sanman
05-06-2007, 05:56 PM
Hi, glad to have found this nice forum! :)
I had this idea about using 3D animation software to generate classical-looking 2D cartoons, and was looking for some useful input on how to go about this.
We all know that most 3D software will generate a finely shaded 3D-looking output that approaches photorealism, which looks nice in many movies and videogames. But classical 2D cartoons have their own special appeal, because they emphasize shape outlines and their movement, while eliminating distracting surface detail through simple color-fills.
There are already 3D software renderers which do flat-shading, cel-shading, cartoon-shading, and vector-rendering. Basically, they're doing edge-detection and rendering these edges as outlines.
There are renderers which can literally render a 3D animation in Flash (.swf) output format.
However, this kind of 2D rendering doesn't quite look as natural as hand-drawn cartoons, mainly because it is a frame-by-frame exact 2D projection of a 3D animation, with a simplified color scheme. It looks rotoscoped.
An authentic 2D hand-drawn animation has its lines and curves morphing/shape-blending in 2D, in a smooth fashion. This is quite different from a 2D projection of a curve that is morphing or smoothly changing shape in 3D.
The key to bridging the gap then is to be able to render your 3D animation as a set of morphing 2D curves. So you'd end up with a collection of 2D curves that are shape-blending in 2D, thereby giving a more authentic hand-drawn look. I'd like to have a discussion on how to go about achieving this. Thanks for any input you call can provide.
I had this idea about using 3D animation software to generate classical-looking 2D cartoons, and was looking for some useful input on how to go about this.
We all know that most 3D software will generate a finely shaded 3D-looking output that approaches photorealism, which looks nice in many movies and videogames. But classical 2D cartoons have their own special appeal, because they emphasize shape outlines and their movement, while eliminating distracting surface detail through simple color-fills.
There are already 3D software renderers which do flat-shading, cel-shading, cartoon-shading, and vector-rendering. Basically, they're doing edge-detection and rendering these edges as outlines.
There are renderers which can literally render a 3D animation in Flash (.swf) output format.
However, this kind of 2D rendering doesn't quite look as natural as hand-drawn cartoons, mainly because it is a frame-by-frame exact 2D projection of a 3D animation, with a simplified color scheme. It looks rotoscoped.
An authentic 2D hand-drawn animation has its lines and curves morphing/shape-blending in 2D, in a smooth fashion. This is quite different from a 2D projection of a curve that is morphing or smoothly changing shape in 3D.
The key to bridging the gap then is to be able to render your 3D animation as a set of morphing 2D curves. So you'd end up with a collection of 2D curves that are shape-blending in 2D, thereby giving a more authentic hand-drawn look. I'd like to have a discussion on how to go about achieving this. Thanks for any input you call can provide.