1

1INTRODUCTION....................................................................................4
Welcome............................................................................................................... 4
License Agreement ............................................................................................... 6
IMPORTANT -- READ CAREFULLY: .................................................................................. 6
1. General..................................................................................................................... 6
2. Use of finalToon ........................................................................................................ 6
3. Multiple use and network operation ............................................................................. 6
4. Transfer.................................................................................................................... 7
5. You May Not: ............................................................................................................ 7
6. Limited warranty........................................................................................................ 7
7. Warranty Disclaimer................................................................................................... 7
8. Confidentially ............................................................................................................ 8
9. Registration Data....................................................................................................... 8
10. Other ...................................................................................................................... 8
finalToon Overview .............................................................................................. 9
Flash and AI.................................................................................................................14
The Various Line Styles ...................................................................................... 15
Visible Fold Lines ..........................................................................................................15
Hidden Fold Lines .........................................................................................................16
Visible Crease Lines ......................................................................................................16
Hidden Crease Lines .....................................................................................................17
Visible Intersection Lines...............................................................................................17
Hidden Intersection Lines ..............................................................................................18
Visible Material ID Lines ................................................................................................19
Hidden Material-ID Lines ...............................................................................................19
Visible UDV Lines..........................................................................................................20
Hidden UDV Lines.........................................................................................................21
Visible Angle Lines ........................................................................................................21
Hidden Angle Lines .......................................................................................................22
Support & Contact Information .............................................................................23
Stay in Contact ........................................................................................................23
Technical Support Information ..............................................................................24
REFERENCE GUIDE ...............................................................................26

THE FINALTOON RENDER EFFECT ........................................................26

Global Settings Rollout ...........................................................................................28
Default Edges rollout ..............................................................................................31
File Output rollout ...................................................................................................34
Canvas rollout ..........................................................................................................36

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 finalToon Line Editor .......................................................................................... 37
Basic Parameters .....................................................................................................39
Advanced Shadows rollout .....................................................................................43
Noise Effects rollout ................................................................................................45
3D Effects rollout .....................................................................................................48
2D Effects rollout .....................................................................................................50
Edge Maps rollout....................................................................................................55
finalToon Material .............................................................................................. 58
finalToon Shader rollout .........................................................................................59
finalToon - Edges rollout ........................................................................................65
finalToon Texture Maps ..................................................................................... 68
finalToon Hatching Map..........................................................................................68
Other finalToon Maps .............................................................................................76
finalToon Render Elements ................................................................................ 79
finalToon Material Converter Utility ................................................................... 82
Procedure: ................................................................................................................82
finalToon Field-Renderer .................................................................................... 84
TUTORIALS ...........................................................................................86
Tutorial 1: First Steps ......................................................................................... 86
Tutorial 2: Second Steps .................................................................................... 95
Tutorial 3: Advanced Line Styles...................................................................... 102
Tutorial 4: finalToon Hatching ......................................................................... 109
Tutorial 5: Reflections ...................................................................................... 116
Tutorial 6: Handling Transparent Objects ........................................................ 120

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Introduction

Welcome

Destiny Image courtesy of Steve Weber

Thank you for purchasing finalToon™ for 3ds max™. finalToon is the ultimate cartoon and
illustration renderer for 3ds max, offering unparalleled power to the user. We hope that you will
find that finalToon gives you all the tools you need to create the incredible effects.

finalToon is an advanced Illustration and Cartoon rendering system. A CG artist doing feature film
cartoon animation can use it to the same professional extent as an architect who wants to give
their AutoCAD drawings a final, polished touch. The uses for finalToon are nearly endless and
only limited by your imagination. Special features including semi-procedural “line hatching” and
complex noise line effects make finalToon a Swiss Army knife for all kinds of illustration and
cartoon related tasks.

The philosophy we took when we created finalToon was to integrate professional level software
design with ease-of-use into the product. Of course, finalToon is a very deep product. It is easy
to get started with, but has enough power and options for expert users to get amazing results. In

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order to get up to speed quickly, our advice is to go through the tutorials and watch the training
videos. The ideas behind finalToon's design should become clearer to you. Be aware that
finalToon offers many new concepts that you might not have seen before. Follow the instructions
in this manual and try to work through it in easy stages. Don't make the mistake of trying to
learn everything at once. Practice will help you get comfortable in a short span of time.

Where to find finalToon in 3ds max

finalToon is a very robust solution for all of your cartoon and illustration needs. Because it is so
well integrated into the 3ds max environment, it is spread throughout the entire application -
giving you all of the options you need to create professional and stunning results.

This electronic reference guide is organized by functional areas. Below is a map that shows the
whereabouts of the features and functions within finalToon. As you can see, the finalToon plug-in
components are spread throughout 3ds max.

Render Effects: finalToon (Render Effect)

Material Editor: finalToon (Cartoon Material)
Shader: finalToon Shader
Texture Map: finalToon Hatching
finalToon Flat Mirror
finalToon Reflect/Refract
finalToon Thin Wall Refraction
Render Elements: finalToon Lines
Utilities: finalToon Material Converter
finalToon Field-Renderer

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5
License Agreement
cebas Computer GmbH Computer Enduser License Agreement (EULA) for finalToon
IMPORTANT -- READ CAREFULLY:
This CEBAS End User License Agreement ("License Agreement") is a legal agreement between
you (either an individual or an entity) and cebas Computer GmbH a company under German law
with residence in Eppelheim, Germany. By clicking on the "Accept" button, installing, copying or
otherwise using finalToon, you agree to be bound by the terms of this License Agreement. If you
do not agree to the terms of this License Agreement, click on the "Cancel" button and/or do not
install
the finalToon.

*******************************************************************************
NOTE, THIS PRODUCT MUST BE REGISTERED WITHIN 30 DAYS BEFORE YOU
CAN CONTINUE USING THE SOFTWARE FOR AN UNLIMITED TIME
*******************************************************************************
1. General
This is a license agreement and NOT an agreement for sale. Under this contract cebas Computer
grants to you a non-exclusive license to use finalToon, which is software and documentation.

finalToon itself as well as the copy of finalToon or any other copy you are authorized to make
under this contract remain the property of cebas Computer at all times.
2. Use of finalToon
(1) cebas Computer grants you a nonexclusive, nontransferable license to use finalToon and its
manual and other accompanying printed material and “online” or electronic documentation with
equipment owned by you or under your control, according to the terms and conditions of this
Agreement. This Agreement permits a single user to install and use finalToon on only one
computer at one location at any one time.

(2) If finalToon is identified as a demonstration, evaluation, or NFR version, you may use it only
for the purpose of commercial evaluation and demonstration. Such licenses are generated for a
specific fixed time period. After a NFR license has been expired, all related documentation and
data must be destroyed or sent back to cebas Computer or the dealer who handled the NFR
version.
You may not use it for commercial, professional, or for-profit purposes.
3. Multiple use and network operation
If this Software is a Network Version, you may use it only over an internal local area network
environment with the cebas Computer Floating License Tool, and you may install and operate
finalToon on a single server computer in a single location which may be accessed by other
computers, or on an individual computer, as a multiple-user installation with either:

(1) The maximum number of concurrent users being one (1), so that multiple individuals may
access or use finalToon, but that only one person at a time may do so, or

(2) The maximum number of concurrent users being more than one (1), in which case you must
purchase single seat licenses for each additional concurrent user.

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The use of software or any device that reduces the number of computers/devices which access
finalToon's licensing tool when used in a Server configuration may interfere or damage the
licensing tool or prevent finalToon from running properly. In no case will such a device "reduce"
or prevent you from buying the number of single seat licenses required.
4. Transfer
(1) You may not rent, lease, sublicense or lend finalToon or documentation. You may, however,
transfer all your rights to use finalToon to another person or legal entity provided that you
transfer this agreement, finalToon, including all copies, updates or prior versions. You must
inform cebas Computer in writing about a license transfer and the new user has to sign and
accept this license agreement.

(2) In case of such a transfer the license of the former user expires and all remaining data
covered by this license must be deleted/destroyed
5. You May Not:
(1) Copy or use finalToon or Documentation except as permitted by this Agreement.

(2) Reverse engineer, decompile, or disassemble finalToon except to the extent permitted by law
where this is indispensable to obtain the information necessary to achieve interoperability of an
independently created program with finalToon or with another program and such information is
not readily available from cebas or elsewhere.

(3) Install or use finalToon on the Internet or over a wide area network, including, without
limitation, use in connection with a Web based render farm or similar service.

(4) Remove, alter, or obscure any proprietary notices, labels, or marks from finalToon or
documentation.

(5) Utilize any equipment, device, software, or other means designed to circumvent or remove
any form of copy protection used by cebas Computer in connection with finalToon, or use
finalToon together with any authorization code, serial number, or other copy protection device
not supplied by cebas Computer directly or through an authorized reseller.
6. Limited warranty
(1) SPECIAL EFFECTS AND RENDERING PLUG-INS ARE TOOLS INTENDED TO BE USED BY
TRAINED PROFESSIONALS ONLY. CEBAS WARRANTS THAT finalToon WILL PERFORM IN
ACCORDANCE WITH THE DOCUMENTATION. CEBAS COMPUTER CAN NOT WARRANT THAT
finalToon WILL WORK TOGETHER WITH OTHER SOFTWARE AND PLUG-INS FROM OTHER 3RD
PARTY DEVELOPERS, BECAUSE OF THE COMPLEXITY OF SUCH INTERACTIONS BETWEEN
DIFFERENT OPERATING SYSTEMS OR SOFTWARE PACKAGES. THE USER MAY HOWEVER
IMMEDIATELY REPORT SUCH INCOMPATIBILITIES FOR FURTHER INSPECTION BY CEBAS
COMPUTER. SUCH A REPORT HAS TO BE DONE IN WRITING.
7. Warranty Disclaimer
THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND. cebas
DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES
OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL cebas
COMPUTER, ITS SUPPLIERS, TURBO SQUID, INC., OR DISCREET - A DIVISION OF AUTODESK,
INC. BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT,
INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF

7
cebas COMPUTER OR ITS SUPPLIERS, TURBO SQUID, INC., OR DISCREET - A DIVISION OF
AUTODESK, INC. HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGES. SOME STATES
DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR
INCIDENTAL DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.
8. Confidentially
All Licensing information, including license files, descriptions of code activation and written
instructions of any kind created by cebas Computer are only intended for the licensed user of
finalToon and no one else. Such information may not be spread or distributed in any form to
other users.
9. Registration Data
For the purpose of customer registration and control of proper use of the programs cebas
Computer will store personal data of the users in accordance with the German law on Personal
Privacy and Data Protection. This data may only be used for the above-mentioned purposes and
will not be accessible to third parties.
10. Other
If any provision of this Agreement is found to be invalid or otherwise unenforceable, the further
conditions of this Agreement will remain fully effective and the parties will be bound by
obligations which approximate, as closely as possible, the effect of the provision found invalid or
unenforceable, without being themselves invalid or unenforceable.

