based on distance from the line’s edge. Material editor settings Look up “Common modifier settings” in the index. Color tab. Opacity tab.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 93 Texture Map modifier The object must have a Texture tag with a material assigned for this modifier to have an effect. (The texture) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Texture Map modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on a texture map. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs Texture This is the texture used to modify the lines. Projection For details on projection types, see your CINEMA 4D reference manual.
94 • CHAPTER 4 Coffee modifier For details on the COFFEE programming language, visit www.plugincafe.com. When using the Coffee modifier on the Thickness tab, the returned value can scale the thickness down but not up. The main parameter thickness is the maximum; all returned values are clipped to the 0 to 1 range. The Coffee modifier enables you to create virtually any medium or style, from a simple pencil to a complex brush, using the powerful COFFEE programming language.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 95 Thickness [Real] The line’s thickness as set on the Thickness tab. StrokeLength [Real] The total length of the stroke being rendered. ScnPnt [Vector] The render point in screen space (with Z). LineOff [Real] The offset (0 to 1) along the line segment being rendered. wPnt [Vector] The world coordinates for the point being rendered. Time [Real] Current document time in seconds. Frame [Real] Current frame. FPS [Long] Frames per second.
96 • CHAPTER 4 LinePosA [Real] The line segment’s position along the stroke in pixels (A means LineStart, B LineEnd). LinePosB [Real] The position along the stroke in screen space for the line segment being rendered. PntA [Long] The index number of the object point or spline point that created the start of the line segment (or -1 if not available). PntB [Long] The point index that created the LineEnd (or -1).
SKETCH MATERIAL • 97 RayDirn [Vector] Direction of the ray (the ray is from CINEMA 4D). SurfPnt [Vector] The world coordinates for the point hit (if one was hit). RendLeft [Real] The render image left pixel. RendTop [Real] Render top pixel (left, top usually 0, but not always, e.g render region). RendRight [Real] Right pixel (width = right-left+1). RendBottom [Real] Bottom pixel (height = bottom - top +1). ObjLeft [Real] Object’s left screen bounds pixel. This is for the object that the line came from.
98 • CHAPTER 4 Screen Texture modifier (The texture) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Screen Texture modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on a texture map placed over the entire rendered image (the screen). If the object covers only part of the screen, it will receive only part of the texture. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Texture Here you can choose the screen texture.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 99 Noise modifier (Original) Color Thickness Opacity All three The Noise modifier modifies the color, thickness or opacity based on a noise pattern. Material editor settings Color tab. Thickness and Opacity tabs. Type Choose from 30 types of noise such as Blistered Turbulence, Dents and Wavy Turbulence. These are the same types that are available for CINEMA 4D’s Noise shader — see your CINEMA 4D reference manual for details.
100 • CHAPTER 4 Line, Line 1D, Line 2D Strokes disabled (left) and enabled (right). The position along the line is used. Avoid using this type if strokes are disabled, otherwise poor results are likely (see left cylinder above). Screen The noise is calculated in the space of the screen. The noise will change is the object’s position on the screen changes. Object The noise is calculated in object space and remains the same regardless of object and camera moves.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 101 Detail Used for antialiasing. In general, leave the value set to the default of 100% but if the line texture flickers when you animate, try increasing the value. Or if you are rendering a high-res still and you want crisp detail, set the value lower. Low Clip, High Clip The Low Clip value controls the bottom clipping value of the noise; all values below Low Clip will be clipped to zero.
102 • CHAPTER 4 Common modifier settings These settings are present for most or all modifiers. For example, each modifier has a Strength setting. Strength This is the strength of the modifier’s effect, from 0% (no effect) to 100% (full effect). Gradient, Blend (Color tab only) For details on the blend modes, look up “blend modes” in the index. For details on using gradients, see your CINEMA 4D reference manual.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 103 Mode, Invert, Spline Graph (Thickness and Opacity tabs only) For details on using spline graphs, see your CINEMA 4D reference manual. For some modifiers, such as Facing Angle, there is no choice of mode and a spline graph is always used. Linear mode for the Distance modifier on the Thickness tab, with Invert enabled (left) and disabled (right). Spline mode for the Distance modifier on the Thickness tab.
