MORE ON TOON LINES
We haven’t looked at toon lines in a while, and you were promised more. Let’s take a look at some more features of toon line. What if you wanted a scratchy, non-pencil-like line? Let’s use our shot 4 scene and test out some paint effects toon lines.
Open the Shot4_Blocked.mb file or the file you have just animated. Select the body cast and neck brace and apply a new toon shader by clicking on Toon > Assign Outline > Add New Toon Outline. Now a toon line is applied to your character and you can see it in the main viewport. Next we want to work with the paint effects brushes and apply them to the toon outline. Some of these become heavy to render in the viewport; you might have to turn off Display in Viewport in the attribute editor. Other paint effects brushes do not display well and are only appreciated when ren-dered.
FIGURE 5.15 Using rough animation in Photoshop for cleanup.
FIGURE 5.16 Cleaned-up animation in Photoshop.
To begin with, open the visor window by clicking Paint Effects > Get Brush:
1. Select the pfxToonl toon line node in the outliner.
2. Select a brush in the visor window > Paint effects tab. In Figure 5.17, the Toon > ThickOilLine brush has been selected.
3. To apply the brush to the toon line, click Toon > Assign Paint Effects Brush to Toon Lines.
You can see in the viewport shown in Figure 5.17 that the paint effects toon line is visible. Figure 5.18 is a render of the toon line composited with the rough animation.
FIGURE 5.17 Applying the paint effects brush to toon line.
FIGURE 5.18 Composite of 3D with a 2D head.
You can use the brushes with the default settings such as you see in Figure 5.19. Here the Oils > dryOilRed has been applied to the toon line.
FIGURE 5.19 DryOilRed Paint Effects brush.
Or you can select the brush in the Attribute Editor and adjust the settings for more control. In Figure 5.20, the paint effects brush Oils > thickOilRed was applied to the toon line. As you can see in the image, the brush type was set to Thin Line, MutliStreaks was set to 2, and Streak Spreads was adjusted. Give yourself time to work with these attributes, as it takes time to become familiar with them. When you first begin to work with pain effects and toon lines, take screen grabs of the settings you have adjusted and the renders you come up with. These can help you navigate through good and bad adjustments.
FIGURE 5.20 ThickOilRed Paint Effects brush.
Don’t overlook nontraditional sounding paint effects brushes. You will be surprised by what you can use. In Figure 5.21 I took a chance and used an intestinal flow paint effects brush.
FIGURE 5.21 Intestinal flow paint effects brush.
PROJECT: 3D LEADS 2D
For this topic’s project, you have two tasks:
Analytical
Take a critical look at a film of your choice on which the animators could have done a better job at combining their 2D and 3D elements. What is wrong with the combination? What could have been better? Include screen shots in your report to visually highlight the issues.
You are assessed on the following skills:
1. Depth of analysis
2. Use of visual aids
3. Use of 2D/3D glossary terms
4. Understanding of 2D/3D techniques and their application
Practical
Create a scene of a 3D character with 2D parts. Complete either the Jaguar McGuire scene or one of your own. The scene should be short enough to finish in two weeks time. The scene should be turned in at the final composite stage.
You are assessed on the following skills:
1. Ability to match 2D animation to a 3D character and achieve a cohesive character animation
2. Technical use of 3D application
3. Technical use of 2D application
4. Technical use of the compositing tool
5. Overall appeal of shot
6. Matching of style