BY INSTALLING AND AUTHORIZING THIS SOFTWARE, YOU HEREBY AGREE

TO THE TERMS AND CONDITIONS PRESENTED ABOVE.

3ds max is a registered trademark of Discreet a division of Autodesk Inc. PyroCluster is a registered
trademark of cebas computer GmbH, PyroCluster, finalToon is a registered trademark of cebas computer
GmbH. deeZoo, ProOpticSuite, LumaObject are trademarks of cebas.



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finalToon Overview

Zeppelin image courtesy of Andre Cantarel

finalToon gives you, as an artist, an amazing array of tools to create convincing 2D stills and
animation from 3D your scenes.

The concepts behind finalToon are very simple. You create and apply a special finalToon material
to the objects you want to appear two dimensional and then you define how you want your
edges (called Line Styles) to look, and finally you render. Of course, this is overly simplified, as
there are a number of quite advanced tools and techniques to help you achieve looks that can
vary from traditional 2D illustration fine art, to modern television cartoons, to Japanese anime, to
architectural designs and mechanical illustrations.

The rest of this reference guide will teach you the necessary skills to become efficient with
finalToon, but before you begin that journey you should read the following sections so you can
begin to get familiar with the terms and terminology of this powerful product.

Geometry
While normal rendering technologies for 3ds max are designed to make your objects look
photorealistic in most cases, finalToon is designed to transform them from their original 3D
environment, and make them appear as if they were hand drawn 2D elements.

This 2D illusion is subject to the quality and design of your original 3D objects. As such, it is
absolutely critical that you design your scene objects with the understanding that low polygon
count models can appear "chunky" and reveal the 2D illusion. If you turn on specular highlights
or shadows within the finalToon Material, you'll start to see inconsistencies in its shading. Notice
in the example below that the edges of the sphere are more angular than curved, and the
shadows and highlights have irregular angles in them giving away the fact that it's a simple, low-
poly object.

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 Low polygon output

In contrast, by using high-resolution, or well tessellated meshes will give the finalToon shader
more information to work with, and therefore hide any inconsistencies in a much more convincing
way. The following sample below shows a much more convincing 2D illustration because the
geometry is higher resolution.

High polygon output

The same goes for the finalToon Edges. Using low polygon models will cause the edges to appear
straighter on curved objects which is an undesirable result that can destroy the hand drawn feel
(unless you're looking for that kind of blocky look), whereas nicely tessellated models will provide
enough information to make the Line Styles appear smooth and look correct.

Keep this in mind as you begin to plan out your scenes to make them look phenomenal and
create a convincing 2D illusion.

finalToon Shader
The finalToon Shader is a key ingredient to the 2D illusion that finalToon is capable of producing.
This shader is capable of producing a wide variety of looks, from heavily posterized cartoon styles
to smoothly blended, pseudo-3D surfaces.

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Typical cartoon output from finalToon

It is also able to create all sorts of awesome combinations in between, giving you the best of
both 2D and 3D shading.

Androbot - image by Andre Cantarel

Just like the built-in shading methods, finalToon also lets you apply semi-transparent shading to
your objects so that other objects and their associated lines appear through them.

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finalToon Line Styles
Line Styles are what give many cartoons their "cartoon" look. It's easy to make the analogy that
the drawn outlines of hand-drawn images are the equivalent of the Line Styles within finalToon.
But that would be an incomplete description of Line Styles within this amazing product.

Line Styles inside of finalToon can describe much more than the visible outlines and contours of
your scene objects. There are options so that you can actually see through your objects and see
the hidden outlines and contours. This is more closely related to architectural drawings and other
technical illustration work. Between the visible and hidden Line Styles, you can create an almost
unimaginable number of different looks.

finalToon hidden lines - image by Jan Hausle

As the Line Styles are such an important part of finalToon, there is another whole section within
the Introduction devoted to discussing what the line types are as well as how they function.
Please refer to The Various Line Styles section for more information.

Beyond the Line Styles that are generated by the geometry itself, finalToon is packed with a
number of Texture Maps designed specifically so you can create a number of unique looks and
pseudo-drawing effects. There are three different Reflection / Refraction maps that allow the Line
Styles to be reflected or refracted through other transparent objects.

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finalToon Refection of Line Styles

Also, the unique finalToon Hatching map gives you the ability to create the hand drawn sketched
shading looks of traditional artists.

finalToon Hatching - image by Thomas Pardun

finalToon Material Styles

As you begin to get into building your own Line Styles, defining complete "looks" for your object's
edges, you will want to save combinations of these separate Folds, Creases, etc. This is where
Material Styles come in handy.

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finalToon organizes its various Line Styles in an easy and straightforward way. Each line style
(Visible Folds, Crease Lines, etc.) may have hundreds of options and special settings. In an effort
to save you the repetitive task of setting them over an over, each one you create can be saved to
your hard disk as a special file with a *.ton prefix. Beyond just timesaving, this method also
enables you to define a database of line styles that are to be used for a specific project or show.
And since the *.ton files are standard files, your collection of company specific styles can be
easily managed and passed from one artist to another.

A collection of multiple line styles is called a finalToon Material Style, and these *.fts files are
also easy to maintain and manage. If you've created a material that has several line styles that
you happen to want to keep together as a unit, within the finalToon - Edges rollout or through
the Default Edges rollout within the Render Effects dialog, you can save the entire set of line
styles to this *.fts format for quick retrieval.

Vector Output: Illustrator & Flash

Flash and AI
finalToon offers a solid vector output option for AI (Adobe Illustrator) files. The great thing about
AI files is that not only are they readable by Adobe Illustrator; they can also be read by many
other applications. Please keep in mind that AI output from 3ds max may create some
interesting vector line and fill construction, especially when you try to get shading effects into
your 2D application. finalToon is not the holy grail for AI output but it is a great step towards
better vector output than currently found in other plug-in applications. For example, finalToon
supports automatic layering in Adobe Illustrator R10. This gives you easy access to the separate
vector elements of the output file.

Flash files have also become a standard on the World Wide Web. They offer good, clean vector
animation capabilities and finalToon gives you the ability to output to Shockwave Flash *.swf
format. The animations that finalToon produces are compact and clean and they don't need
much tweaking before publishing to the web.



14
The Various Line Styles
At the heart of finalToon is it's line style rendering. How our true line renderer determines which
edges get ink lines is controlled through a series of Line Types. Each one controls a different
aspect of your geometry and can be used in combination for cartoon and technical illustration
effects. In total, finalToon contains 6 different types to help you define a myriad of different edge
looks for all of your creations.

In the sections below you will find explanations for each Line Style. Please refer to it from time to
time if you have questions about the various Line Styles and their capabilities.

Fold Edges

Visible Fold Lines

Visible Fold lines are defined as object edges that share one front-side and one back-side face.
2D faces that do not share a back-side face will also show Visible Fold lines on their border. As
you can see in the illustration above, the Visible Fold lines are perfect for catching the contour of
an object. However, please keep in mind that a distorted surface like cloth might also show
Visible Fold lines “inside” of its contours where the object bends and hides some of the faces.

15
Hidden Fold Lines

Hidden fold lines are defined by the exact same rule as described in the Visible Fold lines. The
only difference is that the edges that are hidden (or occluded) are drawn. Technical illustrations
use such line styles with a dotted or dashed pattern to indicate that those lines are actually
hidden behind another object, as illustrated above.

Crease Edges

Visible Crease Lines

Visible Crease lines are defined by changes in the smoothing groups of an object’s surface. An

16
edge where both faces share the same smoothing group will not be drawn by finalToon as a
crease. Only if the edge and the sharing faces contain different smoothing groups will the line be
drawn as a crease. In the illustration above, the Visible Crease lines are drawn bold. As you can
see, the cube has different smoothing groups for each face sharing the same edge.
Hidden Crease Lines

Hidden Crease lines are defined in the same way as the Visible Crease lines. The only difference
is that the edges that are hidden (or occluded) are drawn. Technical illustrations use such line
styles with a dotted or dashed pattern to indicate that those lines are actually hidden behind
another object, as illustrated above.

Intersection Edges

Visible Intersection Lines

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Visible Intersection lines are drawn between two or more intersecting objects as shown above.
finalToon draws a line at the intersecting region of two or more objects. The illustration above
shows a sphere with a tube intersecting it. There are two renderings; the left one was created
without Visible Intersection lines active, and the one on the right was created with Visible
Intersection lines active.
Hidden Intersection Lines

Hidden Intersection lines are defined in the same way as the Visible Intersection lines. The only
difference is that the edges that are hidden (or occluded) are drawn.

