Anime Toons and Filatoon Shader Q&A
Mada
Posts: 1,967
Finally the toons and the filatoon shaders are available :) I haven't had this much fun with a new feature in Daz Studio in a long time, and pretty much everyone who had the opportunity to test and play with it said the same.
You will find a new folder called Genesis 9 Toon with 2 figures - Genesis 9 Base Anime Feminine and Genesis 9 Base Masculine. MallenLane did an absolutely amazing job on sculpting and rigging the toons, everytime I use them I smile because its such a pleasure to work with :)
The Filatoon shader is used in combination with Filament’s fast rendering. The toon outline is accomplished by creating a geometry shell and applying a special shader to it.
***A general request - please don't post in this thread if all you have to say is you don't like it, it creates long threads to wade through in search of answers - I'd like to keep this thread easy to read for those users serious about wanting to learn and use the shaders and figures.
edit : under render settings I'm recommending to turn mipmaps off, but test with both options to get the best result for your image
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Filatoon Shader
The new toon shader for Daz Studio is designed to bring the aesthetic of hand-drawn animation and comic books into 3D rendering.
Unlike traditional shaders that aim for photorealism, the toon shader emphasizes artistic style, making it ideal for projects that require
a more illustrative or stylized appearance.
The toon shader is used in combination with Filament’s fast rendering. The toon shader’s customizable features allows for a fast
workflow, allowing you to see changes and adjustments to your scene almost instantly in the viewport, significantly speeding up
the workflow compared to other render engines that require longer render times.
The toon outline is accomplished by creating a geometry shell and applying a special shader to it.
*The toon shader is not currently available on the Mac since Filament is not supported
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Filatoon Presets
The presets apply base settings for the different materials which can then be adjusted.
Outline thickness can be adjusted in one of two ways:
1. Select the geometry shell in the scene tab, then select mesh offset on the parameters tab, adjust the offset distance on the slider
2. Run the "FilaToon - Outline - Add" script under presets while holding CTRL and it will pop up a dialog asking for the thickness.
3. Filatoon - Constant
Use this preset for items that do not require an outline or shadow. The shadow line and outline are turned off, making it suitable for elements like eyelashes (which use alpha textures), irises, eye highlights, and eyebrows. It's also ideal for any clothing details where an alpha channel for opacity is necessary. It will remove the geoshell.
4. Filatoon - General
Ideal for use with clothing, props, and environments. This preset includes a standard gray ambient shadow and a subtle rim light, providing a balanced and versatile toon shading effect.
*Can be applied to individual materials and tweaked
5. FilaToon - Hair
Specifically designed for use with hairstyles, ensuring that hair renders with the appropriate toon shading properties.
6. FilaToon - Skin
Tailored for characters' skin, this preset ensures that skin tones and details are shaded correctly within the toon shader framework.
7. FilaToon - Metallic
Perfect for metallic items such as buckles. This preset enhances the reflective and shiny characteristics of metallic surfaces within the toon shader. Adjust the environment weight on the shader (last one on the list)... slide it from 0 until you get the effect you wanted.
Toon Shader Components
Ambient
Use ambient to control the shadow color/strength. Ambient is a multiply on the underlying texture.
Use it to set the minimum values that will show through.
Shadow Smooth
This determines the cutoff for shadows, creating distinct light and dark regions, crucial for the toon effect.
Specular Threshold
Controls the sharpness and intensity of specular highlights
Fine-tune the thresholds for shadows and specular highlights to create distinct bands of shading.
Rim Lighting
Control and enhance object silhouettes with rim lighting (adds a glowing outline around edges) by adjusting the Rim Amount,
Rim Threshold, Rim Shadow Strength and Rim Color. Rim Color needs to be set to a color, not black.
LUT presets
Color grading and shading transitions presets
Specular and Shadow use the same LUT map.
Different offsets will sample different parts of the image.
Divide the image in half vertically and put the shadow in the lower half, specular in the upper.
A value of 0.25 for shadow and 0.75 for specular gives you some pixel buffer
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MatCap Base Colour Blend
Blend base color and images with different layer effects like multiply, color, screen, overlay
• MatCap weight 1, blend mode set to Base = unshaded result
• MatCap weight to 1, blend mode set to MatCap will turn
everything else off and only show MatCap
MatCap is the bottom layer, Base Color sits on top of that, Glossy on top of that
Render Setup Tips
Lighting Setup:
Begin by adding a distant light to your scene
Before adjusting the brightness of the distant light, add a spotlight. This helps to illuminate your figure directly and allows you to better observe the effects of the spotlight.
