Clean Anime Shading EASY! Edit Normals in *1 MINUTE* in Blender

Blender 2.93
Example File:
www.dropbox.co...
A lot of normal editing videos out there are too long or complicated, so here's an extremely simple way to edit normals to emulate anime style shadows. Somehow even easier than the "easy" way I uploaded earlier. Easily exportable. External plugins are not needed (i.e. ABNormal). A file is provided for you to follow along or use for whatever purpose you want.
Background Music: Pokemon Lofi - Helynt
• Pokémon Lofi Beats
#blender #blender3d #blendertutorial

[@tilde4353]

You can select the middle vertices and set them as sharp so they won't look wierd with the mirror modifier

[@RobbieTilton]

love seeing this tutorial with all default blender tools. only issue i'm seeing is the cheek side with the light on it has a reverse shadowed rembrandt triangle now. I think that can be removed in the shader though.

[@mapleblade2712]

was wondering the same thing although i got no clue how u would remove that with the shader... kindly share pls :3

[@RobbieTilton]

@@mapleblade2712 cool. havent had time to try yet, but if I get it going I'll make a youtube video

[@rajabwali3373]

Lol, I always thought normals were just about turning red faced blue. But there was another layer. Thank you.

[@jeansamson4079]

Really helpful video! And as a pokemon fan, the music makes it better. I really love how you included the Verdanturf music. One of my favorite gen 3 themes

[@obsidianblack2642]

Thanks for showing us this simple method, I'll definitely use this technique

[@TimDownsAnimation]

Very curious to see how you rig a face with that kind of topology. I know that in flat NPR shading like this, topo doesn’t really matter a whole lot in the same ways it would in other cases. But it seems very limiting for deformations apart from the mouth.

[@mochyu.]

I agree with you, and yes, for some reason, if specific vertices are moving, the shading is always broken. I hope there is a solution to that problem.

[@brielviola5811]

@Mochyu I know of a way to fix this. You need two copies of the face mesh (I'll name them m1 and m2). You rig the m1 normally (with head and face bones and all) but for m2, you will only need to rig it to the head bone, no facial bones.
After that, you apply the normal editing shown in the video to m2. You put a data transfer modifier on m1. On the modifier settings, point the source to m2. Check face corner data. Under face corner data, select custom normals. And select the mapping to topology. Hide m2 and you are done.
The idea here is to have a main face mesh (m1) and a proxy face mesh (m2). The proxy mesh is the one to hold the edited normals and the main mesh will copy the normals of the proxy.
The proxy mesh is only rigged to the head while the main mesh is fully rigged. This way, when you move the jaws or eyelids, the shading will not break because the main mesh is copying the shading from the proxy mesh.

[@Greenman4890]

@@brielviola5811 Wouldn't this still break when exporting to game engines? Clever solution for inside blender though

[@crimson-foxtwitch2581]

@@Greenman4890just manually edit vertices w/blendshapes.

[@crimson-foxtwitch2581]

the answer is “you don’t, you manually edit vertices w/blendshapes instead”

[@drluigi3760]

This is fantastic. Can't wait to see the next video.

[@hhboyo]

chill lofi beats to catch pokemon to

[@alan_ars]

Fantastic man!!! Is the first time that I see this method!!

[@loredragonwrites7673]

This was just what I needed. Thank you for this!

[@phillyleotardo4343]

Thank you !

[@jadeneonsiren]

This has helped me out so much! Such a great explanation. Quick question: do you recommend editing the normals before or after editing shape keys? Or are you constantly adjusting the normals as you go?

[@IanPaulBrossard]

Pokémon Center theme!! your videos are amazing!

[@Tsero0v0]

Amazing tutorial!

[@victory_summery]

great tutorial! thanks for the vid

[@leonaluceid2388]

i think the mouth like that , it has some beneficial for some mouth expression (wtf i cant even talk or choose word in here) like you can make the mouth super wide like smirking or wavy A or E ( i see some anime when they scream their mouth is A but weavy), and maybe :3 saving some poly count ?

