fiziwig2 posted at 11:08PM Mon, 05 October 2015 - #4232453

Thanks for that link. Some real stunning work there, but I don't understand how he did what he did. Something about inflating and reversing normals, but I can't make any sense out of it. I sure love the results though, so I'll keep trying to figure out what the heck he was talking about.

No prob. That was actually the wrong link. I meant to give this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=heSn6iVB__M - it's an earlier webinar from before the game dev release, but it's the same artist - Brian Haberlin. He gives a few brief samples of what filters and settings he applies in photoshop - which should be relatively easy to replicate in manga studio if you know what to look for.

As for the method he's using in the most recent version, regarding normals, I think he's using a python script. That's the only thing I can figure since he doesn't actually show how he does it (of course). I can't find anything in Poser that allows you to reverse the normals. But basically from what I gather, there are two meshes present per model. The 2nd mesh is black with its normals reversed so that you only see the outer edge. With the entire model being black and with backface culling on in the render settings, you get the holding lines around the model. Then the model is scaled up and down via a master parameter depending on how thick or thin you want those lines to be. That duplicate reversed model is conformed to the first model, so that it follows posing just as any conforming clothing would. If I could figure out how to reverse normals in Poser without running a python script - or if I knew which script to run, even - then I could do a test/demonstration to see if my theory is correct.

They mentioned doing a future webinar showing the exact process, but it's been nearly a year now and Steve Cooper is no longer with SmithMicro, so who knows if that webinar will ever happen.

At any rate, here is a quick example of just using the toon shading in pp2014, without all the fancy normals work. It's not as crisp and pretty as the examples in that vid, but for line art to then paint in photoshop or manga studio, along with some clean-up work, it should still be suitable.

If you want more lines and less shadow then just adjust the intensity of your light. Also, you could do multiple renders at different light intensities and then layer them in your paint program at various levels of opacity, erase some bits here and there, add thicker lines in spots, etc., to get the desired look.