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

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  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    wsterdan said:
    A couple more quick tests (time is at a premium these days).

    The only problem I encountered was with outlines around the special effects; I rendered once with effects and once without, then merged just the effect. Ideally I'd be able to turn off the outline for just the cube and plane when rendering.

    Thanks again for such a great plug-in.

    -- Walt Sterdan

    Did you try turning off Outline Depth for the special effect surfaces? No guarantees, as it's an undocumented feature, but it might be worth a try. :)

  • wsterdanwsterdan Posts: 2,339
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    wsterdan said:
    A couple more quick tests (time is at a premium these days).

    The only problem I encountered was with outlines around the special effects; I rendered once with effects and once without, then merged just the effect. Ideally I'd be able to turn off the outline for just the cube and plane when rendering.

    Thanks again for such a great plug-in.

    -- Walt Sterdan

    Did you try turning off Outline Depth for the special effect surfaces? No guarantees, as it's an undocumented feature, but it might be worth a try. :)
    I'll give it a shot tonight... Would I select the item instead of the camera, then apply?

    -- Walt Sterdan

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,148
    edited December 1969

    eldil said:
    No Anime Shaders here either, so I tried a simple diffuse color on each surface.

    I used Outline ID and Depth on the figure (Didn't realize they would work together until someone mentioned it in this thread). I love how it brings some of the wrinkle details.

    Outline ID on the background, then layered them in Photoshop....

    I like this the best so far. Nice line width and gradated colors. Can this be achieved without going into Photoshop?

  • Testing6790Testing6790 Posts: 1,091
    edited December 1969

    eldil said:
    No Anime Shaders here either, so I tried a simple diffuse color on each surface.

    I used Outline ID and Depth on the figure (Didn't realize they would work together until someone mentioned it in this thread). I love how it brings some of the wrinkle details.

    Outline ID on the background, then layered them in Photoshop....

    LOVING the cell-shaded look. Did you really just use solid diffuse colors on the objects? What about the skin? *prepares notepad and waits eagerly*

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    RAMWolff said:
    eldil said:
    No Anime Shaders here either, so I tried a simple diffuse color on each surface.

    I used Outline ID and Depth on the figure (Didn't realize they would work together until someone mentioned it in this thread). I love how it brings some of the wrinkle details.

    Outline ID on the background, then layered them in Photoshop....

    I like this the best so far. Nice line width and gradated colors. Can this be achieved without going into Photoshop?

    This is the effect you usually get if you just apply plain colors to diffuse and use very simple lighting. It's what I usually do for most of my renders, actually. I'll add a section to the documentation in progress about setting diffuse colors in the Surfaces pane (Wolfie, I think you already know how to do this).

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    wsterdan said:
    zigraphix said:
    wsterdan said:
    A couple more quick tests (time is at a premium these days).

    The only problem I encountered was with outlines around the special effects; I rendered once with effects and once without, then merged just the effect. Ideally I'd be able to turn off the outline for just the cube and plane when rendering.

    Thanks again for such a great plug-in.

    -- Walt Sterdan

    Did you try turning off Outline Depth for the special effect surfaces? No guarantees, as it's an undocumented feature, but it might be worth a try. :)


    I'll give it a shot tonight... Would I select the item instead of the camera, then apply?

    -- Walt Sterdan
    Go into the Surfaces tab, select the surface of the effect object, scroll to the bottom of the surfaces tab, and you should see "Outline Depth" with an off/on switch. Turn it off just for that surface.

  • eldileldil Posts: 14
    edited December 1969

    RAMWolff said:
    eldil said:
    No Anime Shaders here either, so I tried a simple diffuse color on each surface.

    I used Outline ID and Depth on the figure (Didn't realize they would work together until someone mentioned it in this thread). I love how it brings some of the wrinkle details.

    Outline ID on the background, then layered them in Photoshop....