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Material ID Edges

Visible Material ID Lines

finalToon supports a special line style called Material ID lines. As you know, 3ds max is able to
handle the application of many materials onto a single object. This is achieved by applying
different Material IDs to each face where you want a different material applied. By turning on the
Visible Material ID lines, a line gets drawn along the border between the two different Material
ID’s.

Hidden Material-ID Lines

Hidden Material ID lines are created in the exact same way as their visible counterpart except
that the hidden borders between Material IDs are drawn. Material ID lines can be easily
controlled by assigning different Material IDs to the object's surface.

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User Defined Visible Edges

Visible UDV Lines

User Defined Visible (UDV) lines are defined by the edge visibility stored in the geometry. Each
3ds max object is able to hold a list of visible and invisible edges. This list is reflected in how the
geometry shows up in wireframe mode within the 3ds max viewports as shown in the image on
the left. When Visible UDV lines are activated, finalToon will draw a line along each visible edge
of the geometry.

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Hidden UDV Lines

Hidden UDV lines are generated in the same way as their visible counterparts. The only
difference however is that these lines are occluded by the object and are not visible in the 3ds
max viewports. In technical illustration renderings, hidden lines are usually drawn with a special
line pattern to differentiate them from the visible edges of an object.

Angle Edges

Visible Angle Lines

Visible Angle lines are defined by the angles formed between the faces adjacent to one another
within the object’s geometry. The angles that are drawn are determined by two angle spinners
that define a range of values that finalToon will test against. Every single edge (both visible and
hidden) of a face is treated as a potential line, and when the angle of the faces tests within the
range defined, a line along the shared edge will be drawn. In the extreme case (Angle spinners

21
set to 0 and 180 respectively), every edge will be drawn, resulting in a wireframe rendering.
Hidden Angle Lines

Hidden angle lines share the same definition as their visible counterpart with the exception that
those lines are occluded by the object and are not drawn. In technical illustration renderings,
hidden lines are usually drawn with a special line pattern to differentiate them from the visible
edges of an object.



22
Support & Contact Information

Stay in Contact
finalToon is under constant development and we need your help to improve it. If you think of
features you'd like to see within finalToon, please let us know. We'd love to hear from you and
we will always answer your emails. It doesn't matter if you just want to write in to give us your
opinion. Tell us what you think and what you would like to see in upcoming releases.

The easiest way to contact us is by email.

Our contact information is as follows:

cebas Computer GmbH

Lilienthalstr.19
69214 Eppelheim
Germany
Tel. ++49 62 21- 76 00 38
Fax. ++49 62 21- 76 00 39
Email: [email protected]

NOTE: If you are looking for technical support for finalToon, then please go to the
Technical Suppport section.

Copyright Notice
The copyright of finalToon and the manual is owned by cebas computer GmbH Germany.
Reproduction of the software or associated digital information of this manual is forbidden, unless
confirmed and signed in writing by cebas computer GmbH Germany. All Rights are Reserved.
finalToon © cebas 2002-2003

This software is designed to work as a plug-in only for 3ds max.

Special thanks go to our beta testers:

Thomas Pardun
Kieron Helsdon
Metin Seven
Torgeir Holm
Jan Häusle
Matt Clementson
Rom Impas
Beau Perschall
Anders Stensgaard
Thomas Suurland

And not to forget our programming wizards:

Michael Breitzke
Eduardo Olivares
...for doing such a wonderful job!



23
Technical Support Information
General Technical Support
Turbo Squid, Inc. is pleased to have been chosen as Discreet’s partner for the DCP Program, and
as part of our commitment to the 3ds max users and DCP development partners, we are proud
to announce that we are offering free email-based technical support for all Discreet Certified
Plug-in tools. The most important goal behind our technical support endeavors is to ensure that
you have a good experience with your DCP tools, and in those cases where there are problems,
that you have a good experience with Turbo Squid in getting your issues resolved quickly.

If you are having any difficulties with your DCP products, then feel free to email our support
team at the following address:

Email: [email protected]

Please be sure to include as much specific information as possible when reporting errors
including the following:

• The DCP tool that is giving you trouble along with your product Serial Number
• Hardware configuration (single / dual motherboard, amount of RAM, etc.)
• Operating System (including language and Service Packs)
• Version of 3ds max
• Step-by-step description to reproduce the problem
• Other miscellaneous notes, plug-ins present and observations
• A *.max file that shows the problem
• A daytime phone and return email address (if different from the one sent in on)

When sending files for diagnosis, please be sure to compress them with a Windows utility like
WinZip or WinAce. This will make transfer a much faster, and simpler process.

You are also encouraged to visit the Turbo Squid DCP Technical Support forums to get answers
from fellow users and from the developers directly. This online community has been set up
specifically to make sure that you get the help you need, when you need it.

Installation & Authorization Support

If you’re having difficulty installing or authorizing your new DCP plug-ins, then you may also
choose to call our technical support staff directly so that we can get you up and running quickly.
If you decide to call, be sure that you have your Product Serial Number available. If you do not
have it, our staff won't be able to assist you.

Phone: (504) 525-0990

Please understand this phone line is for Installation support only, and all other technical and
usage support questions will be referred to email or to our support forums for assistance.

Other Options
cebas Computer will continue to enhance finalToon as part of the Discreet Certified Plug-in
program. When there are new releases or updates to finalToon, you will be informed by your
authorized reseller and through direct contact from cebas, Discreet and Turbo Squid. To best
keep you informed about new releases and free updates you must be a registered user.

24
You can register your copy of finalToon by email. Check our Web site regularly. We continually
publish new announcements about new software titles or updates to existing packages. We also
offer a private discussion forum for registered users. Please check the relevant information about
the “Family Web” on our site below.

You can reach our website at:

(International) http://www.cebas.com
(German speaking) http://www.cebas.de

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Reference Guide

The finalToon Render Effect

finalToon uses its own internal renderer to create accurate line drawings from the given 3D scene
data. Being a true renderer gives finalToon the ability to render all important line styles including
hidden lines, which can't be rendered by a shader-only approach. However, you won't find
finalToon as another renderer inside of 3ds max. This is due to the fact that we chose to
implement finalToon as a Render Effect, which gives you an enormous amount of flexibility.

finalToon Render Effect dialog

The biggest benefit to being a Render Effect is that you can use finalToon with any other
rendering system as long as it is 100% compatible with the 3ds max SDK. Keep in mind that not
all 3rd party renderers will work very well if they don't support 3ds max to the full extent as
suggested by the 3ds max Programmer’s Guidelines. We suggest that you use the built-in
scanline renderer, which is compatible by default, or use an even more advanced rendering
system like finalRender®.

You can manually add the finalToon Render Effect to the list of render effects or it will be
automatically added as soon as you create a finalToon material within the Material Editor.

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In the following sections, you can find the parameters and functions implemented in the
finalToon Render Effect:

Global Settings - For all objects that get Default Edge rendering, use this rollout to set
scene-wide parameters.
Default Edges - This rollout is where you build your default line styles.
File Output - If you need Flash or Adobe Illustrator vector output, use this rollout.
Canvas - Add background texture to your finalToon renderings with this rollout.

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Global Settings Rollout
The Global Settings rollout gives you access to the main features of finalToon, which are
independent of the line style.

finalToon Global Settings rollout

Shapes Color group of controls

There are several methods available to you to define the paint color of an object rendered with
finalToon. Using the options within the section is the easiest way is to make all objects a single
color. This is perfect when you want to have a line drawing only. Three options are available.

Shader - If this option is selected, the standard shading that is assigned to the object will be
used. Here you may use any kind of material or shading effect that is offered by the renderer.
This is the default selection.

Max Background - Select this option to use the 3ds max background color for all objects. This
will render the objects “invisible“ by using the background color for the as the paint color.
However, if the line color is also the same as the background color you will then see no single
outline or other line styles.

User Defined - Use the User Defined color option if you wish to set a specific color for all
objects in the scene. This will not affect the line colors, it’s only effect is on the object’s shading.

Anti-Aliasing group of controls

Every professional CG artist knows very well that the anti-aliasing functions of a rendering
product are the key to top quality images. This is even more true for a line drawing or illustration
renderer like finalToon. There are two choices from the dropdown menu: Fast and Quality. Fast
AA offers a highly optimized anti-aliasing method that in most situations offers the good quality
and speed. However, as you well know, there are always some situations when a good anti-
aliasing is not good enough. This is why we have implemented a second anti-aliasing method
called “Quality”, and it does what it says! The render time will be a little bit higher but the result

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should be superb even for your most demanding clients.

AA Filter:Fast - Use the Fast AA setting for most of your renderings. This method should work
rock solid for most situations when lines are not smaller than 1 pixel in width.

AA Filter:Quality - As soon as you get into trouble with lines where the width is below a single
pixel we suggest to use the Quality setting. This method works especially well on really thin lines
and strange angles.

Window Size - Window Size defines the resolution the image should be rendered. To catch
really thin lines (below 0.5 pixel width) the renderer has to virtually “zoom” into the region of
interest. A value of 8 will create a “virtual” rendering that is 8 times bigger than the rendering
resolution set for the image. As long as you render for video output there is no problem at all
using higher values.

Filter Size - This value controls the number of pixels that should be considered in the anti-
aliasing pass. Higher values will result in a smoother, more blurred image.

Lines group of controls

Resolution Independent - Check this option to have all lines drawn with the same relative
size, independent of the rendering resolution. If this option is unchecked, the line width is
measured in pixels. If the line width, for example, is 5, it means that 5 pixels will be used to draw
the line when this option is not checked! As you can easily imagine, a rendering of 100x100
pixels would be totally different than a rendering with a resolution of 1000x1000 pixels unless
this option is on.

Global Scaling - Sometimes it is useful to change the width of all lines at once. This parameter
allows you to do this. The value works as a multiplier for the line width, a setting of 2 will double
the width of all lines in the rendering. When you use this setting temporarily, do not forget to set
it back to 1.0 at a later stage.

