iClone 5 cel-shading effect

I’ve been trying to get the best cel-shading effect on the new G5 Characters in iClone 5. Here they are in a simple “in the wild” render…

And this is the characters after applying some of the new real-time render effects, with recipe included. This works with old Trey as well, so it’s not dependent on the characters/props having special materials on them…

The hair is the big problem. We’re going to need special hair for this type of render. With no use of opacity (all polys) and a pre-“drawn” texture. The opacity used on eyelashes is also a problem, but one that’s not likely to noticed at 1280 x 720px once your video service’s compression has done its work.

Big 3000px version of the render…

You can do it in colour, as well — I just like B&W. B&W can also composite better, when blend modes / opacity is used to combine it with a filtered colour render in Photoshop. If you are planning to make comics with iClone, this is definitely an improvement on even the very best filtered sketch/toon-edges effect in Photoshop.