    I like this the best so far. Nice line width and gradated colors. Can this be achieved without going into Photoshop?

    You can use Outline ID and Depth together without Photoshop. But when I applies both to the whole scene, it blacked out a lot of the background.

    Outline ID looks good by itself, but I wanted to use Depth to pull out some details, like her chin, and some of the fabric wrinkles.

    I decided to render the background and foreground separately, then composite them.

    I used the preset line thickness 3. My original render was 1987x3075. I mention this because when I rendered at lower resolutions (like my test renders at 500x774) the lines were super thick.

    The first is the image I already posted.
    The Second is and earlier draft that had Outline ID and Depth turned on for the entire scene...
    The third is the foreground figure with Outline ID only... no Depth...

    Screeching_Halt_FGs.png
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    Screeching_Halt_1s.png
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    Screeching_Halt_s.png
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  • eldileldil Posts: 14
    edited March 2014

    eldil said:
    No Anime Shaders here either, so I tried a simple diffuse color on each surface.

    I used Outline ID and Depth on the figure (Didn't realize they would work together until someone mentioned it in this thread). I love how it brings some of the wrinkle details.

    Outline ID on the background, then layered them in Photoshop....

    LOVING the cell-shaded look. Did you really just use solid diffuse colors on the objects? What about the skin? *prepares notepad and waits eagerly*

    Here's the Method I used... I'm a relative Noob, so I'm sure somebody else has a better way...

    I started by selecting every surface in the scene.

    Next I applied the "! Reset Surface" shader that came with Genesis Supersuit. (I would suggest leaving the eyelashes out of this)

    Then I applied the "!SimpleSurface Base" (I think that one comes with Daz...

    At this point, Everything (Including Genesis) is a blank slate with a very simple surface.

    Do all of this before running the script that adds Outline IDs.

    I then went through the surfaces one by one and colored them like a coloring book. It was a little bit tedious at times... but also kinda fun to watch it take shape.

    I also edited the Outline IDs by hand.

    I also left the sky dome, one sign and the graffiti with their original surfaces. I thought the graffiti added a little flavor, and I didn't think I could improve on the sky dome for this render.

    * Edit*
    Forgot to mention: One "!UberEnvironment3 Base" light at her feet (Occlusion samples: 128 - Learned the hard way...)
    And one Distant light.

    Shading Blend: manually set to 1.0 in parameters
    Shading Levels - 10 (also set manually)
    Shading rate .050

    Post edited by eldil on
  • Testing6790Testing6790 Posts: 1,091
    edited December 1969

    eldil said:
    eldil said:
    No Anime Shaders here either, so I tried a simple diffuse color on each surface.

    I used Outline ID and Depth on the figure (Didn't realize they would work together until someone mentioned it in this thread). I love how it brings some of the wrinkle details.

    Outline ID on the background, then layered them in Photoshop....

    LOVING the cell-shaded look. Did you really just use solid diffuse colors on the objects? What about the skin? *prepares notepad and waits eagerly*

    Here's the Method I used... I'm a relative Noob, so I'm sure somebody else has a better way...

    I started by selecting every surface in the scene.

    Next I applied the "! Reset Surface" shader that came with Genesis Supersuit. (I would suggest leaving the eyelashes out of this)

    Then I applied the "!SimpleSurface Base" (I think that one comes with Daz...

    At this point, Everything (Including Genesis) is a blank slate with a very simple surface.

    Do all of this before running the script that adds Outline IDs.

    I then went through the surfaces one by one and colored them like a coloring book. It was a little bit tedious at times... but also kinda fun to watch it take shape.

    I also edited the Outline IDs by hand.

    I also left the sky dome, one sign and the graffiti with their original surfaces. I thought the graffiti added a little flavor, and I didn't think I could improve on the sky dome for this render.

    * Edit*
    Forgot to mention: One "!UberEnvironment3 Base" light at her feet (Occlusion samples: 128 - Learned the hard way...)
    And one Distant light.