Connection Angle - finalToon is one of the few illustration and cartoon renderers to offer true
connected lines in one pass. However, sometimes you do not wish to connect all lines and this
setting helps you in controlling this. The Connection Angle value defines the angle between two
lines that must be below this value to be connected.

This value is essential for 2D line drawing effects that are based on the length of the line.
“Thickness Pressure” is such an effect; the “running out” of ink simulated by fading the line over
distance. Only connected lines will show this effect properly. In the other case, the effect starts
all over as soon as a line stroke is finished.

Connection Angle = 45 Connection Angle = 100

Mapping Coordinate - Every line style effect uses mapping coordinates to draw its lines. This
option lets you decide if the projection of the line is done in 2D, real 3D space, or to add extra
effects to the line. Noise or other line effects are examples of some of the 2D effects.

Transparencies Drawing Method group of controls

Blend - Use the Blend option to treat transparent lines like water color so when two or more
lines cross each other, the final color gets darker (less transparent).

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Overwrite - Activate this option to have finalToon draw the lines without adding on top of each
other. Every line will get the same transparency value, this will hide the crossing areas.

About - Press the About button to get more information about your license of finalToon
including build number, and support information.

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Default Edges rollout
Default Edges can be used whenever there is no finalToon material assigned to an object. This
gives you the freedom to apply line styles on objects that still have the Standard material or any
other material assigned. Also, Default Edges are great for interactive line style setup. Changes
you make in the Default Edges settings can be updated interactively in 3ds max. To do so, just
activate the Interactive setting in Render Effects. As long as this 3ds max option is active, all
changes will be updated as you modify your line style settings.

Not all effects or settings can be interactively worked on. Some effects do need a re-render of
the complete scene, because some information about the geometry gets lost after rendering. If a
parameter does not update in interactive mode, it might not be possible to update it without re-
rendering the scene. In such cases, use the 3ds max UPDATE button to regenerate the render
effect.

Keep in mind that Default Edges affects all objects in the scene that do not have a finalToon
material or no Local settings. Don't be surprised if every object gets the same line style!

finalToon Default Edges rollout

Load & Save finalToon Line Style

finalToon objects can have many different line style settings and combinations of different line
styles effects. The combination of all line styles and effects can easily add up to several thousand
of different effects per line drawn! A collection of various line styles is called finalToon Material

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Style (*.fts). This file type stores all the settings of all line types (Folds, Creases, etc.) along with
their associated effects. This is a very powerful feature of finalToon. Other applications usually
force you to rebuild materials or choose from a limited set of effects. Here you can create an
unlimited number of settings that can be easily shared in a network without any hassle. These
*.fts files are standard Windows files and can be easily copied around whenever it is needed.

Load - Use the Load button to load a finalToon (*.fts) Material Style.

Save - Use the Save button to save a finalToon (*.fts) Material Style.

Enable Default Edges - The Default Edges can be thought of as global in nature. Turn this
checkbox on to enable the rendering of the Default edge lines. All objects that do not have Local
Edges active or a finalToon material assigned will show the Default Edges.

Pattern Priority - An edge is always drawn between two faces and these two faces that share
the edge might have different line styles. There can only be one line style between two faces and
you can’t combine them, therefore finalToon will always choose the line style with the highest
priority (1 being the highest priority). Conflicts between line styles are common and you should
be aware of how to resolve this issue using the Pattern Priority spinner. If you make sure that the
line style you want has a higher priority, it will be used on the edge in question.

Fold Edges group of controls

Visible Fold - Check this option to enable the Visible Fold lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Visible Folds.

Hidden Fold - Check this option to enable the Hidden Fold lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Hidden Folds.

Crease Edges group of controls

Visible Creases - Check this option to enable the Visible Crease lines. The larger button to the
right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for
the Visible Creases.

Hidden Creases - Check this option to enable the Hidden Crease lines. The larger button to the
right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for
the Hidden Creases.

Intersection Edges group of controls

Visible Intersection - Check this option to enable the Visible Intersection lines. The larger
button to the right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style
and effect for the Visible Intersections.

Hidden Intersection - Check this option to enable the Hidden Intersection lines. The larger
button to the right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style
and effect for the Hidden Intersections.

Self Intersection - The Self Intersection checkbox enables a special line style. Self intersections
are intersections created by the same object that passes through itself. When active, the Self

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Intersections will show whichever Intersection option (Visible or Hidden) is currently on.

Material ID Edges group of controls

Visible Material IDs - Check this option to enable the Visible Material ID lines. The larger
button to the right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style
and effect for the Visible Material IDs.

Hidden Material IDs - Check this option to enable the Hidden Material ID lines. The larger
button to the right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style
and effect for the Hidden Material IDs.

User Defined Visible Edges group of controls

Visible UDVs - Check this option to enable the Visible UDV lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Visible UDVs.

Hidden UDVs - Check this option to enable the Hidden UDV lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Hidden UDVs.

Angle Edges group of controls

Visible Angle - Check this option to enable the Visible Angle lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Visible Angles.

Hidden Angle - Check this option to enable the Hidden Angle lines. The larger button to the
right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for
the Hidden Angles.

Angles Between - These two spinners let you define when a line should be drawn between two
faces based on the angle range between those two faces. If the angle between two faces falls
into this range, the line is drawn, otherwise it is ignored.

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File Output rollout
The File Output rollout is used for vector rendering. finalToon supports Adobe Illustrator file
output (*.AI) and Macromedia Flash (*.swf), and this rollout handles all of the settings and
options you may set for each file type.

finalToon File Output rollout

Export Output - This checkbox option enables vector file output after rendering a finalToon
image normally. Be careful! This option can easily become “forgotten” after you close the Render
Effect dialog, so do not forget that you have enabled this option or you will always be saving an
extra file.

Lines (Output) - When the Lines checkbox is enabled, vector output as *.AI or *.swf can be
generated. The output file type can be chosen in the file browser dialog when selecting a name
to store the file.

Shapes group of controls

The Lines option described above will output vector lines only. Activating the Shapes checkbox
will also output the fill color of an object (usually diffuse color) ONLY for *.AI files. Now
transforming a 3D rendering into a flat 2D vector drawing is a complex task. Adding the shapes
to vector output can dramatically increase your file sizes if you’re not careful. finalToon uses
advanced compression and optimization methods to reduce the file size of its final vector output.
This is especially important for *.AI output even though it is not as restrictive when it comes to
file size, as it is generally used in desktop publishing environments.

Uniform (Output) - Use the Uniform option to output flat cartoon color with no color change in
the surface of the object itself. This type of output has the best compression possible for *.AI
files for example. It does not affect *.swf files as finalToon only outputs Line Styles for
Shockwave Flash.

Faceted (Output) - Check this option to enable a faceted shape output in the vector rendering.
Each triangle of the object will become its own filled vector object. The number of triangles will
define the smoothness of the color change in the 2D drawing, but it will also cause the vector file
size to increase as well. It does not affect *.swf files as finalToon only outputs Line Styles for
Shockwave Flash.

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Colors (Output) - To restrict the number of vector fills in the final image (especially for *.AI
output) you may reduce the Colors used in the final output through this spinner. Do not confuse
this with a bitmap color reduction. The number of vector fills will be reduced and not the total
colors in the final image. Similar areas of a rendering will become the same color, reducing the
total number of vector fills.

Files (Output) - Click the Files button to bring up a standard Windows file browser. You may
then select the output file type and give it a name. Either choose *.AI for Adobe Illustrator or
*.swf for Flash compatible file output.

Open File after Rendering (Output) - Whenever this checkbox is activated, the relevant
application will open up with the rendered file. When you have chosen *.swf as a file type you
will see the Flash player open up with the file. If you do not wish this to happen after each
rendering you need to deactivate the option.

It is recommended that you use a reasonable output render resolution to get clean and highly
detailed Illustrator or Flash exports. A render resolution of 320x240 may work in some situations
for Flash output and in rare situations for AI output. A minimum resolution of 640x480 is
suggested.

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Canvas rollout
finalToon enables you to mimic many drawing styles that can even look like real hand drawn
paintings. To enhance this effect, you may add a canvas to your rendering. Any image may be
used as a structure to paint on, however real structures like paper or linen make the effect look
really cool.

Image (Canvas) - Click the button labeled None to bring up a standard Windows file browser
to choose a bitmap image file for use as the canvas texture. Any legal image file type or image
will work; however, we suggest that you use images that are usually good for bump map effects
and have good contrast between light and dark areas.

Illumination group of controls

Activating this checkbox turns on the canvas bump effect for a finalToon rendering.

Rotation (Canvas) - Adjusting this spinner will rotate the virtual light source around the canvas
bump effect. This works like a bump effect. You define where the pseudo-shadows fall.

Elevation (Canvas) - This defines the bump amount of the structure effect. Higher values will
enhance the effect, lower numbers will reduce it.

Film Absorption group of controls

Activate this checkbox when you want to create an ink blending effect. This effect simulates the
absorption of wet ink into the paper.

Amount (Canvas) - The Amount spinner lets you control how strong the absorption effect
should be. This value affects the lines only.

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36
finalToon Line Editor

The Line Editor is one of the key features within finalToon. All possible combinations and line
style settings can be adjusted from within the Line Editor.

finalToon Line Editor

The Line Editor is invoked by clicking the line style button next to any of the line types (Fold,
Crease, etc.) from either the Render Effects > Default Edges rollout, or from the finalToon -
Edges rollout within a finalToon material. All line types have the same options and possibilities,
which are described in the sections below.

Basic Parameters - Here you can define common settings for your finalToon Line
Styles.
Advanced Shadow - This rollout allows you to create separate visual cues for lines in
shadow.
Noise Effects - Distort your line styles through this rollout for organic looks.