[@2amgoodnight]

Yep, both true

[@MasterNinja786]

Amazing video. Keep it up man

[@antsonfire408]

Yooo it's gunsblazing secret account. Cool stuff!

[@FutabaCG]

You are the best dude!! Thank you!

[@soirema]

awesome, thanks!!

[@Weredah]

helped alot, thank you!

[@peterben]

This is Genius
Thank you alot

[@anupamkumar4109]

Man this is incredible. But the topology will be a pain

[@ritpop]

fantastic

[@adityaghozali538]

amazing

[@georgetherat3345]

Really helpful. This will make things easier. Thanks

[@puneetvarshney1110]

awesome

[@DearBearDrinkingBeer]

This is genius! Thank you. However, a question arises. How to make a smooth gradient?

[@ibrremote]

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼👍🏼

[@animeculture]

Is there anyway to transfer this to unreal engine? It’s hard to find a clean cel shaded look like this for it

[@AA-hx8rl]

Gold

[@eno_one4106]

I cant apply modifiers because I have shape keys...
What should I do?
Anyway, can you do shape keys for facial expressions?

[@2amgoodnight]

You could try the plugin SKkeep which allows you to apply modifiers even if you have shape keys

[@ducanhcter4155]

but when we use subdivision surface it's not effect to it

[@Damian_h]

it will affect it. One thing i did was split the mouth section that is all triangulated subdivide the body to get that smooth result and re attach the mouth again then set the triangles around the mouth again.

[@colaphoenix6849]

me looking at the shading. HEY that's how i draw anime!

[@marcorubio8377]

what about shape keys :C? is possible make them without break the normals ?

[@jaye6612]

just too k a look at the home room teacher from SV;s model and realized they went full pbr for that game

[@kolalev8734]

Damn its based af

[@swrcPATCH]

I am in edit mode and I do not have the option to show normals, there are non of the 3 buttons you have Blender 4.1

[@Ayeato]

confused what your doing with the mirror modifier, do I hide half of the face or what?

[@Ayeato]

so how do you fix this then if your face is rigged and your moving it?

[@titoepfx4272]

how about normals for anime shading with soft shadows and no shaders?

[@skilarbabcock]

How do you get the cel shaded look though? I can't use this tutorial without being able to see that shadow

[@adog3129]

i can't find the shadow option in blender 4

[@ryansrandomvidsandmore1852]

Question, does this work on other blender versions like 4.0 or just this one only? I'm having trouble finding the modifiers tab on version 4.0

[@Damian_h]

bro did u find a way to combine this method with SK?. I tried to set up some face expressions with the basis custom normals edited but when i blend into the new shape key the normals gets distorted. I tried some data transfer to correct the shape key normals and it works but when i go back to basis now custom normals from basis are broken in a never ending loop any idea how to work with custom normals and shape keys properly?.

[@bookle5829]

I guess this is an old method of yours, and your new method is using the data transfer modifier.

[@MoccaDeShibe]

I kept having problems where the mesh normals gets super messed up whenever the mesh deform. (Ie, shape keys and armatures)
Do you have any solutions for that?

[@wilsoncloud6916]

where is the shading method?

[@TUTUSAKU]

bgmなんか聞いたことあるなって思ったらポケモンか

[@Sibilyan]

does this mess up when using shapekeys?

[@Damian_h]

It does and really bad. Im having this problem right now.

[@xyx6622]

hi bro❤ how can i get this working in unity urp

[@Ryan_Tse]

for some reason when I paste it in, nothing changes

[@2amgoodnight]

Try toggling your Auto Smooth in Object Data Properties -> Normals, also make sure you're copying from only 1 vertex

[@Ryan_Tse]

@@2amgoodnight I’ll look into it tonight and tell you what happens, thanks for replying

[@Ryan_Tse]

@@2amgoodnight yeah nothing is happening

[@gabriellecabato7629]

I encounter similar problem at first but I kinda figure out the problem. Try to turn off the "On Cage" on subdivision surface.

[@Ryan_Tse]

@@gabriellecabato7629 okay I’ll try it

[@buery113]

does this work on roblox