    Shading Blend - 50
    Shading Levels - 5
    Shading rate .050

    I'm going to have to try this but with skin textures. You can control-click a shader when you have a surface selected and change "replace" to "ignore" which will apply the shader to the texture. Most of the time it's a bad idea, sometimes it works out really well. Hopefully I'll remember to try this / post results tonight!

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    eldil said:
    RAMWolff said:
    eldil said:
    No Anime Shaders here either, so I tried a simple diffuse color on each surface.

    I used Outline ID and Depth on the figure (Didn't realize they would work together until someone mentioned it in this thread). I love how it brings some of the wrinkle details.

    Outline ID on the background, then layered them in Photoshop....

    I like this the best so far. Nice line width and gradated colors. Can this be achieved without going into Photoshop?

    You can use Outline ID and Depth together without Photoshop. But when I applies both to the whole scene, it blacked out a lot of the background.

    Outline ID looks good by itself, but I wanted to use Depth to pull out some details, like her chin, and some of the fabric wrinkles.

    I decided to render the background and foreground separately, then composite them.

    I used the preset line thickness 3. My original render was 1987x3075. I mention this because when I rendered at lower resolutions (like my test renders at 500x774) the lines were super thick.

    The first is the image I already posted.
    The Second is and earlier draft that had Outline ID and Depth turned on for the entire scene...
    The third is the foreground figure with Outline ID only... no Depth...

    The Normals outline method should pick up most of the figure details, but not black out the background.

  • eldileldil Posts: 14
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    eldil said:
    RAMWolff said:
    eldil said:
    No Anime Shaders here either, so I tried a simple diffuse color on each surface.

    I used Outline ID and Depth on the figure (Didn't realize they would work together until someone mentioned it in this thread). I love how it brings some of the wrinkle details.

    Outline ID on the background, then layered them in Photoshop....

    I like this the best so far. Nice line width and gradated colors. Can this be achieved without going into Photoshop?

    You can use Outline ID and Depth together without Photoshop. But when I applies both to the whole scene, it blacked out a lot of the background.

    Outline ID looks good by itself, but I wanted to use Depth to pull out some details, like her chin, and some of the fabric wrinkles.

    I decided to render the background and foreground separately, then composite them.

    I used the preset line thickness 3. My original render was 1987x3075. I mention this because when I rendered at lower resolutions (like my test renders at 500x774) the lines were super thick.

    The first is the image I already posted.
    The Second is and earlier draft that had Outline ID and Depth turned on for the entire scene...
    The third is the foreground figure with Outline ID only... no Depth...

    The Normals outline method should pick up most of the figure details, but not black out the background.

    That thought occurred to me, but by the time it did, I was almost finished with the render, and it was really late, and I decided that I was better to have less detail in the background.

    I'll have to try it on the whole scene, but that brings me to a question:
    Whenever I reload a saved scene that I've used ToonyCam in, it asks me to locate some files:

    Outline_Frm0_OutlineID.png
    Outline_Frm0_Normal.png
    Outline_Frm0_Depth.png

    I can't find them anywhere, so I skip them. Once the scene is reloaded, The two stage render is disabled and all my renders are black. Unless I re-run the "!render Outlines On" script. Which resets all my ToonyCam settings to default.

    I know I can save all my material presets, and re-apply. I was just wondering if I was missing something...

    Also, is there a way to apply the Outline parameter Independent of the Main Script? There have been a couple times that I wanted to add something new to the scene, but didn't want the hassle of re-setting everything else in order to enable the outlines.

    Thanks again, zigraphix, This camera is awesome...

  • RAMWolffRAMWolff Posts: 10,148
    edited December 1969

    IS there a way to make a preset for this particular setting?