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3D Effects - Employ 3ds max scene information to affect your line styles here.
2D Effects - Add unique 2D processes to your line styles to create hand-drawn effects.
Edge Maps - Apply standard 3ds max maps to your line styles for ultimate control
here.

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38
Basic Parameters
Each line style drawn in finalToon shares the same basic parameters. The common parameters of
a line can be adjusted in the rollout shown above. Common parameters are, for example, line
color, thickness and opacity.

finalToon Basic Parameters rollout

Style Name - The Style Name window is actually above the Basic Parameters rollout, and can
either be set manually or defined by loading a certain style. This is an excellent way to help
differentiate the various line style configurations you create.

Color group of controls

The line style color can be defined in several ways. Within this group of controls you can choose
to have the line color based on the applied or on one you set manually.

Material dropdown box (Line Editor) - Choosing this radio button lets you define the line
style color by the diffuse material color (Body), the ambient color (Shadow) or the specular
color (Specular).

Color Swatch (Line Editor) - Activate the Color Swatch radio button to define an individual line
color, independent of the material color the object uses.

Brightness (Line Editor) - This parameter controls the brightness of the line color
independently of the actual color set in the material. This is great, for example, if you want to
keep the outlines the same color as the object itself, but you want to make the lines stand out so
you adjust the Brightness spinner to make the lines brighter or darker. Higher values will make
the colors brighter, lower values make them darker. 100 is the default.

Opacity (Line Editor) - Each line style can have its own opacity level. Use this parameter to set
the opacity level for the line style. 100 means fully opaque while 0 means fully transparent.

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 Opacity 50% Opacity 100%

End Shape group of controls

The End Shape options determine how the ends of the line style will be shaped. Check the Circle
radio button to use a filled circle as the line cap. This feature is used to smoothly connect lines
with each other. You may also choose Square for end caps when you want hard edges to your
line style.

Circle End Shape Square End Shape

Thickness (Line Editor) - This parameter defines the thickness of the line. Higher values will
create thicker line styles while lower values will create thinner line styles. Depending on the
Resolution Independent parameter, line thickness is measured in 3ds max units.

40
Pattern (Line Editor) - Each line style may have a different line pattern. Dotted line patterns
are common in technical illustration renderings where the hidden lines are displayed. The
following line patterns are available:

Dashed Dotted:
:
Center: Hidden:

Phanto Dashdot
m: :
Border: Divide:

Scale (Line Editor) - Scale defines the size of the line patterns described above. Smaller
numbers will shrink the line pattern resulting in more repetitions. Bigger numbers will scale the
line pattern. Please note that this spinner does not alter the thickness of the line style.

TIP: Use the Connect Lines option to get correct line patterns around and within an object. If
you do not use the Connect Lines feature, you may discover discontinuities as the lines restart at
each segment within the geometry.

Connect Lines (Line Editor) - The connect lines function is a great way to get rid of the
underlying mesh structure and helps keep line styles continuous. Effects like noise or 2D effects
like pen pressure are usually only good when this option is checked. The images below show the
influence the Connect Lines option can have on your output. Also be aware the activating the
checkbox activates it for all other rollouts within the Line Editor.

Connected Lines = Off Connected Lines = On

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Actual Mesh Data

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42
Advanced Shadows rollout
finalToon allows the user to control line styles in various situations. The Advanced Shadow rollout
allows you to control how the same line style looks in light and shadow. Lines that are drawn in
shadow areas can be set to appear with a different style.

Note: This feature is not a real shadow line tracer. The shadow and light information is taken
from the nearest vertex position, so please be sure that enough information is available by
creating a well tessellated object.

Enable In-Shadow Style

Check this option to activate the In-Shadow rendering effect for the selected line type. As you
can see in the illustrations above, the lines that are in the shadow are drawn much brighter. You
can choose any color or effect you want for the lines in the shadow region.

In-Shadow Style Off In-Shadow Style On

Color group of controls

Material dropdown (Advanced Shadow)
Choosing this radio button lets you define the line style color by the diffuse material color
(Body), the ambient color (Shadow) or the specular color (Specular).

Color Swatch (Advanced Shadow)

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Activate the Color Swatch radio button to define an individual line color, independent of the
material color the object uses.

Brightness (Advanced Shadow)

This parameter controls the brightness of the line color independently of the actual color set in
the material. This is great, for example, if you want to keep the outlines the same color as the
object itself, but you want to make the lines stand out so you adjust the Brightness spinner to
make the lines brighter or darker. Higher values will make the colors brighter, lower values make
them darker. 100 is the default.

Opacity (Advanced Shadow)

Each line style can have its own opacity level. Use this parameter to set the opacity level for the
line style. 100 means fully opaque while 0 means fully transparent.

Thickness (Advanced Shadow)

This parameter defines the thickness of the line. Higher values will create thicker line styles while
lower values will create thinner line styles. Depending on the Resolution Independent parameter,
line thickness is measured in 3ds max units.

Pattern (Advanced Shadow)

Each line style may have a different line pattern. Dotted line patterns are common in technical
illustration renderings where the hidden lines are displayed. The following line patterns are
available:

Dashed Dotted:
:
Center: Hidden:

Phanto Dashdot
m: :
Border: Divide:

Scale (Advanced Shadow)

Scale defines the size of the line patterns described above. Smaller numbers will shrink the line
pattern resulting in more repetitions. Bigger numbers will scale the line pattern. Please note that
this spinner does not alter the thickness of the line style.

TIP: Use the Connect Lines option to get correct line patterns around and within an object. If
you do not use the Connect Lines feature, you may discover discontinuities as the lines restart at
each segment within the geometry.

Connect Lines (Advanced Shadow)

The connect lines function is a great way to get rid of the underlying mesh structure and helps
keep line styles continuous. Effects like noise or 2D effects like pen pressure are usually only
good when this option is checked. The images above shows the influence the Connect Lines
option can have on your output. Also be aware the activating the checkbox activates it for all
other rollouts within the Line Editor.

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Noise Effects rollout
Many renderings or visualizations today show a lack of individuality or personality. All of them
have the same, super smooth and ultra clean style. Even 2D line renderings look just too clean;
too perfect.

In many instances it is desirable to have a more inaccurate, hand drawn look applied to our
renderings to give them a more dynamic yet organic feel. finalToon is a powerful tool that can
create many hand drawn styles and scribble looks without any trouble. And it is within the Noise
Effects rollout where many of these amazing tools reside.

Step (Noise Effects) - Lines in finalToon are drawn as vectors. A vector line is usually defined
by two points, one starting point and one endpoint, and between those two points a line is
drawn. This line can be sampled as it is drawn along its path, and effects can be applied to the
line to alter it. Effects, for example, like distortion, opacity or thickness. The Step spinner defines
the number of samples that are taken as the line is drawn. Smaller step values will create a
“finer” detail within the final effect. Bigger values will result in larger, more coarse steps from one
end of the line to the other. Be aware that the Step value is global in nature, and setting the
value in this rollout sets it for all of the other rollouts in the Line Editor for that line style.

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 Step = 5 Step = 250

Connect Lines (Noise Effects) - The connect lines function is a great way to get rid of the
underlying mesh structure and helps keep line styles continuous. Effects like noise or 2D effects
like pen pressure are usually only good when this option is checked. Be aware the activating the
checkbox here activates it for all other rollouts within the Line Editor.

Noise Thickness (Noise Effects) - The Noise Thickness checkbox creates a random variation
of the thickness of the line as it is drawn.

Thickness variation No thickness variation

There are three parameters that control the noise effect:

AMOUNT - This spinner defines the strength of the noise effect. Larger values produce more
pronounced variations in thickness.

FREQUENCY - This spinner controls the repetition of the noise effect or how often it cycles.
Larger values cause the variations to repeat more often.

PHASE - This spinner controls the position of the noise function.

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Noise Opacity (Noise Effects) - The Noise Opacity checkbox creates a random variation of the
line’s opacity as it is drawn. The same three parameters, described above, let you control the
noise effect of the relevant line style.

Noise Line (Noise Effects) - The Noise Line checkbox creates a random variation of the line’s
position in relation to the object when drawn. The same three parameters, described above, let
you control the noise effect of the relevant line style. Be aware that large Amount values can
cause the line style to completely “detach” from the object and float around it.

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3D Effects rollout
finalToon has the big advantage of being a real 3D renderer with full access to the 3D data within
your scene at render time. This makes it possible to create line drawing effects based on true 3D
information.

finalToon 3D Effects rollout

A line may fade into the distance, for example, by getting thinner or more transparent, and the
3D Effects rollout is where you control those options.

Step (3D Effects) - Lines in finalToon are drawn as vectors. A vector line is usually defined by
two points, one starting point and one endpoint, and between those two points a line is drawn.
This line can be sampled as it is drawn along its path, and effects can be applied to the line to
alter it. Effects, for example, like distortion, opacity or thickness. The Step spinner defines the
number of samples that are taken as the line is drawn. Smaller step values will create a “finer”
detail within the final effect. Bigger values will result in larger, more coarse steps from one end of
the line to the other. Be aware that the Step value is global in nature, and setting the value in
this rollout sets it for all of the other rollouts in the Line Editor for that line style.

Step = 5 Step = 250

Connect Lines (3D Effects) - The connect lines function is a great way to get rid of the
underlying mesh structure and helps keep line styles continuous. Effects like noise or 2D effects
like pen pressure are usually only good when this option is checked. Be aware the activating the
checkbox here activates it for all other rollouts within the Line Editor.

Thickness Cue Depth - The Thickness Depth Cue checkbox lets you change of line thickness
based on the distance to the camera. Values for both the Near Range and Cutoff Distance

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spinners are defined in 3ds max units.

Opacity Cue Depth - The Opacity Depth Cue checkbox lets you change of line opacity based on
the distance to the camera. Values for both the Near Range and Cutoff Distance spinners are
defined in 3ds max units.