104 • CHAPTER 4 Render Here you’ll find the Sketch material’s rendering controls, such as the options for render culling. Pixel Units In the Sketch material there are numerous settings which take pixels as their units. The Pixel Units value defines what is meant by a pixel. Absolute Pixels This is real pixels, i.e. 1 unit refers to 1 pixel in the image. Relative Pixels These values are all scaled relative to the object’s bounds.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 105 Clip Strokes To Screen = screen’s edge (Original) Disabled Enabled This controls how the lines are clipped if part of the object is off-screen. If the option is disabled, the properties are chopped off at the screen’s edge. If the option is enabled, the properties are redrawn to fit the on-screen part of the stroke. Self-Blend, Blend For details on the blend modes, look up “blend modes” in the index.
106 • CHAPTER 4 Example 1 - Solving opacity overlaps To avoid opacity overlaps, set Self-Blend to Average. Example 2 - Solving overlapping patterns Two line types have been enabled for this object: Crease and Outline. Both have a different pattern. Initially you can’t see much of a pattern around the outline (left object) because the two lines overlap and so any gaps in one are filled by the pattern from the other line. To remedy, first set Self Blend to Overwrite (center object).
SKETCH MATERIAL • 107 The drawing order Suppose you’ve drawn two outlines for the same object, a thin red outline and a thick black one. How does Sketch and Toon know which line you want on top of the other? Sketch and Toon follows a drawing order for the lines: - If the lines are at different depths from the camera, the one closest to the camera is drawn on top.
108 • CHAPTER 4 Render Culling (Show, Line Cull, Mode, Self, Objects) These settings are for advanced use only. They are designed for supporting alpha maps during rendering to allow lines to show through alphas. Sketch and Toon has two stages of culling: hidden culling and render culling. Hidden culling takes place while the lines are being generated and its purpose is to separate the lines into visible lines and hidden lines.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 109 Variations Seed, Static From left to right: original cube; cube with 30% HSV color variation set on the Adjustment tab; the same settings as the center cube except with a different Variations Seed value. The Sketch material has many variation parameters. For example, the H, S and V values on the Adjustment tab enable you to randomize the color of each line.
110 • CHAPTER 4 Clone Image ©2003 by Artur Bala. Cloning is the key to eye-pleasing sketch effects such as for the watch above where multiple faint lines are offset from the geometry. Clone Strokes Enable the Clone Strokes option to switch on cloning. Repeat From left to right: Repeat set to 1, 3, and 5. This is the number of clones per line. Keep in mind that the more clones you use, the longer it takes Sketch and Toon to render the lines.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 111 Start, End, Variation (Original) Start = 20% End = 20% Start & End = 20% With variation Use the Start and End values to make the clones shorter than the original lines. They define where the clone should start and end as a percentage of the original line’s length. The Variation values let you vary the start and end for each clone. Variations Line Offset, Distribution From left to right: Offset set to 0, 25, and 50.
112 • CHAPTER 4 Thickness, Opacity, Scale (Original) Scale (Thick.) = 50% Scale (Opac.) = 50% Both Scales = 50% With Variation The Scale settings define the global thickness and opacity of the clones as a percentage of the original line’s thickness and opacity. You can vary the thickness and opacity of each clone using the Thickness and Opacity boxes. 0% means no variation, 100% means maximum variation.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 113 Offset, Overshoot, Rotate These values modify the original stroke’s offset, overshoot and rotation values (defined on the Adjustment tab) for each clone. Keep in mind that if the original stroke has no adjustment properties, then changing these variation values will have no effect (100% variation of nothing results in nothing). 0% means no variation, 100% means maximum variation.
114 • CHAPTER 4 Transform Original line (left) and ten clones with Incremental enabled and Rotate X set to 33° (right). These settings let you move, scale and rotate the clones. The Move values define the number of pixels to move the lines in the computer screen’s X and Y directions. The Pivot setting defines the center of rotation: the start, end or center of the original line (Start, End or Center) or the center of the object (Object). The Variation boxes let you vary the transformation per stroke.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 115 Animate Imagine you’re looking over an artist’s shoulder while he or she sketches. Soon the sketch starts to take shape. This is the type of pleasing effect you can create using the parameters on the Animate tab. In general, use these settings with static scenes only — neither the camera nor the objects in the scene should move during the animation. If they do move, there’s no telling what might happen. Suppose someone were to wobble your sketch pad while you were drawing...
116 • CHAPTER 4 Opacity The Opacity mode fades in the lines gradually. Thickness The lines start off thin and thicken out over time to reach their full thickness. Build Unlike Opacity mode, which fades in lines gradually, Build mode makes the lines appear suddenly. One frame the line isn’t there, the next it’s completely drawn. Stroke Order, Method Choose whether Sketch and Toon should draw the strokes all at the same time (All Strokes) or one after the other (Single Strokes).
