Get *PERFECT* Anime Face Shadows (Easier Way) in Blender

[@inxendere]

This new generation of blender youtubers are really epic. Please make more tutorials you are great

[@2amgoodnight]

Thanks, more on the way.

[@FutabaCG]

THIS IS A THOUSAND TIMES EASIER THAN EDITING NORMALS!! Perfect for blender animations!! Thank youuuuu

[@SilentRedaction]

If you make UV maps dedicated to x and y rotation lighting, and run the node setup as 3 groups comparing to one another for shadow depth based on overlap, you can implement a full faked lighting system.

[@Smash_ter]

thing to note: if you don't want to mess up your textures make a second or third UV map over in the UV Map section. For game engines like Unity, you can assign up to 4 UVs

[@RobbieTilton]

very helpful to have this in english as well. thanks for putting this together!

[@GlitchmanVGM]

Amazing tutorial!! This is so incredibly helpful! My dream is to make anime in Blender and I see that you have a lot of videos on this topic, so I just subscribed! Keep up the great work! 👍😃

[@FF-FAN9999]

genius. i really didnt want to go normal editing

[@Nitenstar]

Instead of using paint, you could use a python script ( with pillow ) to convert every png into a 24 bit depth png ( still works, the examples in the original file are 24 bit too ). Takes a couple seconds and works like a charm.

[@TheBrother34]

I wanted to try adding more images as the text file in the sdf tool folder says I can. However, it only reads up to g. I solved it! You would need a batch file reader, I used Notepad++, and opened up the bat file. I added h-k.png in the string with the a-g png taken between quotes. Save it, then run the program after getting the monochrome bit png images. Now I can get specific shadows for the face :D

[@NemisisRecords]

Thanks for the tutorial, this is a nice method!

[@DENTYUcord]

This video is so nice tutorial. btw, Did you create this image blend tool? Also, can i use this tool for work ?(i mean, does this tool have a license for use?)

[@ProjectAtlasmodling]

just going to say this even thouse this is an easy way to do it the normal editing method and shaders offer more control and can work in a larger verity of lighing

[@DearBearDrinkingBeer]

nice

[@EvanAxel]

Awesome video! Since this is technically creating a texture that controls the shadows from left to right, would it be possible to do the same for top to bottom?

[@2amgoodnight]

Yes, totally possible.

[@XINN1X]

@@2amgoodnight what should we change in the nodes\driver for this to work? I can't seem to get it to change when i rotate the sun

[@HeathGleason]

So the math nodes are essentially just a bolean? If true, subtract, if not, add, etc?

[@aroyofficial]

Great video! Are you going to upload more tutorials like this one in the future?

[@2amgoodnight]

Yes, more on the way

[@Wonton-the-Sea-Snail]

im still having troubles with the nodes. the shadows dont look right; what I have right now is that the shadow is moving earlier than the sun. the shadow perfectly covers half of my characters face when the sun is only pointed at 11'oclock. the shadow completely coveres my characters face before the sun even hit 8 o clock, but thats not the worse issue. currently, the shadow only goes from left to right, and then the shadow just envelopes the face. it does have the shadow waning across the face, or having that shadow on the other side of the face. it just goes from light, slowly transitions to black, then just stays black, and then cuts to light again when the sun restarts rotation. EDIT: nvm it works now

[@OskarNendes]

I wonder how it would perform if you coded a GLSL shader instead

[@ConchStreetStories]

how does this get IMPORTED to Unitty 3D??

[@2amgoodnight]

Unfortunately It can't be imported to Unity directly because they use different nodes. You would have to recreate the shader graph in Unity. If I learn this I will share the method later.

[@ConchStreetStories]

@@2amgoodnight but you would achieve the same effect right? Cuz i mean thats the whole point of making such characters,, for the game. I will be waiting for that tutorial :)

[@SanyaBane]

"Limited to Z rotation" Thanks for your efforts, but I dont really understand who might need it when it it is limited to only 1 axis. Just for renders?

