Ton says yes for better (and possibly the best) toon shader for Blender Internal

Remember our post from last year? BNPR Exclusive: Advanced Toon Here is an update. BNPR went on a covert mission to save Blender Internal renderer.

Journey anyone?

At 4k resolution, with X-Toon, this renders in less than 50s [with 5x FSAA]. Over 60 fps in realtime HD. Journey in Blender anyone?

Time: 0116 (+8GMT)
Date: 29th April 2013
Mission: Sneak into IRC #blendercoders channel and get notice by Ton
Backup unit: LightBWK (Light aka not the Light from Death Note)
Perpetrators: Lee Posey (jikz aka miniTon), Ton Roosendaal (kaito aka THE REAL TON [please stand up]).

Perpetrators

Perpetrators: I might put it the wrong way, can’t decide, they looked the same. miniTon is bigger?

Event recorded: The exchange…

[01:16] <jikz> is there room for discussion about an NPR rendering type here?
[01:18] <kaito> hey the jikz!!
[01:18] <jikz> basically, it would be great to get X-Toon into blender.
[01:18] <jikz> Hey!
[01:18] <kaito> i saw tweet, what is this x stuff?
[01:18] <jikz> i will show you: http://www.pasteall.org/pic/show.php?id=50205
[01:19] <kaito> too complex!
[01:19] <jikz> i will find links to the code/ demo as well. but this is how i envision it
[01:19] <jikz> basically it takes shades of grey and turns them to coordinates, then remaps 
new values to them
[01:20] <kaito> ehh
[01:20] <kaito> but what if stuff moves
[01:20] <jikz> that is accounted for.
[01:20] <jikz> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fxrcGrNZNwQ
[01:21] <jikz> it mainly uses Z-data from cam, or distance from object to make a greyMap
[01:21] <jikz> you use this grey map plus the shader data and combine them to X,Y data and 
then can use a 2D color ramp
[01:22] <kaito> hrm - seems like a toon texture
[01:22] <kaito> or more like toon shader...
[01:23] <kaito> we can easily extend blender internal material editor for nice toon options
[01:23] <jikz> yes-- like another dimension to a basic color ramp
[01:23] <jikz> that would be super awesome.
[01:23] <kaito> now the shader system has hardly no support for toon
[01:23] <jikz> the picture i posted is simply the way I imagined it working in the nodes 
for realtime shading
[01:24] <kaito> well the basics should better be hardcoded, noodling this is clumsy
[01:24] <kaito> just like we have multiple diffuse, spec renders
[01:24] <jikz> oh ok, here is a more formal proposal: 
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1D1fuDh964WNb2Yrkh9249hSxZLzmuTfheRzgf4DILoo/edit
[01:24] <jikz> the trick is a nice clean way to make 2D color ramps
[01:25] <kaito> but ehh this shouldnt be node based?
[01:25] <kaito> this depth-based toon control is very easy to code
[01:25] <kaito> and additionally you need a toon-ramp
[01:26] <jikz> the toon ramp is simple image, or if you can, a vector based gradient system
[01:26] <kaito> ramp, image, all possible
[01:26] <jikz> so yes I had envisioned it in a node, but it could be easy to put under 
the diffuse/spec...etc fields for the material
[01:27] <kaito> kjym3_afk <-- the freestyle dev
[01:27] <jikz> :)
[01:27] <kaito> i think it needs a bit more design proposal work - add a special toon panel 
in materials
[01:27] <jikz> ok. will work on it.
[01:27] <kaito> and once it works in materials, nodes do too of course
[01:28] <kaito> also study other toon renders what they do
[01:28] <jikz> sounds like we have homework XD aye aye captain!
[01:29] <kaito> what's the top cartoon render now?
[01:29] <jikz> not quite sure.
[01:29] <kaito> apart from blender ;)
[01:30] <jikz> here is another vid, from the official x-toon paper: 
http://hal.inria.fr/docs/00/36/28/88/VIDEO/x-toon.mp4
[01:30] <kaito> with 2.67 having freestyle, i bet we can attract toon render specialist devs
[01:31] <kaito> it's just stuff that needs some experience
[01:31] <jikz> and this is a .blend with a FAKE way of doing X-toon, it works like X-toon would, 
but not as fluid and nice as it should be. https://www.dropbox.com/s/hdjf5g7w28f8z9n/X-ToonLandscape.blend
[01:31] <jikz> ok
[01:32] <kaito> also Disney Paperman shading is awesome
[01:32] <jikz> yea i liked that
[01:32] <jikz> the work method was interesting
[01:32] <kaito> jikz: why not hunt university papers about this, and contact students who work 
there for gsoc?
[01:33] <kaito> or ask the professors
[01:33] <jikz> will try! we have an extensive bunch of papers, will try to sniff out the creators
[01:33] <kaito> or post in npr forums where tech people hang out
[01:34] <kaito> also a good reason to keep blender internal working ;)
[01:34] <jikz> :D heck yes!!
[01:35] <kaito> so! the jikz has a mission!
[01:35] <jikz> make blender the best damn toon renderer in the UNIVERSE!!! XD
[01:36] <kaito> and beyond!
[01:37] <jikz> thanks for listening anyways, now i will fly off. ;) cheers!!
[01:37] <kaito> you're welcome here anytime
[01:37] * kaito likes artists kicking coders

Few minutes later…

Better Toon by Ton

 http://twitter.com/tonroosendaal/status/328564949184020481

Will miniTon find the coder? Will Blender Internal Renderer be forever alone [insert forever alone image here]? Stay tuned for the second part, due in few days, with juicy updates.

Mission log signed by: LightBWK
Approved by: codename BLENDERHEADS

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