Maxon Computer Cinema 4D - 9.0, Cinema 4D - 9.5 User Manual

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.
Writers Paul Babb, Rick Barrett, Oliver Becker, Jens Bosse, Chris Broeske, Chris Debski,

Glenn Frey, Michael Giebel, Jason Goldsmith, Jörn Gollob, Sven Hauth,
Josiah Hultgren, Arndt von Königsmarck, David Link, Arno Löwecke, Aaron Matthew,
Josh Miller, Matthew ‘Mash’ O’Neill, Janine Pauke, Marcus Spranger, Luke Stacy,
Perry Stacy, Marco Tillmann, Jeff Walker, Scot Wardlaw.

SDK Docs & Support David O’Reilly, Mikael Sterner.
Layout Oliver Becker, Harald Egel, Michael Giebel, David Link, Luke Stacy, Jeff Walker.
Translation Oliver Becker, Michael Giebel, Arno Löwecke, Björn Marl, Josh Miller, Janine Pauke,
Luke Stacy, Marco Tillmann, Scot Wardlaw.

Copyright © 1989-2004 by MA XON Computer GmbH. All rights reserved.
English translation Copyright © 2004 by MAXON Computer Ltd. All rights reserved.

This manual and the accompanying software are copyright protected. No part of this document may be
translated, reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or
mechanical, for any purpose, without the express written permission of MA XON Computer.

Although every precaution has been taken in the preparation of the program and this manual, MAXON Computer
assumes no responsibility for errors or omissions. Neither is any liability assumed for damages resulting from
the use of the program or from the information contained in this manual.

This manual, as well as the software described in it, is furnished under license and may be used or copied
only in accordance with the terms of such license. The content of this manual is furnished for informational
use only, is subject to change without notice, and should not be construed as a commitment by MAXON
Computer. MAXON Computer assumes no responsibility or liability for any errors or inaccuracies that may
appear in this book.

MAXON Computer, the MAXON logo, CINEMA 4D, Hyper NURBS, and C.O.F.F.E.E. are trademarks of MAXON
Computer GmbH or MAXON Computer Inc. Acrobat, the Acrobat logo, PostScript, Acrobat Reader, Photoshop
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to X/Open Company Ltd. All other brand and product names mentioned in this manual are trademarks or
registered trademarks of their respective companies, and are hereby acknowledged.

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NOTICE TO USER

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Contents

Introduction .......................................................................................................... 1

How to use this manual ......................................................................................................................... 2

Registration ........................................................................................................................................... 2

Installation............................................................................................................................................. 2

Training.................................................................................................................................................. 2

Web Resources ...................................................................................................................................... 2

Technical Support .................................................................................................................................. 2

1 Overview ............................................................................................................ 5

2 QuickStart ........................................................................................................11

Adding the Sketch and Toon post effect ............................................................................................. 11

Adjusting the line ................................................................................................................................ 12

What does the post effect do?............................................................................................................ 13

Controlling post effect shading........................................................................................................... 14

Using the Sketch shaders..................................................................................................................... 16

Different styles for different objects ................................................................................................... 17

Control Levels ...................................................................................................................................... 19

Where now? ........................................................................................................................................ 20

3 Sketch and Toon Post Effect ............................................................................ 23

Effects tab settings.............................................................................................................................. 24

Main..................................................................................................................................................... 24

Lines..................................................................................................................................................... 24

Render ................................................................................................................................................. 28

Multi-Pass ............................................................................................................................................ 31

Shading................................................................................................................................................ 32

Editor Display....................................................................................................................................... 36

Line types ............................................................................................................................................ 38

Outline, Folds, Overlaps.................................................................................................................. 39

Angle .............................................................................................................................................. 42

Border ............................................................................................................................................. 43

Material .......................................................................................................................................... 43

Edges ..............................................................................................................................................44

Intersections ................................................................................................................................... 45

Triangulation................................................................................................................................... 46

Motion ............................................................................................................................................ 46

Contour........................................................................................................................................... 48

Isoparms ......................................................................................................................................... 51

Splines ............................................................................................................................................ 52

Particles .......................................................................................................................................... 52

4 Sketch Material ................................................................................................57

Changing the preview .................................................................................................................... 58

Material editor settings ....................................................................................................................... 59

Main................................................................................................................................................ 59

Strokes ............................................................................................................................................ 60

Adjustment ..................................................................................................................................... 67

Distort............................................................................................................................................. 70

Color, Thickness, Opacity................................................................................................................ 73

Distance modier ...................................................................................................................... 74

Along Stroke modier................................................................................................................ 75

Position modier ....................................................................................................................... 76

Total Length modier ................................................................................................................ 77