SKETCH MATERIAL • 117 Completion Unlike the other modes, the Complete mode requires you to record keys. The Complete value defines how complete the drawing is. For example, to record a simple animation from frames 0 to 90, record a key at frame 0 with Complete set to 0%, and record another key at frame 90 with Complete set to 100%. Total Time In this mode, you can specify when the drawing should start (Start) and how long it should take to complete (Time).
118 • CHAPTER 4 Assignment Here you can quickly assign a Sketch material to specific objects. Drag and drop the objects into the Assignments box. A Sketch Style tag will be created automatically for each of these objects with the material assigned. To remove the material assignment from an object, select the object’s name in the box and press the Delete or Backspace key. The Sketch Style tag will be deleted automatically and the object’s name will be cleared from the box.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 119 Blend modes Sketch and Toon boasts a healthy selection of blend modes. There are various places where you can choose a blend mode, such as on the Sketch material’s Render tab where you can control how lines should be blended together. Average The result is the average of the background pixel and the blend pixel. Normal The background pixel is completely covered by the blend pixel if the strength of blending is 100%. Multiply This mode multiples the background pixel by the blend pixel.
120 • CHAPTER 4 Hard Light This mode works like Multiply mode and Screen mode at the same time. 50% brightness is neutral (nothing happens). Lighter values act like Screen, darker values act like Multiply. Soft Light This is a combination of the Burn and Dodge modes. The Dodge mode is used for blend pixels greater than 50% brightness, the Burn mode is used for values below 50%. Dodge, Burn The brightness value of the blend pixel is used to brighten (Dodge) or darken (Burn) the background pixel.
SKETCH MATERIAL • 121 Red, Green, Blue The result is the red, green or blue color channel from the blend pixel and the two other color channels from the background pixel. For example, Green mode gives you the green color channel from the blend pixel and the red and blue color channels from the background pixel. Overwrite This is mostly useful for technical illustrations using patterns.
5 Sketch Shaders
SKETCH SHADERS • 125 5 Sketch Shaders 1 2 3 4 1 Art shader; 2 Cel shader; 3 Hatch shader; 4 Spots shader. Images © 2003 by Artur Bala (1 & 3), Michael Welter (2), and Toshihide Miyata (4). You’ll find various shader presets in the Sketch folder within CINEMA 4D’s Library folder. Load these using the Material manager’s File > Load Materials command. Sketch and Toon includes four powerful channel shaders to color your scenes: Art, Cel, Hatch and Spots.
126 • CHAPTER 5 The Hatch shader creates custom hatch shading on your 3D objects based on any texture you choose. Three levels of shading and coloring combine to create colorful and artistic renders with a stunning hand-drawn look to them. With the Spots shader, the spots (or any other image you desire to use) shrink depending on surface brightness to mimic the halftone appearance of low resolution print images. Creating a Sketch shader The Sketch shaders are channel shaders.
SKETCH SHADERS • 127 To switch off post effect shading: - On the Render Settings > Effects > Sketch and Toon > Shading tab, set Object to Off. - If you want to switch off the post effect’s background color (a white background by default), set Background to Off. Using other shaders Sketch and Toon allows you to shade the object using any standard shader, not just the Sketch shaders. As with the Sketch shaders, switch off the post effect shading options unless you want them to affect the rendering.
128 • CHAPTER 5 Art Shader The Art shader is possibly the most fun you’ll ever have coloring your illustrations. Instead of using lights and complex texture mapping for your scene, you provide the shader with a picture of a shaded sphere textured and “lit” the way you want the objects in the scene to be textured and “lit”. Sketch and Toon will then apply this style to the scene’s objects. Creating the shaded sphere The first step when using the Art shader is to create the shaded sphere.
SKETCH SHADERS • 129 Material editor / Attribute manager settings The Art shader works best with curved surfaces because the effect is controlled by the direction of the surface normals. Texture This is the texture to use. It should be a picture of a shaded sphere with the texturing and lighting drawn onto it that you want applied to the objects in the scene.
130 • CHAPTER 5 Cel Shader Image © 2003 by Michael Welter. The Cel shader is for cartoon-style shading, such as Manga-style or Anime-style. Material editor / Attribute manager settings Diffuse, Backfacing The Diffuse gradient controls the diffuse color of the objects, from areas in total darkness (left end of gradient) to areas which are fully lit (right end of gradient).