Adjust Spotlight Settings:
Change the shadow type to 'Deep Shadow Map'.
Adjust the brightness according to your preference, ensuring the spotlight effectively highlights the details of your figure.
In the spotlight's settings under the Parameters section, test your render with 'Photometric Mode' turned on or off. Depending on your scene, one setting may work better than the other.
Finalize with Distant Light:
Once you are satisfied with the spotlight’s effect, increase the brightness of the distant light to enhance overall illumination.
Rendering Engine: Viewport
Set pixel size for render
Render Target set to New Window.
Q : Where can I find the FilaToon shader scripts
A : My DAZ 3D Library > Shader Presets > Filatoon. Under that you will find FilaToon - Base and Filatoon - Outline. You can also apply any of the presets and it will create the outline geoshell if it doesn't exist (except for FilaToon - Constant, it will apply the shader without the outline). If everything is black after you apply the preset make sure you're in the Filatoon renderer, and either turn on Auto Headlamp or add some lights.
Q : How do I accentuate the black line in the middle of the nose as well as the lips?
A : Mouth Lips Part (3 shapes and 1 overall controller) was added under Pose Controls>Head>Mouth>Base Anime to control the gap between the lips to force line visibility at the lip seam; lines require a gap of space between geometry to appear. Three different regions so you can show the line where you want it, for things such as side smirk etc.
Q : the outline is dotted or not showing on clothing
A : the outline shell needs to have a bit of thickness and if for example the edge is just a thin mesh it loses the line. First thing you can try to improve it is to use the expand all on the clothing item, the geoshell sometimes get hidden by the body if its tight fitting, so looser is better in this case. That should fix the dot lines.
Q: How to make a surface looks metalic with FilaToon and Filament drawstyle
A: Apply the metallic preset to your item, then find the environment weight on the shader (last one on the list)... slide it from 0 until you get the effect you wanted.
Q: The eyes create an optical illusion of always looking at the viewer
A: If you load a Toon figure and zero out the anime morph to get the default Genesis and that happens, you can use Toon Iris Depth Left and Right to fix it :)
Tips and tricks from users in this thread :
Lights parented to nulls : https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/8905426/#Comment_8905426
How do I use strandbased hair :
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/8908286/#Comment_8908286
https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/8908356/#Comment_8908356
A: You need to have line tesselation set to 3 for both viewport and render
How to control the effect of the specular highlights : https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/8920431/#Comment_8920431
How to use transmapped hair : https://www.daz3d.com/forums/discussion/comment/8923351/#Comment_8923351
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Comments
To use on Genesis 9 without the toon morph but other Genesis 9 morphs, load the gender anime figure you want, and then search for anime and select currently used in the shaping tab.
There's proportion dials connected to the main dial so you need to actually zero the main dial, not just the body and head dials. On the shaping tab search for Anime, then select Currently Used and then find the main morph - for the female that is Base Anime Feminine and for the male its Base Anime Masculine - that will then zero all proportion dials as well.
Following this method will keep the custom eyes, lashes and eyebrows that works with the outline and has a lot of customisation to work with the filatoon shader.
I found that using the anime morph at 30% and a G9 morph at 70% gives me the best results. This is Josie 70%, Base Anime 30%
Wow, @Mada.
Thanks a lot for creating this thread. Hope I will be able to use all of the features,
especially with multi-figure scenes.
Is this an actual Shader - ie it can be applied to anything?
Does the latest version of DS 4.23 work in windows 10, I've got the impression that it needs windows 11?
If I undrestand this correctly, the shaders only work in Filament render mode - which is not available at all on Mac up until current 4.22 version. Mac users have been instructed NOT to upgrade to 4.23, so I cannot check if it has been made avilable - suppose it isn't. I really like the look of the shaders, but they seem to be not useable for me. Please tell me I am wrong.
Unfortunately you are correct - but there are work going on behind the scenes to get it out to mac users as soon as possible. The shader relies on filament to work properly.
Yes it is an actual shader and it can be applied to anything - and then use Filament to render it out. The scripts supplied will create an outline and set up the shader in your surfaces tab, then you can tweak till its how you like it.
I prefer to disconnect all the other maps and only use a base map, and then tweak the rim lighting.
