Toon Shader Desktop - Beautiful and fast

Hi,
Thanks for your interest at Toon Shader Desktop (TSD).
TSD is an advanced toon shader integrated into unity rendering pipeline that supports :

-lights
-light probes
-light maps
-shadows
-outlines
-matcaps

User manual - hosted in scribd.

It is the big brother of toon shader mobile, trusted by 405 unity users so far.
I hope you will find it useful in your projects !

 

Video tutorials

 

F.A.Q.

Yes. Unity Pro users have access to the feature set that Unity free users do, plus

-soft shadows (nice fading shadows)
-light probes (integrate your characters with scene lighting)
-deferred lighting (many many lights)
-linear space rendering (gamma correct)
-Light maps with global illumination (better light maps)
-Post processing effects (image effects like tone mapping, glow etc)

Toon Shader Desktop supports all the above features, if you have Unity Pro.

 

Awesome work Ippokratis! I will be taking a look at this shader a little later this week but I have already purchased it. Hopefully as I experiment with it I will post results for others to see. I am looking for something similar to the effects of "Guilty Gear Xrd" but of course I am not expecting to get those results from the shader alone.

-Dane

 

Hi,
Thanks for the kind words

The thread about "Guilty Gear Xrd" is amazing.
In a nutshell, what you need to achieve this result besides this shader is :
-Two high poly models with uniform texel distribution, normal maps.
-Many animations of the above
-High res texture maps for the facial details, low res for the body - clothes (plain diffuse-no shading)

If you need help on tweaking the rendering parameters, feel free to contact me.

Update :
I uploaded the Toon Shader Manual on scribd, link is at the first post.
I also created a site for Toon Shader Desktop.
More support materials will follow.

Kind regards,
-Ippokratis

 

Hey Ippokratis,

This sounds really great man. The bus image looks really great. Can we see 1-2 more examples maybe?
Thanks

 

Hey, the shader looks great, but like Nuverian can we see some more examples? Maybe a video?

 

Hi,
Thanks for your kind words.
As many people have noticed, the shaders look great but the promo is lacking. I am doing my best to create some promo material in my free time, which is very scarce. I had to choose either to release the shaders now and build promotion over time, or make a decent launch with all the promotional material in place, after 1-2 months.

I wish to thank the people who support my products despite the lack of marketing from my part - I am getting close to paying my rent I am trying now to compose mini tutorials, inspired by customers requests. Currently I am making a mini tutorial on how to create outlines over alpha.

Hellraizerhhh, creator of http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/169761-Arena-of-Champions kindly gave me permission to show some results from using toon shader desktop with some of his models. I will soon post some results (pics-vids-mini tutorial), here and on the site.

Kind regards,
-Ippokratis

 

hello
now Toon Shader Desktop - can make shadow on model??

Please use this model make sahadow with your Toon Shader Desktop
http://www.mediafire.com/download/qy...1nj2/setsu.zip


http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/13...tiful/page14?p=1273189&viewfull=1#post1273189

 

Hi,
The link you gave is a deleted file,
in any case Toon Shader Desktop (TSD) can use shadows.
In current version of Unity, only Pro users have access to shadows, so you will need TSD and Unity Pro.
Unity announced that they will let Unity Free users use hard shadows from version 4.2 on (it will appear soon).
If you have a model you want me to test, send a valid link and I will post here the results.

EDIT - The link on the other thread works - I will post the photos here in a while.

 

Ok, here are some photos.

Toon Shader Desktop without outline


TSD with outline



Same model, same textures with standard diffuse shader, for comparison (Unlit does not support shadows) :


I have not tried to tweak the textures or the model.

EDIT : Another try I like the model a lot.

 

ok thank for help

I will buy and try to use this shader

ps..I like character and model from dram c club too

 

tsd can't make shader as I want

I want shad in left model but left model can'tmake shadow on face

right model make by TSD but it's not looklike toonshade

can you make TSM(left model) can make shadow on face

 

Hi,
You have to play with the settings a little, as described in the manual.
Also, setting ambient light to 0 brightness helps to distinguish the shadows.
I attach pics from the materials settings and the color settings I use.



Also, I set light brightness to 100% and light intensity to 0.5.


If you are still confused, send me your invoice number at ippobour at gmail dot com and I will send you the project I have created.