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2D Effects rollout
finalToon’s 2D paint effects are based on screen coordinates and also sometimes on the length of
the line. The 2D Effects rollout is where you create and control these advanced effects.

Worth noting here is that you can create many advanced line drawing effects with 2D Effects
combined together with 3D effects.

Step (2D Effects) - Lines in finalToon are drawn as vectors. A vector line is usually defined by
two points, one starting point and one endpoint, and between those two points a line is drawn.
This line can be sampled as it is drawn along its path, and effects can be applied to the line to
alter it. Effects, for example, like distortion, opacity or thickness. The Step spinner defines the
number of samples that are taken as the line is drawn. Smaller step values will create a “finer”
detail within the final effect. Bigger values will result in larger, more coarse steps from one end of
the line to the other. Be aware that the Step value is global in nature, and setting the value in
this rollout sets it for all of the other rollouts in the Line Editor for that line style.

Step = 5 Step = 250

Connect Lines (2D Effects) - The connect lines function is a great way to get rid of the
underlying mesh structure and helps keep line styles continuous. Effects like noise or 2D effects
like pen pressure are usually only good when this option is checked. Be aware the activating the

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checkbox here activates it for all other rollouts within the Line Editor.

Extend (2D Effects) - The Extend checkbox lets you force the ends of the lines you draw to
overlap and extend beyond their normal endpoint. finalToon will extend (lengthen) the relevant
line style beyond its endpoints by the amount (in units) in the spinner. Keep in mind that this
effect is available for visible lines only. Line types that are not drawn will also not show the
extension. The illustration above shows an example of using the Extend effect.

Extended Lines Active

Concave Lines (2D Effects) - The Concave Lines checkbox gives you the ability to create lines
that start thin, then get wider and then shrink again. The Amount spinner defines the strength of
the effect (with larger values producing more pronounced tapering), while the Angle spinner
defines the center point for the maximum bulge in the line style. This effect works best when
Connect Lines is turned on.

Concave: Angle = 180 Concave: Angle = 45

Slash Pen Lines (2D Effects) - The Slash Pen checkbox allows you to use a special type of
brush to draw the lines with. Similar in profile to a rectangular marker pen, the direction plays a
big role in the final line style. Vertical lines are usually drawn thinner than horizontal lines. The
Amount spinner defines the strength of this effect (with larger values producing more
pronounced differences in the vertical/horizontal thickness) while the Angle spinner controls the

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rotation of the pen.

Slash Pen: Angle = 135 Slash Pen: Angle = 0

Thickness Pressure (2D Effects) - The Thickness Pressure checkbox gives you a 2D method
to make the line style get thinner with distance. The maximum thickness will start at Near Range
spinner’s value and will fade to 0 thickness at the Cutoff spinner’s distance. Ranges are specified
in 3ds max units of the line length. Connected lines make more sense with this option and it
should be noted that this effect is also affected by the Falloff Direction controls.

Thickness Pressure = Active Thickness Pressure = Off

Opacity Pressure (2D Effects) - The Opacity Pressure checkbox gives you a 2D method to
make the line style get more transparent with distance. The line will be completely opaque at
Near Range spinner’s value and will fade to full transparency at the Cutoff spinner’s distance.
Ranges are specified in 3ds max units of the line length. Connected lines make more sense with
this option and it should be noted that this effect is also affected by the Falloff Direction controls.

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 Opacity Pressure = Active Opacity Pressure = Off

Falloff Direction group of controls

Right/Left (2D Effects) - Check either Right or Left to decide the direction finalToon uses for
either of it’s 2D pressure effects. In one situation the pressure effect starts at the left-hand side
of the scene and fades as it moves right, and in the other, it starts from the right-hand side and
fades as it moves left.

Thickness Pressure = Right Thickness Pressure = Left

Up/Down (2D Effects) - Check either Up or Down to decide the direction finalToon uses for
either of it’s 2D pressure effects. In one situation the pressure effect starts at the top of the
scene and fades as it moves down, and in the other, it starts from the bottom and fades as it
moves up.

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Thickness Pressure = Down Thickness Pressure = Up

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Edge Maps rollout
finalToon offers the ultimate flexibility to control the line styles to the extreme. The ability to use
a texture map, for example, opens up an unlimited world of features and flexibility for finalToon
renderings.

finalToon Edge Maps rollout

The Edge Maps rollout provides you with a means to use standard 3ds max maps (both
procedurals and bitmaps) to control many different effects of a line style.

Color (Edge Maps) - The Color checkbox gives you the ability to colorize the lines based on any
texture map. As with any 3ds max rendering, the object must have proper UV mappings to
represent the effect accurately. In the image above, a color Noise texture map was used to
colorize the lines. The Amount spinner determines how strong the map is when applied to your
line style.

Color Map Stucco Noise Map

Shadow (Edge Maps) - The lines drawn in the non-illuminated area (remember this is not a
true shadow, it’s the vertices that counts) may also be controlled via a texture map. The
illustrations above show two images, one being the rendered result of using the Shadow Edge
Map and the other shows the stucco noise that was used in the shadow areas. The Amount
spinner determines how strong the map is when applied to your line style.

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 Shadow Map Stucco Noise Map

NOTE: In order for the Shadow Map to work, you MUST have Advanced Shadows turned on in
its rollout via the Enable In-Shadow Style checkbox. Otherwise, no Shadow mapping will
occur.

Thickness (Edge Maps) - Activate the Thickness checkbox to enable control over the line
thickness with a texture map. As you can see in the image above the thickness varies according
to the noise texture map. The Amount spinner determines how strong the map is when applied
to your line style.

Thickness Map Stucco Noise Map

Opacity (Edge Maps) - The Opacity checkbox lets you control the line’s transparency with a
texture map. As you can see in the image above, the line’s transparency changes according to
the noise map. The Amount spinner determines how strong the map is when applied to your line
style. Using Opacity edge maps is useful in situation where you want to simulate the look of a
dirty ball point pen.

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 Opacity Map Stucco Noise Map

Bump (Edge Maps) - The Bump checkbox lets you distort the lines when they are drawn. As
you can see in the image above, the line is distorted according to the noise map. This is
especially useful when the texture of the object (shading) uses the same bump map. The
Amount spinner determines how strong the map is when applied to your line style.

Bump Map Stucco Noise Map

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finalToon Material

finalToon offers its own cartoon material (called finalToon) with many common cartoon style
features and also several unique functions. When you select the finalToon material type from the
3ds max Material Browser you will be presented with the dialog below. By default, the finalToon
shader is activated when you select the finalToon material. However, it is important to note that
you can use the finalToon shader with a Standard material in place of the Blinn shader (as shown
below), and vice versa.

finalToon Material rollout (with Blinn shader active)

The illustration above shows a finalToon material utilizing a standard Blinn shader. The only
difference between a Standard material and a finalToon material is the addition of the finalToon
- Edges rollout menu (which you can see at the bottom of the screenshot). Only within a
finalToon material can you create local line styles for your objects.

The finalToon - Edges rollout menu offers the identical options and settings as you find them in
the finalToon Render Effect rollout menu. However, in the finalToon material you may choose
between Local or Global line style settings. By using this type of material you can define, for
example, that some objects in the scene will not show any outlines at all. Below is a list of the
finalToon Material rollouts, and we'll discuss these in the following sections:

finalToon Shader - This is the main control section for creating cartoon and illustration
looks for your scene objects.
finalToon - Edges - This is where you set all of your line styles for your objects.

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finalToon Shader rollout
finalToon comes with its own shader that allows you to render all of the classic cartoon styles
and much more. You can select the finalToon shader type from within a Standard 3ds max
material through the shader dropdown menu (as shown below), or it will be automatically
selected when you choose a finalToon material type.

Shader Basic Parameters rollout with a finalToon shader selected

When you choose the finalToon shader, a new menu is presented in the Material Editor. This
shader offers a smooth combination of both types of shading methods, the standard 3ds max
one and new finalToon cartoon options. Please note, we are not going to describe standard 3ds
max features in this manual as the scope here is to describe the finalToon specific features and
functions. To learn more about 3ds max Standard materials, check the online manual or the
printed documentation that comes with the software.

finalToon - Shader rollout

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Toon Parameters group of controls
The Toon Parameter group of controls is used to manipulate the cartoon style of the rendered
object. It is important to understand that the color model is slightly different from the standard
3ds max color model. A finalToon material has 3 base colors that define the look of the object.
The Shadow color may be compared to the ambient color of a standard 3ds max material,
however it also controls the color of the shadows cast onto this object. If, for example, the
Shadow color checkbox is turned off, no shadows will be created for this object, so you can think
of the Shadow color swatch as a combined control of ambient and shadow colors.

Shadow (Toon Shader)

When this checkbox is active, shadow effects for the objects using this material will be rendered.
Keep in mind that when this option is turned off, no shadows are visible on this object. The color
swatch to the right of this checkbox determines the Shadow color.

Shadow Off Shadow On

Shadow Brightness % (Toon Shader)

The Brightness % spinner controls the Shadow color intensity. Values under 100 will darken the
Shadow color swatch, while values above 100 will brighten the color. This spinner is especially
useful when one color is used for all three slots to create variation between them.

Shadow Size % (Toon Shader)

The Shadow Size % spinner specifies the absolute size the shadow region should cover on the
object’s surface. Note: This value is connected to the Specular Size % spinner value. Both sizes,
when added up, will always result in 100%. So neither of the shadow or specular sizes will
overrule the other.

Body (Toon Shader)

The Body color specifies the main color for your objects. It is similar to a diffuse color in a
Standard 3ds max material with the exception that no shading is applied (flat color).

