Render magic, straight from Cinema 4D

Calder Moore

Surface artist at Atomic Cartoons

Surface/texture artist Calder Moore walks through the techniques he uses to create his stunning toon-like scenes in C4DtoA.

Under the hood / Step 01

First, change your renderer to the Arnold render in the render settings. To get the edge detection lines, change the default filter type to Contour filter. The lower the default width filter is, the thinner the line. In ray depth, drag total rays down to zero, so you don't get global illumination bounces. You can use any light with the toon shaders, I use a distant light for a globally-lit scene.

To create a toon shader, go to Create → Arnold → Surface → Toon Shader and apply to the scene objects.

First, change your renderer to the Arnold render in the render settings. To get the edge detection lines, change the default filter type to Contour filter. I use a distant light for a globally-lit scene. To create a toon shader, go to Create → Arnold → Surface → Toon Shader.

Under the hood / Step 02

To create the step look, grab the black node in the ramp RGB and change the Interpolation to Step. Start to bring back that white information in the gradient slider.

The tone mapping works by getting multiplied on top of the color channel in our base attribute. You can add in more gradient nodes to your color channel and really start to dial-in how you want your objects to look and feel.

To create the step look, grab the black node in the ramp RGB and change the Interpolation to Step. Start to bring back that white information in the gradient slider. The tone mapping works by getting multiplied on top of the color channel in our base attribute.

Under the hood / Step 03

The emission tab is where I like to do most of my material creation with the toon shader because it has more customizability than the base channel. You can blend the emission and the base colors together with the same color to blend and tone down the shadows.

The emission tab is where I like to do most of my material creation with the toon shader because it has more customizability than the base channel. You can blend the emission and the base colors together with the same color to blend and tone down the shadows.

Under the hood / Step 04

The edge detection drop-down is the most powerful part of the Arnold toon shader in my opinion, because it provides so much customizability for the silhouette and contour lines. It’s fun to try out different textures and settings to see what you can make with it. Try using C4D noises for a more organic feel. You can import masks to map out where you want your edges to be. I created some masks from the JSplacement application. It can create realistic-looking materials.

Other important attributes to consider are the angle threshold in the edge detection channel and the texture attached to the mask color channel. Play with the multiply attribute in your texture node (or run through a gradient node) to adjust how the edge detection gets applied.

The edge detection drop-down is the most powerful part of the Arnold toon shader in my opinion. You can import masks to map out where you want your edges to be. Other important attributes to consider are the angle threshold in the edge detection channel and the texture attached to the mask color channel.

Under the hood / Step 05

You can customize the specular channel by bringing mixing ramps together to fine-tune the look you want.

You can customize the specular channel by bringing mixing ramps together to fine-tune the look you want.

Under the hood / Step 06

The stylized highlight is a quick way of doing tone mapping, but it needs a light to plug into it. If you use the stylized highlight, it tells the specular highlight not to work, unless you bring down the weight.

The stylized highlight is a quick way of doing tone mapping, but it needs a light to plug into it. If you use the stylized highlight, it tells the specular highlight not to work, unless you bring down the weight.

Under the hood / Step 07

In the rim lighting channel, the more you bring in your width, the more it wraps around your object based on the opposite of your camera. Also, you can mask out what you want the room lighting effect to be by using a light in the room light option.

In the rim lighting channel, the more you bring in your width, the more it wraps around your object based on the opposite of your camera. Also, you can mask out what you want the room lighting effect to be by using a light in the room light option.

Under the hood / Step 08

The geometry tab is where you'll plug in your normal mapping and your bump maps to affect your objects and material. Take note when you apply a bump/normal map to it the edge detection is affected. Use this to your advantage to further customize your contour lines.

The geometry tab is where you'll plug in your normal mapping and your bump maps to affect your objects and material. Take note when you apply a bump/normal map to it the edge detection is affected. Use this to your advantage to further customize your contour lines.

Under the hood / Step 09

All in all, the best thing you can do with the toon shader is just mess around with it! Try using the nodes in unique ways, use camera projection, and play with all the settings. A fun way to play with it is to find a 2D look and try to mimic it. This will start to give you a good understanding of how to use the shader for what you want out of it and not just copy a tutorial setting by setting. Tutorials only really teach you how to make specific things but if you play around with it yourself, you’ll really learn how to use it.

To learn more, watch the full Arnold Toon Shader tutorial.

All in all, the best thing you can do with the toon shader is just mess around with it! Tutorials only really teach you how to make specific things but if you play around with it yourself, you’ll really learn how to use it.

Watch the full tutorial