Cel Shading, pt I
This tutorial is an expansion of SnowSultan's tutorials. This works
in Poser 4, Poser Pro Pack and Poser 5 with an image editing program
like Photoshop or PSP. This tutorial uses P5, so if you have an earlier
version, the screen shots may look slightly different. Also, I used
Photoshop 7, so if you used a different version or a different program,
you will need to adjust accordingly.
In Poser
1) Create your figure and set the lighting as needed. Do not have the ground show. Depending on your needs, you may or may not want the ground shadows to show.
2)Animation: Movie Output settings.
3) Set the frame size to the size of the image you want.
Note: if you set the frame size smaller than your document window, it will crop your picture, not reduce the size of the picture.
4) Set the Frame Count to 1. Hit Okay to exit the settings.
5) Set the Document Display Settings to Cartoon.
6) Animation: Make Movie.
- Set your Sequence Type to Image Files.
- The Resolution should be set to full (assuming you set the size you want in the frame size option earlier.)
- Set the Quality to Display Settings. This is one of the big tricks to this cel shading technique. It will render the picture using the cartoon shading instead of the normal Poser effects.
- Tick the anti-alias checkmark for best effect.
7) Save your image as a .tif file.
8) Set your Document Display Settings to Cartoon with Line.
9) Animation: Make Movie. Use the same settings as Step 6. Save your image under a new name - also in .tif format.
In Photoshop (PSP, etc.)
1) Open up the Cartoon mode image.
2) Go into the Channels and Ctrl-Click the Alpha1 Channel. This will select the figure and clothing.
3) Layer: New from Copy. Name this copy Cartoon Mode (CM for short). Now you have a copy of just the figure and clothing.
4) Hide the background layer. (I find it easier to work that way.)
5) Open up the Cartoon w/ Line image.
6) Go into the Channels and Ctrl-Click the Alpha1 Channel. This will select the figure and clothing.
7) Layer: New from Copy. Name this copy Cartoon Line Mode (CLM for short). Now you have a copy of just the figure and clothing.
8) Hold down the Shift key and drag the CLM layer over to the Cartoon Mode image. By holding down the Shift key, it places the CLM layer in the in exact same position in the new image as in the original image. This places it exactly over top the CM layer.
Now comes the coloring.
10) Create a new layer and call it skin. Make sure it is overtop the CM and CLM layers.
11) Ctrl-Click the CLM layer so the figure and clothing are selected. Pick a color and paint the skin. Choose a color that's darker than you want. Don't worry about being exact: slop the color on - you can erase the parts that aren't right in a moment.
12) Set the Layer Blending Option to Overlay. Ta-Da! Skin with highlighting and shadows.
13) Erase any skin color that strayed over into other areas.
14) Create a new layer called Hair. Color the hair as desired. Set this layer to Overlay as well and erase any hair color that ended up on the clothing.
Trick: Once you've colored the hair, you can Ctrl-Click the skin layer and hit Delete. That will get rid of any hair color that strayed on to the skin.
15) Keep building up the character, one layer at a time for items like Shirt, Skirt, etc. Don't forget to set each layer to Overlay.
Remember: Any color that strays onto something you've already colored in can quickly be deleted by Ctrl-Clicking that layer, then hitting delete. For example, I colored the Skin, Hair, and Ribbon before I colored the top, so I was able to Ctrl-Click all three of those layers to quickly delete the Shirt color that went across the shirt's borders.
Here's the picture after the basic coloring is finished:
Getting close! And it only took me about 10 minutes to color. (Minus all the tutorial documentation, that is!)
16) Create a new layer called EyeWhites and color white the eyeballs.
17) Create a new layer called Iris and color it a bright dark color. Go to the layer properties and set the Stroke to a darker version of that color and set the Stroke Position to Inside. This gives you a quick and shiny iris.
18) Hold down the Alt key and drag the Iris to the other eye. This creates a copy of the Iris in the new location.
19) On a new layer, create the pupils. (It's not necessary to make a new layer, but I'm a complete klutz so I create new layers all the time so I don't hose up anything that I'm satisfied with.)
20) Create a new layer called EyeHighlights. (This time, it's necessary.) Create highlights by adding white glints on the eyes and change the layer Opacity to about 70%.
21) Add your background, and you're done!
Want some tricks to liven up the image?