SKETCH SHADERS • 131 The Diffuse gradient controls the diffuse color of objects. Backfacing Backfacing disabled Backfacing enabled Direction of light Two oil drums, both lit from the left. Enable Backfacing if you want the gradient to span frontfaces and backfaces, not just frontfaces. Usually the Diffuse gradient controls the color of all frontfaces (i.e. faces which point towards the light), but backfaces simply take the “darkest” color (i.e. the color at the left edge of the gradient).
132 • CHAPTER 5 Usually the color of the objects is controlled by the Diffuse gradient. To color the objects using the color of the lights instead, enable the Use Light Color option. The Diffuse gradient then controls the brightness values for the objects. Specular If you want the lights to generate specular highlights, enable this option.
SKETCH SHADERS • 133 Hue mode, Saturation mode, Value mode These three modes enable you to adjust the hue, saturation or value (H, S, V) based on the shadow. They take either the hue, saturation or value of the resulting Cel shader color and multiply it by the shadow. The Invert option swaps the multiply so the shadow either moves the H, S or V down or up. Color If Shadows is set to Color, the Shadow gradient influences the color of shadows.
134 • CHAPTER 5 Hatch Shader Image © 2003 by Artur Bala. The Hatch shader is Sketch and Toon’s most advanced shader. It places a picture of a stroke (or any other picture you want it to use) multiple times onto the object to create a hatched lines effect. The Hatch shader’s settings give you full control over how these strokes are placed, making it possible for you to create any type of hatched lines effect.
SKETCH SHADERS • 135 Texture In general, use an image of a stroke or strokes as the texture. This is the texture to use as the stroke. You can use a grayscale or a color image (color information in the texture is ignored; the color of the hatches is defined on the shader’s Color tab). The texture on a plane with full density of 100%, no overlap (Spacing 0%) and no Scatter or other variations. To speed up rendering, consider using a block of strokes instead of a single stroke as the texture.
136 • CHAPTER 5 Rotational UV Sometimes you may notice seams even with Tile UV enabled. This is when the Rotational UV option can help. It rotates the hatch UV map around four times to ensure the strokes overlap all sides. Scale Scale = 100% Scale = 50% This controls the scale of the stroke texture. A smaller texture means more strokes over the UVs, which in turn means longer render times.
SKETCH SHADERS • 137 Density Density = 100% Density = 10% This is the overall stroke density, i.e the number of strokes generated. Density U, Density V Density U & V = 100% Density U = 50% Density V = 50% These define the stroke density in the U and V directions. Scatter U, Scatter V No Scatter Scatter U = 20% Scatter the strokes in the U and V directions randomly.
138 • CHAPTER 5 Spacing U, Spacing V, Variation No Spacing Spacing U = 50% Spacing U = 50%, Var. = 100% Space the stokes. Values above 100% create gaps between the tiles, values less than 100% overlap them. Scale U, Scale V, Variation Scale U = 100% Scale U = 200% Scale U = 200%, Var. = 50% Scale the strokes in the U or V direction. Rotate Rotate = 0% Rotate = 10% Rotates each stroke by a random amount up to the set angle value.
SKETCH SHADERS • 139 Crosses, Cross Rotation Crosses disabled (left) and enabled with Cross Rotation set to 45˚ (right) . If Crosses is enabled, a second pass of strokes will be rendered over the first strokes and rotated as a whole by the Cross Rotation value. This is used to create cross-hatching. Color Dark Stroke Color, Light Stroke Color Here you can choose the color of the strokes. The Hatch shader can draw two types of stroke: dark strokes and light strokes.
140 • CHAPTER 5 Illumination The Illumination tab controls how the illumination affects the rendering of the strokes. High Threshold value Low Threshold value With higher Shade Levels value Show Dark Strokes, Show Light Strokes Enable these options to switch on dark stokes and light strokes. Shade Levels In general, the higher you set this value, the more strokes you get in dark areas and the less faded the hatching looks.
SKETCH SHADERS • 141 Diffuse If Lights is enabled, the Diffuse gradient controls the brightness value of the hatches, from areas in total darkness (left end of gradient) to areas which are fully lit (right end of gradient). Use Bump To apply a bump map to the shader, enable this option and define the bump mapping on the material’s Bump tab as you would for a normal material. Camera Enable the Camera option to use the camera as a light source.
