Hi, I don't know if anyone has tried the Z-Toon technique yet in Vue, but I have and it works amazingly well. First off, if you don't know what the Z-Toon technique is, it is basically flattening your model in the Z-Dimension.SnowSultan wrote a Poser Tutorial on it, but it works in Vue as well as Bryce and other 3D applications. It seems that this is also how expensive Cel-Shade and Illustration plug-ins work in Lightwave and 3DStudio, so this is an ultra-cheap way to get the effect of a $400 illustration plug-in. First I played around with Mitch's diver scene, that comes with Vue, and flattened the diver in the Y-Dimension instead, instead of Z, since it didn't look right in Z. With some models you may have to use Y instead of Z. Maybe even X. But only flatten in one dimension. I placed the camera directly overhead, loaded the "Others"- "White Back" atmosphere (which has no clouds at all), turned the sunlight colors all to white, and turned off all shadows. Set the sun to Azmuth 180 and Pitch 90. The good camera setting I found was a 100mm lense, which also has a flattening effect. My idea was to set up a "Copy Stand Camera", like the one that is used by graphic houses to copy flat artwork. Mitch's diver, with the water removed, looked just like an Adobe Illustrator type of render once I rendered it with these settings. It's a very different look than what you normally see in Vue renders and some people may think this is crazy, but there is actually commercial art uses for this technique. So it really isn't so stupid, if you know what you are going to do with an illustration. Sometimes a commercial job calls for a "flat art" look, rather than a realistic ray-traced look. This technique gives you an extra trick for using Vue if you like to make money doing graphic illustrations. If anyone wants to try it and come up with an even better way to do this, I would be happy to see it. Ockham wrote a great Python script for Poser to set up a Z-Toon scene and make everything Flat. I ran the script and imported the flat Poser scene into Vue and it worked great and it saves you having to try to flatten your poser models in Vue. There are probably other ways to do this in Vue that might work better in some cases, so I'm open to any ideas that others may have. BTW, this is a great technique too for doing Egyptian and Greek wall-type illustration. My Egyptians and Greek ships look just like art ready for pottery or ancient temple walls.

Attached Link: http://www.renderosity.com/tut.ez?Form.ViewPages=319

SnowSultan has just posted a new updated version of the Poser tutorial, if aren't familiar with the Z-Toon concept you should take a look.

This is pretty cool! I have been working on another way of doing this for a project but no luck. I will give this one a shot. Thanks!

If you aren't familiar with "z-ing", its good to stay in a range of 5-10 and no less. Too flat and your image will degrade badly. Higher than 10 and your image will start to look embossed. That can be a good thing, however, if you wanted it to look like a layered fresco wall mural.

Thanks for the info. It definitly gives me artistic ideas. ;) Charles

Attached Link: Z'd scene

I've done it in Bryce and the principle is the same in Vue. In this one I set up the scene as usual and used a radial behind the camera with falloff set to none and turned off shadows. I went into camera space and selected each object, except the horizontal ones, and reduced the Z size to very small. I then selected the horizontal items (flat terrains) and set the Y size very small.

You'll want to simplify your materials as well.

Um, Y and Z are opposite in Vue. Forgot to mention that, but you probably realized that anyway.

Attached Link: Original Before Ztooning

This was just a test. I simply took a scene and grouped all objects (except the camera and the ground plane) into one. Went into camera space and set the Z Size (Y Size in Vue) to very very small.

I haven't changed any materials or anything, this just shows what happens. Love the effect this gives. Very primitive.

Link is to the original scene as it was rendered prior to Z-tooning.

hmmm, is there of those plug-ins that are cheaper then $400 or do you mean $4.00? That's really neat and I'd like to try it! Jinx

Great images, Spit. The one in Bryce looks just like a wall tapestry. Thats why this is a useful technique, because you can create artwork for your 3D scenes that look authentic for an older period. The Bryce Z-Toon would look great in a Renaisance (sp?) Era scene. BTW, I know fine artists who make LOTS of $$$ with "primative" art styles! Isn't life funny! FearaJinx, the main $400 app I was alluding to is "Illustrate!" for 3DStudio, other similiar apps exist for Lightwave. There is also stand-alone software like Swift3D for around $199, but you must import 3DS or OBJ's. The new Carrara 3 will also offer some Cel Shade effects. But personally, I like the effects that Z-Tooning creates.

Those buildings look very familiar, Spit ;^) chikako

Great topic ! Simple idea and powerful results, thanks !

Look at the link, Chikako...you're definitely credited. I love those buildings...wish you'd do more. Hint Hint :)