Scale modier ............................................................................................................................ 78

Facing Angle modier................................................................................................................ 79

Illumination modier ................................................................................................................. 80

Join Angle modier.................................................................................................................... 82

Texture modier ........................................................................................................................ 83

Screen Angle modier ............................................................................................................... 89

From Surface modier ............................................................................................................... 90

Vertex Map modier.................................................................................................................. 91

From Line modier .................................................................................................................... 92

Texture Map modier ................................................................................................................ 93

Coffee modier.......................................................................................................................... 94

Screen Texture modier............................................................................................................. 98

Noise modier ........................................................................................................................... 99

Common modier settings ...................................................................................................... 102

Render .......................................................................................................................................... 104

Clone..............................................................................................................................................110

Animate .........................................................................................................................................115

Assignment....................................................................................................................................118

Blend modes ..................................................................................................................................119

5 Sketch Shaders ............................................................................................... 125

Creating a Sketch shader............................................................................................................ 126

Using other shaders ................................................................................................................... 127

Antialiasing tip ........................................................................................................................... 127

Art Shader .................................................................................................................................... 128

Cel Shader..................................................................................................................................... 130

Hatch Shader ................................................................................................................................ 134

Spots Shader................................................................................................................................. 143

6 Sketch Style Tag ............................................................................................. 149

Attribute manager settings ............................................................................................................... 149

Main.............................................................................................................................................. 149

Lines...............................................................................................................................................151

Shading..........................................................................................................................................151

Selections ..................................................................................................................................... 152

Maps ............................................................................................................................................. 152

7 Sketch Render Tag.......................................................................................... 155

Attribute manager settings .......................................................................................................... 156

8 Illustrator Export............................................................................................ 161

Illustrator Export Preferences ............................................................................................................ 161

9 Sketch and Toon Preferences......................................................................... 165

Sketch and Toon ................................................................................................................................ 165

Defaults ............................................................................................................................................. 166

10 Frequently Asked Questions ........................................................................ 169

Index.................................................................................................................. 177

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. Lots of features
typically spells out COMPLICATED, but not in this case! Sketch and Toon has been specically
designed to cater for all users. It features three different control levels for fast, simple and
streamlined workow. User presets such as hatched lines give you instant results, while those
looking for more control will love the huge variety of options on offer. And even better, once you’ve
created your own style you can save it as a preset to use again and again.

Being a completely integrated module, Sketch and Toon works with virtually all CINEMA 4D
features. Combining lines with features such as radiosity gives you even more scope for individual
looks. It’s not just lines either. Sketch and Toon comes complete with a powerful shading system.
Your 3D objects can be lled in with colored or textured styles, for a full toon or tech experience.

“OK, so it makes very nice stills. What about us animators?” Well, naturally you can apply Sketch
and Toon to your current animations to give them a toon feel. But here’s something really special:
you can animate lines being drawn. This means that you can literally have your scenes drawn from
scratch in front of your bewildered viewers’ eyes!

As an artist, you of course know better than anyone that a picture says more than a thousand
words. Well, Sketch and Toon can make the same scene look different more than a thousand times.
Be prepared to play into the small hours of the morning, because this module’s really going to bring
out the “what if?” part in you!

INTRODUCTION • 1

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.

- When you’re not sure what a function does, look it up in this manual.

- If you run into problems, be sure to check out Chapter 10, “Frequently Asked Questions.”

Registration

Registering your purchase is extremely important. The serial number included with your package is
temporary and it will expire three months after installation.

To receive your nal serial number, you must register. So please ll in and return the registration
form at the earliest opportunity. Registering will also entitle you to technical support via telephone,
fax and email. And by checking the appropriate box on the registration form, MAXON will keep you
informed of the latest product information and updates.

You can also register online at register.maxon.net.

These tutorials are your primary learning tool. They are the easiest way to learn the software.

Installation

To install Sketch and Toon, run the installation program and follow the on-screen installation
instructions.

Training

Training is available for Sketch and Toon and other MA XON products. For details, please contact
MAXON or your local MAXON distributor.

Web Resources

Thousands of resources are available on the web, including online tutorials, discussion lists,
textures, models, galleries and information on 3D books. You’ll nd links to a rich selection of these
sites at maxon.net, MAXON’s homepage. Another website to bookmark is plugincafe.com. Here
you will nd dozens of useful plugins, both free and commercial. For plugin developers, there are
resources, including the SDK, tutorials and a free support forum.

Technical Support

Your local MA XON distributor will be delighted to assist you with your technical queries. You are
also welcome to contact MA XON directly. Please note that you will be entitled to technical support
provided you have registered your purchase.