[@phillyleotardo4343]

I guess for anime talking type scenes its ok but for example if the character is fighting and rotating in like multiple axis then it wont work, personally I prefer editing the normals, its pretty easy

[@cybyr_]

I'm having trouble at 2:50 ish mark. When I import the UV Map my face turns into the grid like the UV topology, when yours turns into a black material. I tried to cheat this section by adding a black material instead of the UV map but for some reason, even with the face selected, I can only Texutre Paint on the eyes. Have you experienced this? Your work looks amazing and I would love to be able to learn from this guide but unfortunately I'm stuck 3 minutes in :(

[@kloa4219]

Thank you! How would it work in game engines, would we have to write a special shader for it?

[@2amgoodnight]

Yes, you would have to recreate the shader in your game engine. However, for example Unity may not have the exact nodes as Blender so a workaround is needed. For easiest transfer to game engines, editing normals is probably the best way.

[@whatTheblue]

Hey I'm really impressed with this result. Can you make a two lights setup for light coming from below, as you said???

[@2amgoodnight]

Hi, if you want a light from top to bottom you can do the same photoshop + gradient tool process but vertically instead of horizontally. Then you could just create a 2nd material for it and switch between them depending on if you want the light to come from sides or vertically. But if you meant combining those two.. that's more difficult and might as well just edit normals at that point 😅

[@whatTheblue]

@@2amgoodnight Yeah it makes sense, as long as it's an individual project making just two gradient is enough

[@cooleosfool]

what do you do for a "universal/global" lighting? and does this work with cel shading outlines?

[@rykerblender]

Excellent tutorial but damn is it too fast. I’m not a beginner in blender and it was still hard to fallow.

[@titoepfx4272]

can this export to anything and keep it? trying to make anime stuff for roblox but as far as i know the only stuff i can export from blender is texture and vertex normals and face normals and the mesh itself

[@KuraSamurai]

Is it work with shape keys correctly?

[@OpheliaTerat]

Could something like this be done with highlights instead of shadows? Also is it possible to import this into unity or unreal engine?

[@2amgoodnight]

Sure, you would just have to make the area brighter instead of darker, and make it affect opposite area than shadow. Direct import from Blender to Unity is not possible but there is a Unity method that does the exact same thing, instead you create the shader in Unity: kzbin.info/www/bejne/gny1YnyKmbSYga8

[@SimpLeKadd]

thank you. i was searching for the past week for EXACTLY THIS.

[@mishamuraigames]

How to make it in unreal engine?

[@CGDANJI]

THE RUN.BAT DOESNT WORK ANYMORE!! I get an "Error Texture : image\a.png" I already have all my files in 1 dept & bmp file. Edit: nvm after 4-6 hours weeks of struggling i finally figured it out! All of the files must be png and then run "run.bat" to get that blending finished. Thanks 2AM for this amazing tutorial, now i can peacefully do the shading🙏😭 i apologize

[@salamota]

Thank you.. What if you rotate the sun on the y or x axis Will face shadow errors happen?

[@2amgoodnight]

Hello. No, the rotation on y/x axis will not affect the shadows in any way.

[@salamota]

@@2amgoodnight How do I use the sdf tool? I made a group of shadow images.. and when I run the file, I can't find the image

[@2amgoodnight]

@@salamota Make sure you follow the step to save the images as lower bit type in Paint

[@salamota]

@@2amgoodnight thank you.. i make the texture in illustrator😘

[@anupamkumar4109]

I have a question . Is it possible to export it to unity

[@2amgoodnight]

Exporting directly to Unity is not possible.

[@anupamkumar4109]

Can you do anime style fur

[@2amgoodnight]

Yes in the future.

[@MVA41]

Of couse it didn't work. Lies

[@screenkiduniya3717]

Bruh it works for me😅

[@MVA41]

@@screenkiduniya3717 can you tell me how you made the sdf thing