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 Body Color Only Body + Shadow + Specular

Body Brightness % (Toon Shader)

The Brightness % spinner controls the Body color intensity. Values under 100 will darken the
Body color swatch, while values above 100 will brighten the color. This spinner is especially
useful when one color is used for all three slots to create variation between them.

Specular (Toon Shader)

When this checkbox is active, specular highlight effects for the objects using this material will be
rendered. Keep in mind that when this option is turned off, no highlights are visible on this
object. The color swatch to the right of this checkbox determines the Specular color.

Body Color Only Body + Specular

Specular Brightness % (Toon Shader)

The Brightness % spinner controls the specular highlight color intensity. Values under 100 will
darken the Specular color swatch, while values above 100 will brighten the color. This spinner is
especially useful when one color is used for all three slots to create variation between them.

Specular Size % (Toon Shader)

The Specular Size % spinner specifies the absolute size the specular hightlight region should
cover on the object’s surface. Note: This value is connected to the Shadow Size % spinner value.
Both sizes, when added up, will always result in 100%. So neither of the shadow or specular
sizes will overrule the other.

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Blending Areas group of controls
Shadow/Body (Toon Shader)
Classic cartoons usually do not show any shadows at all. However, with rising budgets for
cartoon production it is becoming more common for hand drawn animation have detailed and
realistic shadows. The Shadow/Body spinner value defines the amount of blending or transition
between the Shadow color and the Body color of the object. Higher values result in a smoother
shadow to body transition, giving it a more shaded, less posterized look.

Shadow/Body Blend = 2 Shadow/Body Blend = 30

Body/Specular (Toon Shader)

Classic cartoons generally do not show any shading for specular highlights, if they are even
drawn at all. The Body/Specular spinner value defines the amount of blending or transition
between the Body color and the Specular color of the object. Higher values result in a smoother
body to specular transition, giving it a more shaded, less posterized look.

Body/Specular Blend = 2 Body/Specular Blend = 30

Shading group of controls

A great feature finalToon has to offer is the ability to use standard 3ds max shading along with
cartoon style shading. The Shading options are practically identical to those found in 3ds max.
For more information about the Standard material shading options check the 3ds max
documentation.

Amount
The difference within the Shading group of controls is that users can mix finalToon's cartoon
shading with standard 3ds max shading to create a blend of 2D and 3D looks. The effect it
produces is a slightly give your objects a more 3D feel while still accentuating the 2D. posterized
highlights and shadows. The Amount spinner controls how much blending there is between the
finalToon and 3ds max shading methods. A value of 100 means that the standard 3ds max
shading is in effect only.

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 Shading Amount = 0 Shading Amount = 50

Use Temperatures group of controls

Technical illustrations have become more important in recent years. Almost every manual that
describes technical objects (cars, stereos, machines) has illustrations rather than real
photographs. finalToon offers a new shading algorithm based on cool-to-warm tones. The idea
behind this new method is that in technical illustrations, solid black silhouettes and edge lines are
clearly visible against a color tinted surface. When edge lines are drawn, a very low dynamic
range is needed for the shading. This kind of shading is contrary to realistic surface shading
models usually found in rendering software, but it’s more than acceptable in technical illustration
renderings. finalToon handles this kind of NPR (Non Photo-Realistic) rendering effect very
efficiently and it is easy to control.

Use Temperatures (Toon Shader)

Activate this checkbox to use the temperature-based shading algorithm. Please be aware that the
Temperature method is tied to the Shading group of controls. Be sure that the Amount spinner in
that section of the finalToon shader is above 0, otherwise no temperature-based shading will
occur.

No Temperature Shading Temperature Shading

Cool Color Tone (Toon Shader)

The Cool color swatch lets you define the color that will be used to tint the cooler, non-lit parts of
your shading. The Amount spinner controls how much the effect is added to the Diffuse color of
the object. A value of 50 will mix the effect by 50% on top of the Diffuse color.

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Warm Color Tone (Toon Shader)
The Warm color swatch lets you define the color that will be used to tint the warmer, lit parts of
your shading. The Amount spinner controls how much the effect is added to the Diffuse color of
the object. A value of 50 will mix the effect by 50% on top of the Diffuse color.

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finalToon - Edges rollout
The finalToon - Edges rollout is identical to the Default Edges rollout within the finalToon Render
Effect menu with one notable exception. Whereas the Default Edges are applied globally to all
objects within your scene, you have an option here to tell finalToon to use Line Styles that are
specific (or Local) to this one finalToon Material.

finalToon - Edges rollout

Load & Save finalToon Line Style

finalToon objects can have many different line style settings and combinations of different line
styles effects. The combination of all line styles and effects can easily add up to several thousand
of different effects per line drawn! A collection of various line styles is called finalToon Material
Style (*.fts). This file type stores all the settings of all line types (Folds, Creases, etc.) along with
their associated effects. This is a very powerful feature of finalToon. Other applications usually
force you to rebuild materials or choose from a limited set of effects. Here you can create an

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unlimited number of settings that can be easily shared in a network without any hassle. These
*.fts files are standard Windows files and can be easily copied around whenever it is needed.

Load - Use the Load button to load a finalToon (*.fts) Material Style.

Save - Use the Save button to save a finalToon (*.fts) Material Style.

Pattern Priority - An edge is always drawn between two faces and these two faces that share
the edge might have different line styles. There can only be one line style between two faces and
you can’t combine them, therefore finalToon will always choose the line style with the highest
priority (1 being the highest priority). Conflicts between line styles are common and you should
be aware of how to resolve this issue using the Pattern Priority spinner. If you make sure that the
line style you want has a higher priority, it will be used on the edge in question.

Use Global / Use Local - This button is a dual state option that tells finalToon which Line
Styles to use in the rendering. By default, the button is depressed and shows Use Global, which
means that the Line Styles used within the Render Effect will be applied to objects with this
finalToon Material. By clicking on this button, it will highlight and the title will change to Use
Local. At this point, you can set the different line types that will be specific to the finalToon
Material you are working with currently.

TIP: A good way to set up your Local Line Styles without having to constantly re-render your
scene is actually to create them within the finalToon Render Effect. This gives you the ability to
interactively set many of the parameters for the lines then save them out as an *.fts file. At that
point, you can quickly load up the pre-defined Line Style into your the finalToon - Edges rollout
within the finalToon Material.

Fold Edges group of controls

Visible Fold - Check this option to enable the Visible Fold lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Visible Folds.

Hidden Fold - Check this option to enable the Hidden Fold lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Hidden Folds.

Crease Edges group of controls

Visible Creases - Check this option to enable the Visible Crease lines. The larger button to the
right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for
the Visible Creases.

Hidden Creases - Check this option to enable the Hidden Crease lines. The larger button to the
right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for
the Hidden Creases.

Intersection Edges group of controls

Visible Intersection - Check this option to enable the Visible Intersection lines. The larger
button to the right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style
and effect for the Visible Intersections.

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Hidden Intersection - Check this option to enable the Hidden Intersection lines. The larger
button to the right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style
and effect for the Hidden Intersections.

Self Intersection - The Self Intersection checkbox enables a special line style. Self intersections
are intersections created by the same object that passes through itself. When active, the Self
Intersections will show whichever Intersection option (Visible or Hidden) is currently on.

Material ID Edges group of controls

Visible Material IDs - Check this option to enable the Visible Material ID lines. The larger
button to the right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style
and effect for the Visible Material IDs.

Hidden Material IDs - Check this option to enable the Hidden Material ID lines. The larger
button to the right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style
and effect for the Hidden Material IDs.

User Defined Visible Edges group of controls

Visible UDVs - Check this option to enable the Visible UDV lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Visible UDVs.

Hidden UDVs - Check this option to enable the Hidden UDV lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Hidden UDVs.

Angle Edges group of controls

Visible Angle - Check this option to enable the Visible Angle lines. The larger button to the right
will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for the
Visible Angles.

Hidden Angle - Check this option to enable the Hidden Angle lines. The larger button to the
right will bring up the Line Editor window that lets you define the specific line style and effect for
the Hidden Angles.

Angles Between - These two spinners let you define when a line should be drawn between two
faces based on the angle range between those two faces. If the angle between two faces falls
into this range, the line is drawn, otherwise it is ignored.

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finalToon Texture Maps
finalToon Hatching Map
finalToon comes with several texture maps that allow you to do things that no other package can
offer. A great example is the finalToon Hatching texture map that offers bitmap-based procedural
hatching functions. This is a great feature to even enhance the NPR (Non-Photorealistic
Rendering) look of an image.

finalToon Hatching Map

Stroke Mask (Hatching) - The finalToon Hatching texture map uses a bitmap as the base for
its procedural hatching on an object. A stroke map should have at least an alpha channel that
defines the stroke and also the transparent areas. This bitmap will be used in the procedural
hatching generator. Use the display button to bring up a picture viewer showing the current
stroke map.

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 Hatching Effect Stroke-Bitmap

Map Size (Hatching) - The Map Size spinner controls the overall size of the bitmap being used
as the hatching stroke. As the value gets bigger, the relative size of the individual hatching
bitmap will get smaller. Note: Usually you will set the map size in multiples of 2 (32, 64, 128,
256, 512, etc.).

Map Size = 256 Map Size = 512

Stroke Size (Hatching) - The bitmap being used as the hatching stroke usually also specifies
the size of the individual strokes. Sometimes it may be necessary to shrink or scale the stroke
bitmap to get more or less strokes from the hatching bitmap onto the object. Use this spinner to
scale the bitmap of the stroke.

Stroke Size = 100 Stroke Size = 50

Shading Steps (Hatching) - This parameter defines the shading through the hatching stroke.
Higher values will result in a more visible light to dark transition and contrast. Increasing this

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value will also increase the render time and memory consumption. For example, 8 shading steps
will create 8 individual hatching bitmaps of the size as defined in the Map Size spinner.