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 nal 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. Shading is taken care of by
CINEMA 4D’s material system with powerful additions such as the new Sketch shaders that help you
to achieve popular styles such as Manga and cross-hatching.

Superior Blend

Compare this powerful CINEMA 4D module with any other NPR tool on the market and you’ll come
to the conclusion that Sketch and Toon is in a class of its own. It has virtually all features of the
other NPR tools rolled into one. And then some!

But it’s not just this superior feature set that makes Sketch and Toon stand out from the crowd: its
integration with CINEMA 4D is outstanding. You can combine all of Sketch and Toon’s features with
practically any other feature found in CINEMA 4D and its modules, including radiosity, caustics,
shaders, splines and particles. This gives you ultimate exibility when illustrating your ideas. With
Sketch and Toon, there’s a million and one ways to present even the simplest object.

Same objects, but two completely dif ferent results. Images © 2003 by Artur Bala.

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.

Sketch and Toon includes a new cel shader that provides color control of backfaces for Manga-style
shading and much more!

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 nd 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.

Choose Render > Render Settings and on the Effects tab, click the Post Effect button and

choose Sketch and Toon to add the Sketch and Toon post effect.

Look in the Material manager and you’ll notice a material has been added also. More about this
material later...

Render the scene.

Congratulations! You’re just rendered your rst Sketch and Toon effect. The sphere has a black
outline and its shading has been simplied into bands.

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. On the Thickness

tab, set the Thickness value to 20. Render the scene.

The sphere’s lines are now much thicker and use the new color.

The pink is truly shocking... On the Color tab, set the color back to black and on the Thickness

tab, set the Thickness back to 2. Rename the material to “black” using the text box below
the thumbnail.

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.”

Add a cube to the scene and move it next to the sphere in the viewport.

On the Render Settings > Effects tab, ensure the Sketch and Toon post effect is selected

and click its Lines tab if it isn’t already selected.

The Default Visible and Default Hidden boxes on this tab control which materials the post effect
uses for visible lines and hidden lines respectively. You can see that the “black” Sketch material is
being used for visible lines. Currently the Default Hidden box is blank, which means hidden lines
are not drawn.

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. So among other things, the
post effect controls which Sketch materials are used by the scene for visible and hidden lines.

Before going on to the next step, take a close look at roughly how many brightness bands the
sphere has. You’ll be changing this next up.

Controlling post effect shading

As mentioned earlier, the post effect also controls the post effect shading. You’ll nd these controls
on the effect’s Shading tab.

In the render settings, on the Sketch and Toon post effect’s Shading tab, set Quantize to 15

and render the scene.

The Quantize value controls the number of brightness bands for the object (like the old CINEMA 4D
cel renderer). The sphere now has many more bands.

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. If you wanted a solid color, you could simply
set Quantize to 1.

In the render settings, on the Sketch and Toon post effect’s Shading tab, set the Object

drop-down list to Off and render the scene.

Setting Object to Off switches off the post effect shading for objects so that it doesn’t affect
the CINEMA 4D’s rendering of surfaces. Likewise you could set Background to Off to switch off
the post effect’s white background and use the background rendered by CINEMA 4D instead.

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. Disable all material channels
except Luminance. Rename the material to “spots.”

On the Luminance tab, click the Texture triangle button and choose Sketch > Spots to load

the Spots shader into the Luminance channel.

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.

Different styles for different objects

What if you want an object to use different settings to those in the post effect? For example,
what if you want one object to use a different colored line? This is where the Sketch Style tag
comes in. It’s for objects that should use different settings to the scene-wide settings in the
post effect.

Add a cone to the scene and move it in front of the sphere and cube.

Ensure the cone is selected and in the Object manager, choose File > Sketch Tags > Sketch

Style.

You’ll see a Sketch Style tag appear to the right of the cone in the Object manager. Also, note that
a new Sketch material has been created automatically (called “Sketch Mat”).

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. As
with the post effect, you can control which Sketch materials are used by dragging and dropping
the materials into the Default Visible and Default Hidden boxes.

Edit the new Sketch material as follows: change its name to “blue”, give it a blue color, and

change its thickness to 6. Render the scene.

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.

Control Levels

Sketch and Toon’s control level system is useful for hiding away the advanced controls while you
are learning the software or while you are creating a basic effect where you simply don’t need
so many controls.

You’ll find the Control Level setting on the Main tab of the Sketch and Toon post effect, Sketch
material and Sketch and Toon Style tag. Setting the Control Level in one place changes the level
for them all.

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 nd 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.

- The Sketch shaders are loaded as a channel shader and are best used in the Luminance
channel.

Why not take a short break then head on to the video tutorials supplied on the CD?