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    eldil said:

    I'll have to try it on the whole scene, but that brings me to a question:
    Whenever I reload a saved scene that I've used ToonyCam in, it asks me to locate some files:

    Outline_Frm0_OutlineID.png
    Outline_Frm0_Normal.png
    Outline_Frm0_Depth.png

    I can't find them anywhere, so I skip them. Once the scene is reloaded, The two stage render is disabled and all my renders are black. Unless I re-run the "!render Outlines On" script. Which resets all my ToonyCam settings to default.

    I know I can save all my material presets, and re-apply. I was just wondering if I was missing something...

    Also, is there a way to apply the Outline parameter Independent of the Main Script? There have been a couple times that I wanted to add something new to the scene, but didn't want the hassle of re-setting everything else in order to enable the outlines.

    Thanks again, zigraphix, This camera is awesome...


    Ok, there are a couple of different things happening here.

    First, when you reload a scene, and DS loads the camera, the camera expects to see these three files. They are generated in the background each time when you render, but they are temp files and are removed between renders. You can safely skip these files. No harm done. I can't think of any way I can keep this message from popping up when scenes are saved and reloaded, sadly. :( If someone else has a suggestion, I'd love to fix this.

    Second, for reasons known only to the DAZ engineers, render settings are not saved as part of the scene, so you have to re-enable scripted rendering when you reload a scene. You can go into Render Settings and manually select "Scripted 3Delight" and then select "Outline Compositor" as the script, but DS still has to reset some of your render settings when you do this, just because you're switching render methods.

    It shouldn't be resetting anything else, though. Are you having surface parameters reset, or camera settings, or what? If we can track down more details, I may be able to help with this one. I thought I had set my code so that it would only adjust OutlineIDs if they didn't exist yet, but I may have been overzealous with that bit of code in trying to fix a different bug.

  • wsterdanwsterdan Posts: 2,339
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    [
    Go into the Surfaces tab, select the surface of the effect object, scroll to the bottom of the surfaces tab, and you should see "Outline Depth" with an off/on switch. Turn it off just for that surface.

    Worked perfectly, many, many thanks!

    -- Walt Sterdan

    Friend-02.jpg
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  • eldileldil Posts: 14
    edited December 1969

    zigraphix said:
    eldil said:

    I'll have to try it on the whole scene, but that brings me to a question:
    Whenever I reload a saved scene that I've used ToonyCam in, it asks me to locate some files:

    Outline_Frm0_OutlineID.png
    Outline_Frm0_Normal.png
    Outline_Frm0_Depth.png

    I can't find them anywhere, so I skip them. Once the scene is reloaded, The two stage render is disabled and all my renders are black. Unless I re-run the "!render Outlines On" script. Which resets all my ToonyCam settings to default.

    I know I can save all my material presets, and re-apply. I was just wondering if I was missing something...

    Also, is there a way to apply the Outline parameter Independent of the Main Script? There have been a couple times that I wanted to add something new to the scene, but didn't want the hassle of re-setting everything else in order to enable the outlines.

    Thanks again, zigraphix, This camera is awesome...


    Ok, there are a couple of different things happening here.

    First, when you reload a scene, and DS loads the camera, the camera expects to see these three files. They are generated in the background each time when you render, but they are temp files and are removed between renders. You can safely skip these files. No harm done. I can't think of any way I can keep this message from popping up when scenes are saved and reloaded, sadly. :( If someone else has a suggestion, I'd love to fix this.

    Second, for reasons known only to the DAZ engineers, render settings are not saved as part of the scene, so you have to re-enable scripted rendering when you reload a scene. You can go into Render Settings and manually select "Scripted 3Delight" and then select "Outline Compositor" as the script, but DS still has to reset some of your render settings when you do this, just because you're switching render methods.

    It shouldn't be resetting anything else, though. Are you having surface parameters reset, or camera settings, or what? If we can track down more details, I may be able to help with this one. I thought I had set my code so that it would only adjust OutlineIDs if they didn't exist yet, but I may have been overzealous with that bit of code in trying to fix a different bug.

