Digital technology has become a medium to give life to your ideas and creativity. Reaching a virtual reality is possible only through computer graphics. Photorealism, a concept has made the computer graphics more fascinating and realistic. The concept was the talk of the town until the introduction of non-photorealistic rendering. But before venturing further about non-photorealistic rendering, let us know more about the concepts of rendering.
Rendering, one of the core sub-topics of 3D computer graphics is the process of developing an image for animation from the 2D or 3D model. And making this image realistic or non-realistic is mainly dependant on the type of audience and requirements. Realistic rendering acts a visualization tool for adding realism to the designs or work. But not every time the photographic form looks good because it should also be appealing enough to capture more eyeballs. Animated movies are the best examples to highlight the luxurious implementations of NPR. From graphic novels to 3D animated movies, NPR is playing a major role in the development of computer graphics. NPR is altogether creating a lateral shift from the world of realism. Like a moth getting attracted to fire, more number of animators are getting influenced to implement NPR in their development.
Introduction to Cel Shading
A type of Non-photorealistic rendering technique, Cel shading is used to provide a flat or 2D effect to the images with 3D appearance. In simple words, the images somewhat gets a comic book or rather a hand drawn effect. Flat shades are capturing more eyeballs than heavy tones. A decade old or may be a still older we can say, Cel shading animation technique is the best example to prove this. Cel shading is mostly adopted while creating video games and animation movies, due to its simple eye-catching effects. Also, people implementing this should make sure that the image is not heavily polished or made unduly blunt which can affect the overall appearance.
In cel shading or toon shading technique, outlining the images is one of the major actions performed to uplift the overall appearance. Usually, Sobel operator which is based on edge-detection algorithm is used to achieve this accurately. This operator ensures that the action is performed without the consumption of actual image.
Rendering techniques should be implemented only after efficiently analyzing the expectations of targeted media and audience. Compared to CGI, Cel shading is less time-consuming and has a reduced cost-structure. Apart from giving professional touch the characters or images, Cel shading technique is also lending a dutiful hand in easy accomplishment of the set goal.