142 • CHAPTER 5 Shadow Enable the Shadows option to take shadows into account. The Shadow gradient affects the brightness of shadows, from areas of full shadow (left end of gradient) to areas of no shadow (right end of gradient). Modifies Contrast This makes the Hatch shader work in a similar way to the Spots shader. The strokes will have their contrast adjusted to give the impression of larger or smaller strokes depending on the brightness of the illumination.
SKETCH SHADERS • 143 Spots Shader Image © 2003 by Christian Rambow. This shader helps you to mimic the halftone appearance of low resolution print images. It generates larger or smaller spots depending on the brightness of the surface illumination.
144 • CHAPTER 5 Material editor / Attribute manager settings Shape, Texture The Shape setting lets you choose which pattern is repeated over the surface. You can choose from predefined shapes, such as Circle, Square and Diamond, or you can load a custom texture as the shape (set Shape to Texture and use the Texture triangle button to load the image). Two custom textures (left of each arrow) and the result of using them as spot textures (right of each arrow).
SKETCH SHADERS • 145 Scale, Scale U, Scale V The Scale controls the global scale of the spots, Scale U and Scale V are the scale of the spots in the U and V directions. Rotate This rotates the placement of the spots on the UVs. Shadow Enable the Shadows option to take shadows into account.
146 • CHAPTER 5 By default, all lights in the scene will be used as light sources when Lights is enabled. To include or exclude specific lights, set Use Lights to Include or Exclude and drag and drop the lights into the Lights box. Usually the color of the objects is controlled by the Diffuse gradient. To color the objects using the color of the lights instead, enable the Use Light Color option. The Diffuse gradient then controls the brightness values for the objects.
6 Sketch Style Tag
SKETCH STYLE TAG • 149 6 Sketch Style Tag The Sketch Style tag is where you can set an individual style for an object to override the post effect’s style. The other main use for the tag is to specify a selection. For example, here you can restrict the edge line type to an edge selection. To assign a Sketch Style tag to the selected object: In the Object manager, choose File > Sketch Tags > Sketch Style.
150 • CHAPTER 6 Mix The Mix mode controls how the tag is used in combination with other Sketch Style tags and the Sketch and Toon post effect. Replace All The tag replaces the lines and shading of any parent tags and the Sketch and Toon post effect. In other words, parent tags and the settings in the Sketch and Toon post effect are ignored. Replace Lines The tag replaces the lines but not the shading of parent tags (provided their Include Children option is enabled) and the Sketch and Toon post effect.
SKETCH STYLE TAG • 151 Lines These settings control which line types and Sketch materials are used by the tag. They work in the same way as the settings of the same name in the Sketch and Toon post effect (see Chapter 3, “Sketch and Toon Post Effect”). Shading This tab defines the post effect shading for the object. Enable Switches on the tag’s post effect shading.
152 • CHAPTER 6 Selections The Selections tab is where you specify any selections used by the tag or post effect. For example, here you can specify which UVW tags should be used for UVW lines. You’ll find more details on how to use the various selections in Chapter 3, “Sketch and Toon Post Effect.” Maps Sketch and Toon enables you to modify the thickness, opacity and distortion of lines based on vertex maps. Drag and drop the desired vertex maps into the appropriate boxes.
7 Sketch Render Tag
SKETCH RENDER TAG • 155 7 Sketch Render Tag The Sketch Render tag has two main uses. First, you can use it to switch off post effect lines or post effect shading or both for the object. This is useful for mixing CINEMA 4D rendered objects with “sketched” objects. Second, the tag has optional extra controls for culling. Use the Sketch Render tag to mix sketched and non-sketched objects. Image © 2003 by Toshio Fuji.
156 • CHAPTER 7 Attribute manager settings Name Here you can change the tag’s name. Include Children Enable the Include Children option if you want the tag to affect child objects also. Allow Lines, Allow Shading Disable these options to switch off post effect lines and post effect shading for the object. Render Culling, Style Tags For details on how Sketch and Toon decides which lines are hidden and which are visible, look up “culling, hidden lines” in the index.
SKETCH RENDER TAG • 157 Normal culling (left) and forced culling for the cube. Note how the sphere’s outline is culled where it overlaps the cube, but remains where it overlaps the sphere.
8 Illustrator Export
ILLUSTRATOR EXPORT • 161 8 Illustrator Export Sketch and Toon includes a vector exporter to the Adobe Illustrator format (version 3). Please keep in mind this is designed only for exporting the basic lines and strokes and simple texturing. To export the scene to Adobe Illustrator: - Set the Illustrator Export options as desired (see “Illustrator Export preferences”). - Choose File > Export > Illustrator.