 

Hello, I forgot where I saw it but you mentioned how that the outline will shrink as you move farther away from the object, is there a way I can set it to where the outline remains the same thickness no matter how far away the camera is?

 

Hi,
One of the reasons I made this shader is to get rid of this outline behavior!
I had requests for this and I consider it a feature

You can adjust the outline thickness via script if you want

Pseudocode

-magic number depends on the mesh size and the camera field of view.
-outline width is accessible in renderer.material._Outline (a float, the "right" value depends on taste and mesh size)

I would really appreciate if someone wishes to share some pictures from models using these shaders. You can get some nice tips on how to make them function better this way.
Kind regards,
-Ippokratis

 

Do these shaders work in Unity 3.5? Thanks : )

 

They do work, but I do not offer support for previous versions of the unity editor.

 

Hi,
I am very happy with the results of Toon Shader Desktop so far
It started more as an experiment "lets put all the crazy feats I can think of in a shader" and it sells enough copies to worth the time it took to develop it.
So thanks everybody for the support and I hope your projects using this shader will be successful too !

I also develop a new family of toon shaders for desktop, which will be included in the next release of Toon Shader Desktop. Release time unknown, I am still doing experiments. The idea is that you have a lit texture and a shadow texture, that are influenced by light position and a rim light that is view dependent. Here is an early example on dogzer's base male package :



another one : Brian from bitgem. On the right, the standard unlit texture, on the left, the new shader.

 

Working using a character from DOTA 2, 3.4k tris in editor.

 

Here is a video showing Keipr using the forthcoming shader :

 

Hello Ippokratis, I've been doing some research on the web about NPR shading and such.

Is it possible to dither shadows/highlights using a shader? And if its possible, can it look good? The kind of dithering I'm referring to is the type that pixel-artists use. The dithering would be applied when transitioning from light to dark.

Here is an example:


I understand that you could just do it by hand in the diffuse texture, but I'm interested in trying to do it dynamically in real-time.

If it can't be done with code, could it possibly be done with the use of 2 lightmaps that you somehow transition between (these lightmaps would be touched up by hand to have the desired dithering)? Or can it be accomplished matcaps?

 

Hi,
I think that the technique you will choose depends on a number of things, like desired visual results, platform specs, gpu CPU budget and so on.
Custom shaders per situation is the way to go. There are many implementations available, my personal preference is to stay away from dynamic solutions. They look cool on spheres, but when you start playing with complex models that have non homogeneous uv, seams, share textures from an atlas and so on, get ugly.
Good luck with your project,
Ippokratis

 

So Keipr is using your shader? I don't know if they meant to do this or if it was just a misunderstanding on my part, but I was under the impression that Goon Studios were developing their own toon shader.

 

Hi maven,
Yes, I have created the shader for Keipr and I am very impressed by their level of proficiency.
They have created some amazing assets and from what mr Cooper told me, their project evolves fast.

 

As for confirmation - we are working closely with Ippokratis on developing several shaders for the Keipr Project. His efficiency and level of expertise is beyond any shader expert I've come across and is no doubt the best person to manage the life cycles of Keipr's shaders to come.

Although we contract out our shader tasks, the rest of the studio is working with in-house proprietary technologies out of Southern California, USA to develop the massive world of Keipr Online.

I hope this resolves any confusion!

~Joseph Cooper

 

Thanks for the reply. It was just confusing because I liked the art of Keipr and wanted to know if its shader was on the asset store. Didn't see it but ran across Ippokratis' shader and I was slow to put 2 and 2 together.

 

I don't think the shader is available yet, as he said it's forthcoming, but definitely keep an eye out on it!

 

Hi there
I am working on some new features in Toon Shader Desktop and I have some samples to show.
Here is an implementation of colored shadows.
But - wait, aren't shadows black ? Or grey ?
It seems that actually shadows are blueish, http://thevirtualinstructor.com/color-theory-for-highlights-shadows.html
The shaders in v2.0 will have the ability to use any color for the shadows, allowing experimental designs.

 

Hi,

Can You PLzzz put transparency in outlined sheder in next update.

Best wishes,
play_edu

 

Hi,
I wish to announce that Toon Shader Desktop 2 is on the works.
Same price, everybody who has purchased a copy will receive the update.
Feel free to make suggestions.

 

I would be great to have a web demo scene to see how it works, and how to use it.

