Cel-shade outline style?

[Idaero Ace]

I wonder why nobody ever use that, especially those anime maps -_-
I tried to figure out my self it i think its work pretty well, both in model viewer and in-game. Havent tried more complex model though, only static. It's fairly simple, only need to copy the mesh, increase size, flip normal, and done.

(it looks ugly but with some tweak it can be fixed)

So, is it has some secret negative effect so nobody ever use it?
afaik It will only increase model size up to 30kb (it's doubling the polycount).

preview

 

[GhostWolf]

That's a neat trick.

 

[infrenus]

If I remenber quite right, it doubles model poly count. Depending of the model, it can turn huge. Another problem is making a good cellshade for moving bits, sometimes they just stretch wrong for the effect, so you need to tweak aound the bubble. But other than that, I dont know any other negative really. There are models with cell shade around, like Grendel borderland guns I think and some anime models in other sites, I once tried to make a mlp with it too (Should try it again really someday).I think nobody uses because its a very striking style that might clash with the ingame one, I have no idea.

 

[HappyTauren]

^yup, and I'd say clashing with the ingame style is the biggest problem of all, getting enough resources with this type of shading is hard and then it will just look weird if there's only a few of them

 

[Chaosy]

I actually love this art adaption, specifically for cinematics.

 

[Idaero Ace]

Okay thanks. Yes its doubles poly count and need more tweak. Good to know that it has no side effects, i had a plan to make a map with this style, maybe on 2020.

 

[GhostWolf]

Can you show a screenshot in-game? hard to tell how it would look.

 

[Dr Super Good]

So, is it has some secret negative effect so nobody ever use it?

afaik It will only increase model size up to 30kb (it's doubling the polycount).

You go on to answer your own question... It doubles model complexity.

Now days with GPUs so powerful WC3 is a joke for them to render it is trivial, but in the old days much less so. It might also increase the chance of hitting some kind of geometry limit, where models start to distort towards the map origin.

Also is this how cell shading is meant to work? I thought the outlines were generated by some clever shaders.

 

[Idaero Ace]

Also is this how cell shading is meant to work? I thought the outlines were generated by some clever shaders.

Right, what i did is a trick to model to make it like cel-shading, its not like cel-shading in borderlands or guiltygear xrd. Its been used a lot on Sketchfab website. There also a render setting in 3dsmax, maya, blender to give cel-shade, but it will only be seen inside the program.

Spoiler: 1

Spoiler: 2

Spoiler: 3

And a model i created got bugged, its attached to other unit and also made the other model bugged too 0.0

Spoiler: bugged

edit: managed to fix it. I forgot how to export properly, it give me empty mdx file. so I exported it to obj, open in MatrixEater, export as mdx. I totally forget that i need to convert to mesh before export to mdx with neodex XD

Spoiler: 4

It looks decent imo, giving more contrast feeling to the model. see that other model looks blured now. It works if you play on native resolution though (which i bet everyone is). From default camera, the lines not really visible but somehow looks more contrast. Hmm just realized that blizzard model has some of black lines too. It will looks great on Cinematic

 

[Dr Super Good]

I would be worried about Z conflicts. Having 2 identical meshes close to each other in scale when viewed from far might cause graphic errors, especially for thin volumes.