162 • CHAPTER 8 Subdivide Polygons, Divisions This option is useful for improving the “textured” look of the surfaces. It works by subdividing the polygons on export. The Divisions value defines the number of subdivisions. Z Order The ordering for the polygons/objects for export. Shading Defines how the polygons are exported. Facetted mode will sample the center texture color for each polygon.
9 Sketch and Toon Preferences
SKETCH AND TOON PREFERENCES • 165 9 Sketch and Toon Preferences For details on the Illustrator Export preferences, see Chapter 8, “Illustrator Export.” The preferences enable you to streamline your workflow in Sketch and Toon. For example, if you tend to switch on Strokes each time you create a Sketch material, save time by enabling Strokes in the preferences. Stokes will then be enabled by default. In the preferences you’ll also find the default settings for the Sketch material’s preview.
166 • CHAPTER 9 Material Default Background Color, Material Default Object Color These settings control the default background and object color of the Sketch material’s preview. Set them to Default to use CINEMA 4D’s standard settings for material previews. (Note that the object color will be quantized, i.e. you’ll see bands of color appear for the object’s shading instead of a smooth transition).
10 Frequently Asked Questions
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS • 169 10 Frequently Asked Questions In these pages, you’ll find answers to commonly asked questions about Sketch and Toon. Which viewport projection modes are supported by Sketch and Toon? Not all projections are supported. The following are rejected by Sketch and Toon: Military, Frog, Bird, Gentleman. How can I add lines to rounded edges on a HyperNURBS object? Select the edges on the low-res mesh where you want lines to be added.
170 • CHAPTER 10 I need help with my cartoon characters and have two questions for you: One, how can I smooth out lines? Two, which line types should I be using? Here’s a tip for getting some extra lines in your sketch effects using the Angle modifier, and smoothing out the strokes to prevent that STRAIGHT sketch line style, especially on low poly objects. Check out these comparison images with and without HyperNURBS.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS • 171 The left moose in both figures was created with Fold lines only. This is the most commonly used line type for a hard-drawn style. It produces an okay effect, but for a rough sketch the lines are a little too accurate in their placement; an artist may have some other quick strokes to represent volume and structure for instance. This is where the Angle line type comes in handy.
172 • CHAPTER 10 How can I get rid of unwanted lines? Select the edges or polygons for the problem area and exclude them from line generation using the Sketch Style tag’s Lines box (Maps tab) and Exclude mode. How can I get rid of opacity overlaps? On the Sketch material’s Render tab, set Self-Blend to Average. Try the Overwrite mode also. (Which mode is best usually depends on the texturing of the line).
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS • 173 I have two patterns which overlap in places, how do I get rid of the overlaps? On the Sketch material’s Render tab, set Self-Blend to Overwrite. If one of the patterns disappears completely (center object), it has been overwritten by Sketch and Toon’s drawing order — to resolve, set the “missing” material’s Priority value (Sketch material, Main tab) higher. I’m having problems with a perfect sphere. Convert the sphere to polygons.
Index
INDEX • 177 Symbols 2D lines 37 2D Transform 67 3D lines 37 3D Transform 68 A Add Preset 58 All Sketched Objects 35 Along Stroke modifier 74 angle 42 animation of lines 114 antialiasing and CINEMA 4D 29 for lines 29 tips 169 Art shader introduction 126 B Backfacing 128 Background Blend 29 Base Resolution 30 Blend 104 blend modes 118 border 43 brushes creating 82 C Camera Near 31 caps 64 Cel shader introduction 128 CINEMA 4D Net Motion limitation 46, 63 Particles limitation 52 Clip Render 106 Clip Stroke
178 • INDEX Join Angle 81, 82 Noise modifier 98 Position modifier 75 Scale modifier 77 Screen Angle modifier 88 Screen Texture modifier 97 Texture Map modifier 92 Total Length modifier 76 Vertex Map modifier 90 Motion 46 Multi-Pass tab 31 multi-pass and Post Render 29 multi-pass rendering 32 Multiple use iii N Network operation iii Noise 70 Noise modifier 98 NPR 5 O opacity 72 opacity overlaps 105 outline 39 Outline Culling 40 overlapping patterns 105 overlaps 39 Overshoot 68, 112 P Pattern 65 patterns