    Ok, I just set up a quick test scene. Not sure how much detail you need, so I'll try to be thorough. The Camera settings seem to be unaffected, so I'll focus on the surfaces.

    ******************************************

    Loaded the scene with Genesis Basic Female, Mall Girl Shorts, Mall Girl Top, Aldora Hair.

    Loaded Toony Cam, then ran the "!Render Outlines On" script.

    Checked the materials tab. All Items have Outline ID parameter now. Genesis has multiple Outline ID colors for different surfaces. The Hair, shorts and top are all black (0,0,0)

    Ran the "All Outline IDs by MAT zone" script (Once with TC selected, once with items selected)

    Checked Materials Tab: No Change.

    Manually Set Outline IDs. Worked fine with Genesis, But for the other items I have to click on a pre-determined color (custom or Basic)before clicking on the color wheel will have an effect.

    Saved a material preset for each Item. Saved Scene.

    Loaded Genesis Basic Male into the Scene with War Dog Pants

    Ran "!Render Outlines On" script.

    Checked parameters tab: No effect, Gen Male and War Dog Pants have no Outline ID Parameter. The script has never worked more than once for me without restarting Daz. Even when loading a new scene.

    Closed and restarted Daz, Reloaded the Scene. (Without Gen Male).

    Checked Parameters Tab. All my settings are correct.

    Ran "!Render Outlines On" script.

    Checked parameters tab: Genesis Has Outline ID Colors, but not the ones I selected. The other Items have all black Outline IDs

    Loaded my presets. Genesis loads my previous settings. The Other items' outline IDs are unaffected by the presets.

    Manually changed Outline IDs. Same problems selecting colors as earlier.

    Loaded Gen Male and War Dog Pants Again, Ran Script. Still no Outline ID parameters.

    ************************************
    Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info, or if I need to clarify anything.

  • martinez.zora77@gmail.com[email protected] Posts: 1,346
    edited December 1969

    wsterdan said:
    zigraphix said:
    [
    Go into the Surfaces tab, select the surface of the effect object, scroll to the bottom of the surfaces tab, and you should see "Outline Depth" with an off/on switch. Turn it off just for that surface.

    Worked perfectly, many, many thanks!

    -- Walt Sterdan

    for your previous comment: :-)

    This camera have a lot of thing!

  • martinez.zora77@gmail.com[email protected] Posts: 1,346
    edited December 1969

    Zigraphix Congratulations!!!

    Tcam is in Top 30!!!

    http://www.daz3d.com/top-sellers

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    RAMWolff said:
    IS there a way to make a preset for this particular setting?

    Sorry, for which setting? There have been a bunch of posts, so I'm not sure which you're referring to.

    Surfaces take material presets, cameras take Properties presets. Scripted render settings are harder--I actually have to use a script to generate those (or hand-code them).

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    @eldil, thanks for the steps to reproduce. This helps. I'll try to work on it tonight. I looked at the scripts last night, and I think I see some ways to work around this.

  • edited March 2014

    I'm totally in love with this camera. Add the Manga Style Shaders, you have a comics factory!

    Here's my first render using them both. Thanks for bringing us something different, photorealism is soooo last year ;)

    (click to view bigger cos its fuzzy all shrunk down)

    deathrender_iggy.jpg
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    Post edited by al_iguana_23_683c4ec9aa on
  • bad4ubad4u Posts: 684
    edited December 1969

    al_iguana said:
    I'm totally in love with this camera. Add the Manga Style Shaders, you have a comics factory!

    Here's my first render using them both. Thanks for bringing us something different, photorealism is soooo last year ;)

    Very nice usage of ToonyCam and the shaders indeed. Love the style.

  • Alessandro MastronardiAlessandro Mastronardi Posts: 2,593
    edited December 1969

    Great product Zigraphix, congratulations for it!

