In the selection of this topic, I chose to research the causes, significance, and production methods of “NPR” art style rendering. In this presentation, I will discuss this topic in four parts. The first, why did I choose this topic. and then I will briefly describe the reasons for the emergence of “NPR”, and analyse how to make 3d models look like 2D animation. and the last one show my learning results of the “NPR” material.
The reason why I chose this topic is that in my undergraduate study, I have tried the production of both 3D animation and 2D animation. In a 2D animation production class, I drew more than 700 paintings in just 1 min of animation. After that, I swear that I will not make any 2D animation again. Although I like the Japanese animation style very much since I was a child, But the production of two-dimensional animation is too hard and needs good painting talent. So how to use three-dimensional technology to make a two-dimensional animation style is always my learning goal and interest.
So why does NPR rendering appear, I’ve read a lot of papers on why NPR rendering occurs and where it starts. The answer is also obvious. As I just said, making two-dimensional animation is too time-consuming and laborious. Japan is the largest production area of two-dimensional animation in the world, and so far two-dimensional animation is also the mainstream of Japanese animation. However, two-dimensional animation production consumes too much manpower and material resources, high investment and low return, which makes the development of the animation industry in Japan encounter difficulties,
The initial rise of “NPR” animation was from 2013 to 2014. Arpeggio of blue steel produced by sanzigen animation studio and Knights of Sidonia produced by polygon studio started first. Although 3D has been widely used in Japanese animation, it is mainly used in robots, vehicles, and other non-biological props. This is the first time that these two animation studios have used 3D to imitate two-dimensional effects for full animation characters,It also changed everyone’s first impression of 3D animation.They created a new style of animation to solve the problem that 2D animation is too difficult to make.
After watching a lot of NPR rendering tutorials and NPR animation, I summarized three key points of making NPR animation。
There are three main points in the production process of “NPR”, which are also the key points that distinguish the two-dimensional style from the three-dimensional style.
first. It’s very important to simplify the planes of the face. If the model has too many details, it will be difficult to make animation stylized effect.
The second point is that the transition of light and shadow relationship in 3D rendering is excessive, but in 2D style, the transition of light and shadow is very clear, and there is a very clear boundary between light and dark.
The third point is that all characters and objects in the two-dimensional style have clear outlines.
There are many ways to complete “NPR” rendering, including using plug-ins or directly on materials. After watching many online production tutorials, I choose to use Arnold’s Aiton material to complete. First of all, I did a simple material test and try. Then change the type of filter to contour in render settings. In this way, I can make the outline of the model show, completing one of the three points. Then add a colour to the base coloru, and then create a ramp node on the tonemap. Then add a colour to the base colour, and then create a ramp node on the tonemap
After I learned how to create cartoon materials, I began to try to apply them to character models. At present, I have only finished the static “NPR” rendering. In addition, I will continue to explore the performance of “NPR” in animation and learn to innovate in this new style of animation while fully learning to render the two-dimensional picture effect.
