Cel Shading

セルシェーディング / 1990s– / Technique / Digital Image Techniques

Cel shading quantizes continuous 3D lighting into a few flat bands and may add contours, retaining spatial movement while making the surface read like animation cels or printed illustration.

Cel Shading — Cel-shaded probability-density isosurfaces from a particle-in-a-box simulation — Kri — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 — Cel-shaded probability-density isosurfaces from a particle-in-a-box simulation — Kri — Wikimedia Commons / CC BY-SA 3.0 · CC BY-SA 3.0

Cel Shading — AI-generated interpretation 1 — AI-generated interpretation, not a reference work

Cel Shading — AI-generated interpretation 2 — AI-generated interpretation, not a reference work

At a glance

Visual cues

Shadow split into two or three flat values
Strong outer and crease contours
Uniform color planes with restrained reflections
Three-dimensional motion beneath a drawn surface

Best used for

Giving 3D games and animation a readable drawn surface
Clarifying complex forms in diagrams and interactive exhibits

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Dictionary entry

Type: Use headlines as strong as the contours and move small copy onto a flat field.
Composition: Choose an angle where silhouette and light-dark plane division remain clear.
Material: Quantize diffuse light to two to four bands, suppress reflection and draw only necessary silhouette and crease lines.
Caution: An outline around ordinary 3D shading is not cel shading. The lighting itself must become discrete planes.
Further study: Non-photorealistic rendering / Quantized diffuse lighting / Silhouette and crease lines

Related entries

Limited Animation (リミテッド・アニメーション)Shared effects: Play / Technique.Compare Cel Shading and Limited Animation
Low Poly (ローポリ)Shared effects: Technique / Play.Compare Cel Shading and Low Poly

Cite this entry

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Link: https://indexstyle.org/styles/cel-shading
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