  • nDelphinDelphi Posts: 1,850
    edited December 1969

    al_iguana said:
    I'm totally in love with this camera. Add the Manga Style Shaders, you have a comics factory!

    Very, very nice!

  • edited December 1969

    thanks :) you have no idea of the hoops I used to go through trying to get that effect on a conventional render using filters and curves and gah.... quicker to draw it with a sharpie lol. Still have no idea how the ID zones work and stuff yet (or how to actually set skirt-handles so they don't render), but I'm a very happy customer :)

  • martinez.zora77@gmail.com[email protected] Posts: 1,346
    edited December 1969

    Another furify experiment

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

    al_iguana said:
    thanks :) you have no idea of the hoops I used to go through trying to get that effect on a conventional render using filters and curves and gah.... quicker to draw it with a sharpie lol. Still have no idea how the ID zones work and stuff yet (or how to actually set skirt-handles so they don't render), but I'm a very happy customer :)

    Very nice work. :) I used to fight with combinations of pwToon and pwSketch to get the look I wanted for my manga projects. That's really why I kept working on this camera. I'm so happy to see that others are finding it useful as well!

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    eldil said:

    Ok, I just set up a quick test scene. Not sure how much detail you need, so I'll try to be thorough. The Camera settings seem to be unaffected, so I'll focus on the surfaces.

    ******************************************

    ...

    ************************************
    Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info, or if I need to clarify anything.

    I think I've got fixes for these issues, plus I've created some new preset utilities for turning Normal and Depth outlines on and off. I need to do a bit more testing, then I'll upload these fixes and an update will go out to everyone who has purchased ToonyCam Pro.

    (And obviously, these fixes will be in SketchyCam Pro, as well!)

    Thanks for your help in sorting this out. :)

  • Ghosty12Ghosty12 Posts: 1,985
    edited December 1969

    Finding this product awesome and have already created two comics in no time flat.. The one thing I am having issues with is when I use 2d trees or products like M.O.M = Mass of Movement that simulate a crowd of people by using images of people on a transparent 2d plane the outlining of Toony Cam will outline the rectangles or squares of the 2d planes..

    Also I know or thing I know there is but what key do I press when I double click on the toony cam icon to replace a previously selected camera?

  • zigraphixzigraphix Posts: 2,787
    edited December 1969

    For items with transparency, the OutlineID method will work better.

    ToonyCam Pro is set up as a scene subset, rather than as a camera, so it doesn't replace the cameras in your scene. I'm going to have an update shortly that will give you the option of loading it that way, for those who prefer to. There will also be some fixes and enhancements.

    Meanwhile, there's a link to draft documentation in the first post in this thread. I've tried to answer all the questions people have posted, as well as offering some tips and suggestions. You may find it helpful. This documentation will also be included in the update. (I didn't want to scare anyone off with complex documentation, but I think some folks do appreciate knowing how to do more with the set than just "load, point, render." ;) )

  • edited March 2014

    hmm had to try this out :)

    IMAGE 1: I put 2 flat planes into Studio, and put a standard Image/transmap on them.

    IMAGE 2: added Toonycam, switched outlines on, rendered. no problem

    IMAGE 3: Changed to Outline ID, rendered, again no problem :)

    IMAGE 4: Added a Manga Style Shader to one of the planes. Aha... Toony drew a box around the plane with shaders (doesn't show in render though). I set the planes to overlap slightly, which is why the second plane loses its outline on the left of Aiko, the first plane is overwriting it with a box (that you can't see lol)

    IMAGE 5: changed OUTLINE ID method to "All outline IDs by diffuse map". Bingo :)

    So yeah, Toony Works fine with transmaps if you set it right :)

    You could render a soldier, paste that render into a flat plane, duplicate 100 times, instant army (with your main figure striding heroically in front). I would try it, but I just woke up and need MOAR COFFEE lol

    ToonyTransTest.jpg
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    Post edited by al_iguana_23_683c4ec9aa on
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