SOFTWARE: BLENDER
HOW DO I MAKE CARTOON SHADERS IN BLENDER?
John Morse, York
Paul Hatton replies
Using cartoon styles is easier than ever with Blender’s shading tools and the Grease Pencil tool
In years gone by, artists were constrained to work in either 2D or 3D. Animators who wanted to work in 2D utilised a set of tools specific to their requirements. 3D tools were left primarily for creating in 3D and then rendering to 2D. In some of these applications it was possible to render objects with cartoon shaders, but it was hard work and not particularly suited to animators.
Blender provides a rich set of tools that bring the worlds of 2D and 3D together. There are still numerous animation packages that function solely in 2D and these will continue to take up most of the 2D animation market. The likes of Synfig Studio, Pencil2D and Toon Boom Harmony provide tried and tested features that are well loved by the animation industry.