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.

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: 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…
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