How to create a Cel/Toon-Shading effect on models using blender! [OUTDATED]

[0929lego]

9/26/21: This post is currently outdated, as in, this is not the most efficient way of creating a cel/toon-shading effect. This post will be updated shortly.

What is Cel/Toon-Shading?

Hello! I recently found out how to create a Cel/Toon-Shading illusion and thought I’d share the process with you! It is pretty easy and involes no scripting whatsoever! Here are some examples of what it is:

Examples

Requirements:

-Roblox Studio
-Blender (I have Blender v2.79, but v2.8 still works too!)

How To:

1. First, open Roblox Studio and blender.

2. Next, create or open the file to the model you want to apply the shading to in blender.

3. Save a copy of the model and open it to Roblox Studio by adding a mesh part and pasting the mesh ID into the model.
   

4. Once you have the model in Roblox Studio, go back into blender and open the model again. Press the “Tab” key to go into edit mode.

5. Select all the vertices by pressing “A” until the vertices are selected (they should have a yellow tint over them).
   

6. Press “Ctrl+N” and a box will show up somewhere on the screen that looks like this:
   
   Select that to true.
   

7. Once you do that, save your model and upload it to roblox the same way you did before. Make this model all black in roblox studio or whatever color you want the shadow to be.

8. Size the models the same size and have them be the same position, then make the all black and inverted model a little bit bigger than your normal model to give it an outline.
   

9. The final result should look something like this:
   

10. Mess around a bit and you can create things like this:
    

I hope you found this post helpful and simple, if not, please leave a reply on what you found difficult or hard to understand and I will try my best to help you.

[Chrythm]

You can actually do this entirely in blender. Duplicate the first model, remove UV and textures on the dupe and go into edit mode on the dupe. Press A to select all faces and then press ctrl+n like shown in the tutorial. Now the fun part: select all faces again and press alt+s. This will extrude faces; you want to extrude outward. How far? That’s your choice. Once you’re satisfied with the extrusion, you’re all set! Export everything as one model. The texture should still apply correctly.

[nooneisback]

This is even better because it will apply the effect to inner surfaces as well.

[0929lego]

This would work too! Good idea

[x_o]

this can also be achieved much faster with the solidify modifier

[cc567]

PSA: This can be done with SpecialMeshes as well. I understand there’s some limitations with them but the effect is quite nice. Just duplicate the mesh and set the second scale negative. You can play around with the numbers to get the outline you desire.

The first mesh has a scale of [10,10,10] while the second has a scale of [-10.2,-10.2,-10.2]

[fdfxd]

Roblox studio actually imports vertex colors, you can skip a few steps by just inverting the normals, adding a black vertex color to the “inverted shape” then export right away.