Base | Highlights | Rimlights | Render Tree Usage
Shader Family: Surface Material
This shader renders surfaces with cel-animation style material attributes, such as highlights and rimlights. When used in conjunction with Toon Ink Lens, its companion lens shader, and Toon Host, the material host for Toon-rendered contours, it is capable of rendering a very convincing simulation of cel-animated imagery.
This shader will also function as a shadow shader, but by itself it is only capable of creating shadows at full density (as though cast by a totally opaque surface).
This is the base surface color upon which highlights and rimlights are painted.
Color |
The surface is first painted a base color (like an undercoat of primer), before highlights and rimlights are added. This is, in effect, the shadow color of the surface. |
Influence the base color by the scene's global ambience color.
Highlights are regions of color painted over the base color according to the lighting affecting the surface. Highlights' coverage of the surface may be adjusted, and their boundaries softened to varying degrees. Highlights are computed correctly for area lights.
This highlight is computed according to surface and lighting directions, like a Lambert shading function. This highlight is most useful for simulating rough surfaces. The glossy highlight is better for simulating shiny surfaces.
Enable |
Switches the highlight diffuse color on or off. |
Color |
The highlight color. This color is painted over the base color according to the specified alpha value (0 being no contribution, and 1 being 100%). If the Illuminance parameter is enabled, the highlight color is scaled (filtered) by the color of illumination received at the point shaded. |
Illuminance |
When enabled, the highlight color is scaled (filtered) by the color of illumination received at the point shaded. Disabling this parameter results in a highlight whose color is uninfluenced by illumination. |
Compositing |
Choose from the available transfer modes to specify a compositing method for combining highlight color with the underlying surface color. The modes are the same as described for the Compositing parameter for the Ambience options on the Base tab in this property editor. |
Coverage |
The extent of the highlight's coverage of the base. A value of 0 results in no highlight being painted, while a value of 1 results in a highlight which covers all parts of the surface not in shadow. |
Softness |
Softens the highlight's edge. A setting of 1 results in a highlight that is totally blurred. The blur has a smooth (cubic) falloff profile centered on the highlight's boundary. |
This highlight is computed according to the surface, light, and viewing directions, with the same response as the Phong shading function given an exponent of 1 (linear profile). This highlight is most useful for simulating shiny (specular) surfaces.
The glossy highlight has the same parameters (with the same functions) as the Diffuse parameters above.
Rimlights, like highlights, are regions of color painted over the base color. Unlike highlights, their location on the surface has nothing to do with lighting in the scene, but is determined by the surface's relation to an incident vector. Rimlights' coverage of the surface may be adjusted, their boundaries softened to varying degrees, and their profiles inverted.
The two rimlights, Layer 1 and Layer 2, are identical. However, Layer 1 is painted first, then Layer 2 is painted, on top of Layer 1.
Enable |
Switches the rimlight on or off. |
Order |
The rimlight may be painted either over or under the highlights. |
Color |
The rimlight color. This color is painted over the base color and highlights according to the specified alpha value (0 being no contribution, and 1 being 100%). |
Compositing |
Choose from the available transfer modes to specify a compositing method for combining rimlight color with the underlying surface color. The modes are the same as described for the Compositing parameter for the Ambience options on the Base tab in this property editor. |
Coverage |
The extent of the rimlight's coverage of the base. A value of 0 results in no rimlight being painted, while a value of 1 results in a rimlight that covers the entire direction hemisphere. |
Softness |
Softens the rimlight's edge. A setting of 1 results in a rimlight that is totally blurred. The blur has a smooth (cubic) falloff profile centered on the rimlight's boundary. |
Invert |
Inverts the rimlight's falloff profile. |
Vector |
The rimlight effect relies on an incident vector pointed towards the surface in question. Usually this is the camera direction itself but, alternatively, a user-specified vector or one of a variety of presets may be used. The Custom Vector can be used to create thicker ink contours on the underside of objects and thinner ink contours on top, for example. |
Space |
The coordinate space (World | Camera | Object) used for specifying the incident vector. Selecting camera coordinates will compute incident direction relative to the camera ("Upper Right" remaining in the upper right of the rendered image regardless of camera position or orientation, for example). Using world coordinates will lock the effect to the direction of a surface regardless of its global orientation, while using object coordinates will rotate the effect along with the surface. |
Custom Vector |
A three-dimensional (x, y, z) vector. The vector is automatically normalized internally. |
When used in conjunction with Toon_Ink_Lens, its companion lens shader, and Toon_Host, the material host for Toon-rendered contours, this shader is capable of rendering a very convincing simulation of cel-animated imagery. This shader will also function as a shadow shader, though by itself it is only capable of creating shadows at full density (as though cast by a totally opaque surface).