Your asset looks very cool, but without a nice presentation, it is hard to see it on the asset store.
I recommand you to take a look on the JMO's assets : https://www.assetstore.unity3d.com/#/content/8105

Nice demo = lot more people trying your asset

 

Hi there,
Asadar - You are so right

I have some news.
Toon Shader Mobile got updated, now contains ± 384 shaders at a new price, 15$
I submitted a new Shader family, Toon Shader Free. It will be free.
Toon Shader Desktop will get updated soon after Unity 5.0 public Beta.
Price will remain at 50$. Expect >1k of shaders coming.

-Ippokratis

 

Hello, first off fantastic shader! Second, I do have a feature request that may be valuable to some. I call it a "Profile" adjustment of the line itself. What I mean is, the outlines that are created by the shader are very straight, this "Profile" adjustment would give the outlines more of a hand drawn or inked look. So the outlines would be drawn based on a profile texture or a curve, to make then "sketchy" or "wiggly" etc. This is commonly used in Adobe Illustrator. The shader that does this would have a complete leg-up on other outline shaders out there.

 

Hi,
Thanks for the kind words.
The feature you describe is interesting and you can do it now.
All you need is a high poly mesh, with the profile you choose.
The alternative of doing that in GPU using a displacement shader - tessellation would not work on mac and would roughly cost the same.

 

What about for mobile? Adding density to every mesh in a game would be out of the question. If there was a way to distort the outline in some way, that would be best. Would you see any other way of accomplishing this?

 

Well, another possible approach would be using an image effect.
It is costly too.
I cannot think of a resources friendly way to accomplish this really.

 

A new version of Toon shader desktop is under development.
It features :
- modular design a la standard unity 5 shader
- matcaps, rim lighting, gooch (ramp) shading
- normal maps
- outlines ( colored, asymmetric, that work in ortho and perspective and editor )

...and unity 5 compatibility.
Send me a pm with your invoice nr to get beta access, until it gets approved.
Kind regards,
-Ippokratis

 

ok, I am biased, but I like it a lot.

supports matcaps, specular map ( a proper one, not the alpha mess), emission map, plays well with environments, shadows. Soon.

 

Would you like to have a peek at the new shader ?
If you have purchased Toon Shader Desktop, you can access the beta for Unity 5. Simply send me your invoice pdf at ippobour@gmail.com

I have made a webplayer, so you can test the shader.
Simply click here.

 

Toon shader desktop v2.0 is in the wild (Asset Store ) and rocks.
Unity 5 compatible, a ton of extra features, more details this weekend
No extra charge for those who purchased already.
Cheers

 

I think I saw you were working also on cutout shaders. Are these included here or are they separate?

 

Hi there,
Yes, the cutout shaders are included.
Let me know if you have any other questions.
Kind regards,
-Ippokratis

 

I used ur web demo of the robot, but I was disappointed when seeing that the reflections are a gradient and not celled. It would be fantastic to have metallic materials but still with toon reflections

 

Hi Rinzio,
Would you like to give me a visual example ?

 

Sorry, I sometimes switch words when I read, thought u were offering to give a visual example
What I meant was that I see in ur shader that the reflections feel more realistic because they transition gradient instead of step off like these images I googled
http://scenekitbook.com/images/C12P1.png
http://img00.deviantart.net/42a4/i/..._shade_color_study_by_soulaura777-d4tg0sr.png
http://static1.squarespace.com/stat...091/t/532559eee4b0d798548288f5/1394956783378/
Notice how the shininess is very well defined within a region, and does not have any transition to the darker color but instead steps off at an edge.

 

Hi,
For some reason, I was not notified for the post from the forums, which is weird, sorry for the late response anyway.
I believe I can achieve the desired look with toon shader desktop, but it will need some tweaking on my side.
I PM you for the details.
Kind regards,
-Ippokratis

 

Hi,

Do those shaders have an option for occlusion, to appear behind objects? (silhouette, rim, etc.)

Cheers,

 

Hi Nicolas,
Thanks for contacting me. Not in their current form.
If you are interested in such functionality, please pm me with more details.
Kind regards.

 

Hi Ippokratis (great name btw),

Was very happy to see you are active on the forums, I was about the buy but saw that the desktop version was updated back in September. Do you have any planned updates coming?

The feedback from @Nicolas.Liatti and @Rinzlo would be very good additions.

Cheers