I am not sure about the windows 10 question, I will ask. I however don't think that's the case. Edit to add - yes it works fine on Windows 10
Thank you
First of all, this looks amazing, and it's something I've wished was available in DAZ for decades, so thank you very much! As to my first immediate questions, you mention that there was work made to have G9's eyes work with the cartoon shader; is there something the average user can do to replicate the effect on other figures? G8 would obviously be the priority, but animals would be quite important as well--and that brings up the issue about how, if at all, it works with strand-based hair. I haven't used Filament, but I guess that's a non-starter? What about VDB?
@Mada
Thank you very much for posting this thread !
BTW, very considerate making on Tensai School Uniform product.. Filatoon + iray presets !
The eyes are completely new geometry with all kinds of effects and it was a lot of work. So right now no - its not easy to replicate.
Strand based hair does not work - you need geometry for the outline to show up.
No idea about VDB - hopefully someone else can answer that for you :)
For people who want to create clothing and would prefer to do on the toon shape rather than base G9 - I made a video to explain how to reverse the shape back to G9. Please note that you need to model on a figure without any proportions dialed in - so for the toon figures I recommend actually exporting the model you get with this method and use that to model your clothing on.
If you don't see the anime toon figures under the dropdown there is a script in the Developer Kit as well called Set G9 to Shape
I had fun with that - I thought it could be cool to swap from iray to toon in an animation - like in some shows where actors end up in toon world :D
Indeed ! Many thanks again !
Hello, I installed DAZ 4.23 but I can't find a new folder called Genesis 9 Toon with 2 figures - Genesis 9 Base Anime Feminine and Genesis 9 Base Masculine
Wow wow ! Thanks for this tutorial as well !
It's from an update to Genesis 9 Starter Essentials, that you may have to search in DIM.
You also need the resources packages, as far as I know there's 2 of those.... I'm not sure what they're called - let me check and find out :)
Edit - yes what Elor said above :) thanks
Vicky 9 looks awesome and is the only reason I will give Filament another try. But I run into a little problem. I upgraded to 4.23 via Install Manager and installed the character bundle also with IM. Now, when I try to use the figure I get the message that the BaseAnimeF_figure_ctrl_Character.dsf is missing. So where should the Morphs be located?
Did you install Genesis 9 Starter Essentials?
I love the Filatoon shader!
Here are a few tips to get you started:
- Switch your viewport to Filament mode
- Add a distant light, at about 10000 to 15000 lumen
- To get a file of the workspace view, go to your render settings, set the size you want and switch your render engine to "Viewport" (right at the top of the panel).
Rendering is instant, it's amazing!
Hope that helps; those were the things I struggled with when I used Filatoon for the first time, so I thought I'd pass this info on to make things easier for other users.
ok, sorry for posting in the wrong thread. I'm downloading the new Starter Essentials now :)
Yes, I'm currently de-installing and reinstalling the toon essentials. If it doesn't work, I will try installing it manually.
Im guessing theres more settings I have to play with besides just applying the shader, are there any tutorials on how this works?
There's a PDF attached to the first post that explains the different settings, and best way to learn is to load the anime figures and see how its set up :)
I'm sure there will be more tutorials appearing too as PAs drop in. What in particular do you want to know?
I seem to have lost all the entries in smart content for the previous genesis 9 starter essential products. I think it's all still there somewhere in my Daz install (at least the figures are), just missing from smart content. Has anyone else noticed that?
Yeah, I had to install the dsf from the toon essentials manually. now it works just fine. Time to get creative. :)
Ok, maybe I'm blind, but please tell me how I switch to Filament Render Mode...I can't find it...
Wow I've been looking for a solution to these kind of render styles for a long long time. I do have some questions:
+ I saw above that you said the Filatoon Shader can be applied to anything, does it includes building, props and other stuff? How impactful will the shader has on these non-human object? And how much work I have to do to "convert" a scene from a normal style to the anime style?
+ As the shader can only work with Genesis 9, how about the converted character from genesis 8.1 to genesis 9? Will that work too?
Thank you very much.
There's a scene file in the starter essentials that'll set the environment up for you. You can switch between iRay and Viewport rendering in the render settings tab. For viewport rendering, make sure your viewport is set to filament. I think that's how it works.
If you load one of the toon figures it will automatically switch. To manually switch you can find it in the viewport dropdown - image attached.
To render you select Viewport as the Engine.