Cartoon Rendering of 3D-Scenes (Cel-Shading)

Cartoon rendering of 3D scenes (1996)

This page describes a cartoon-looking (cel-shading) rendering algorithm I developed in 1996.

This rendering algorithm produces images with the appearance of a traditional cartoon from a 3D description of the scene (a static or an animated scene).

The 3D scene is rendered with techniques allowing to:
- outline the profiles and edges of objects in black,
- uniformly color the surface inside the outlines,
- render shadows (backface shadows and projected shadows) due to light sources.

Figure on the right summarizes our algorithm (click it to get full size figure).

"photorealistic" teapot versus "cartoon-looking" teapot

More details in this Paper.

Rendez-vous (1996)

Rendez-vous is a short cartoon (1mn12) created using 3D descriptions of animated scenes. Images are produced by our algorithm, there is no hand drawing. These scenes are modeled using some standard tools on Silicon Graphics workstation (SceneViewer, noodle,... ). Thus, an OpenInventor scene is produced. Animations are obtained by editing the Inventor script and adding it animated nodes.

If you have a VRML viewer, you can visit the "Rendez-vous" virtual world in 3D (152 Kb + 192 Kb inlined): just click on the left icon.

• Eurographics'96, Poitiers, France, August 1996
• F.A.U.S.T. 96 (Forum des Arts de l'Univers Scientifique et Technologique), Toulouse, France, October 1996
• ARTE (French/German TV channel)

Ph. Decaudin. Cartoon-Looking Rendering of 3D-Scenes . Research Report INRIA #2919 , June 1996.

Ph. Decaudin. Modélisation par Fusion de Formes 3D pour la Synthèse d'Images -- Rendu de Scènes 3D imitant le Style «Dessin Animé» (Modeling using Fusion of 3D Shapes for Computer Graphics -- Cartoon-Looking Rendering of 3D Scenes). Ph.D. Thesis of Universite de Technologie de Compiegne (France), December 1996.