Shading Steps = 4 Shading Steps = 16

Stroke Color group of controls

This group of controls lets you determine what color the Hatching strokes will be and contains
three radio buttons for you to choose from. Be aware that only one choice can be made for the
stroke color.

From Mask (Hatching) - The hatching stroke may be used as a mask only, or it may also
supply the color information for the hatching effect. Check the From Mask option to use the RGB
information of the stroke bitmap for the color of the hatching itself.

Stroke Color Swatch (Hatching) - Use this color swatch to set a specific stroke color to be
applied to the hatching stroke.

Stroke Color Map (Hatching) - A third method to define the stroke color is to use any
standard texture map (procedural or bitmap) to supply the color value for the hatching stroke. To
do this, use the relevant texture slot button.

Stroke Color Noise Map No Stroke Color Map

Stroke Fading group of controls

Stroke Fade Out (Hatching) - The Fade Out method blends the hatching patterns together
into the object’s material. The stroke patterns are procedurally generated and then the hatching
map is composited on top of the Diffuse color of the object.

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 Stroke Fade Out Active Threshold = 0.5

Threshold Fade Out (Hatching) - The Threshold option provides another way to control the
blending of the hatching pattern by using a fixed threshold value. All colors with an intensity
below this threshold value will be treated as 100% transparent.

Crossed Strokes group of controls

Crossed Strokes (Hatching) - Activating this checkbox lets you apply a crisscross hatching
rendering effect to your finalToon object. The illustrations shown below displays the effect.

Crossed Strokes Off Crossed Strokes = On

Position (Hatching) - The Position spinner defines the areas that should get the crisscross
hatching effect on the object’s surface. Most often you want the crisscross effect in the shadow
areas of your object to enhance the shadow area with a higher density of strokes. A position of
0.0 is equivalent to turning the effect off. A position value of 1.0 will use crisscross hatching in all
areas of the object, both lit and shadow. The default value of 0.5 will use the crisscross hatching
only in the darker areas.

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 Position = 0 Position = 0.8

Stroke Density group of controls

Density (Hatching) - The Density spinner controls the number of strokes per UV area. Higher
density values will result in more strokes on the object’s surface. This spinner can go above
100%.

Density = 10 Density = 100

Min Level (Hatching) - Use the Min Level spinner to set the minimum density of strokes to be
used on an object’s surface. A Min Level of 0.0 will create no strokes at all in bright, highlight
areas. Increase this value to get more visible hatching strokes also in brighter areas.

Min Level = 0 Min Level = 50

Max Level (Hatching) - The Max Level spinner controls the maximum density of strokes that
can be achieved on the object’s surface. Lowering this value will make the dark areas get a bit

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lighter, until a value of 0.0 where all strokes disappear.

Max Level = 0 Max Level = 100

Shadow Decay (Hatching) - The Shadow Decay spinner value is used to produce darker,
more pronounced shadows which will result in a higher contrast image. As you can see in the
illustration below, the shadow of the object is far blacker with a 100% Shadow Decay. The
minimum value is 0.1 and this will result in a flat looking shadow area, while higher values will
cause the shadows to be more pronounced.

Shadow Decay = 0.1 Shadow Decay = 100 (notice the

cylinder)

Light Rise (Hatching) - The Light Rise spinner does the opposite of the Shadow Decay setting.
Increasing this value will result in a brighter object as midtones will gradually become as bright
as the current highlights. As shown in the illustrations below, a value of 100% will result in a high
contrast change between illuminated and shadow areas.

Light Rise = 0.1 Light Rise = 100

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Stroke Homogeneity group of controls
U-Axis (Hatching) - finalToon handles strokes in several ways. One aspect is the regularity or
homogeneity of a stroke along its U-Axis and V-Axis. The U-Axis spinner lets you control how the
hatching stroke is repeated in a regular way. The area of the object’s surface looks much more
homogenous to the user when the value is higher. Depending on the stroke pattern, there will be
either more or less strokes in the U-Axis based on this value.

U-Axis = 0 U-Axis = 100

V-Axis (Hatching) - finalToon handles strokes in several ways. One aspect is the regularity or
homogeneity of a stroke along its U-Axis and V-Axis. The V-Axis spinner lets you control how the
hatching stroke is repeated in a regular way. The area of the object’s surface looks much more
homogenous to the user when the value is higher. Depending on the stroke pattern, there will be
either more or less strokes in the V-Axis based on this value.

V-Axis = 0 V-Axis = 100

Rotation (Hatching) - The Rotation spinner controls how much the hatching stroke is rotated
from its original UV orientation. A Rotation value of 0% will rotate all strokes with a completely
random value, while a Rotation value of 100% will not rotate the strokes at all. As you can see in
the illustration below, with 100% Rotation all strokes are evenly aligned.

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Rotate = 0 Rotate = 100
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Other finalToon Maps
finalToon is the first line renderer to fully support reflections and refractions while rendering any
line style, including hidden lines. Right now, no other 3ds max plug-in has implemented the this
incredible feature, however, with the three special texture maps (finalToon Flat Mirror,
finalToon Reflect/Refract and finalToon Thin Wall Refraction) you can raytrace all of your
scene line styles in no time at all.

Material/Map Browser showing finalToon maps

Please keep in mind that these texture maps are simple “scanline rendering” tricks. They have
been created to simulate reflection and refraction with the built-in scanline technology. However,
adding these reflection or refraction effects are really cool, and they render fast. For a cartoon
style rendering it is even better, since you would rarely see physically accurate line rendering
effects in a cartoon world.

It is absolutely essential that you understand that these special texture maps MUST be used if
you want to see line styles in a mirror or through other transparent objects. Also, the exact same
restrictions apply to the reflection/refraction maps as they exist in 3ds max.

Also, we will not describe the settings and properties of these finalToon texture maps that are
identical to the original texture maps you already know from 3ds max. To get help with those
settings and restrictions of such texture maps, check the 3ds max online manual.

Below are some note and examples of the effects you can achieve with these finalToon Reflection
and Refraction maps.

finalToon Flat Mirror Map:

Blurring the reflection is completely supported as shown below.

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 Reflection Blur = 0 Reflection Blur = 30

The Distortion group of controls within this map type will act on the finalToon Line Styles you
apply to your objects as shown below.

Normal Noise Distortion Fractal Noise Distortion

finalToon Reflect/Refract Map:

Samples below show the refraction capabilities of finalToon, even when the refractive object has
a bump map assigned to it.

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Refraction only

Refraction with Bump Mapping

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finalToon Render Elements
finalToon is the first line renderer for 3ds max to offer full support for Render Elements. As soon
as finalToon is installed on 3ds max, new Render Elements are available to choose from.
Clicking on the Add button under the Render Elements dialog will bring up the following dialog:

Selection window with finalToon Lines selected

The new Render Elements type is called finalToon Lines and it works like all other Render
Elements options. Once you click OK, it will be added to the Render Elements rollout as shown
below.

3ds max Render Elements dialog with finalToon Lines Element enabled

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It will also add a second rollout with options on which line styles to add to the rendering pass.
This is an interesting feature of the finalToon Lines option since you can select any of the
available line types to be drawn in one Render Element pass. You can have them all sent out
together (complete with their transparency), or you can add multiple entries so that each Line
Style goes into it's own rendered pass.

finalToon Render Elements rollout

Whenever you select a finalToon render element, a rollout menu appears beneath the Render
Elements dialog. A list of line types is presented that you can select from. Each activated line
type will be rendered in that specific Render Elements pass.

In the following section we present an example of finalToon's Render Elements capabilities where
we rendered out 6 different finalToon Line Style passes and then assembled them later.
Remember this feature works exactly like the standard 3ds max Render Elements feature.
Should you need more information on this feature, please consult the 3ds max documentation.

Rendered finalToon Render Elements

Once all of the passes are rendered, you can take the elements and assemble them within a
paint package like Adobe Photoshop or a compositing product like combustion 2. The great
thing is that you get full control over each single line style without ever having to re-render the
entire scene.

The Passes:

Visible Folds Render Element Hidden Folds Render Element

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Visible Creases Render Element Hidden Creases Render Element

Visible Intersection Render Element Hidden Intersection Render Element

The final Result

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finalToon Material Converter Utility
In some cases you may want to take an existing scene (perhaps even a much older 3ds max file)
and visually enhance or change it by giving it an illustrated or cartoon style. Of course the
possibility exists that the scene file you select may have lots of existing materials, perhaps even
complex Multi/Sub-Object ones as well. In most cases, it would be a daunting task for you to try
and convert every material into a finalToon material manually.

Therefore, finalToon provides you with a special Utility, called

the finalToon Material Converter to automate this process. If you
are going to do lots of 3D to 2D conversions, then it might make
sense to even add the finalToon Material Converter to the
default Utility rollout as its own button. (If you do not know how
to add buttons to the Utility panel, we recommend that you
check out the 3ds max documentation)

To access the tool click the More... button and select finalToon
Material Converter from the list of utilities.

The finalToon Material Converter is a straightforward utility, that

doesn't require much explanation. Below is a quick procedure on
how you can convert your materials to finalToon materials.

Procedure:
Within the top list of the Utility, the existing scene materials are
listed alphabetically.

1. Within the top part of the Utility window, select the

materials you'd like converted by clicking on them with the
mouse.

You are now ready to convert the materials.

2. Click on the Convert to finalToon button.

If you'd like to convert all of the materials within your scene,

simply click the ALL button instead.

Be prepared! The material conversion may take from seconds to

several minutes! This depends on the complexity of the
materials and the number of materials in your original scene.

NOTE: It should be noted that the original scene materials are

eliminated during the conversion process, so if you want to
retain both the original materials and have new finalToon ones,
you should copy the original materials to their own Material
Library prior to the conversion. To find out more about building
your own Material Libraries, please consult the 3ds max
documentation. You can also use the converter to convert your
finalToon materials back to Standard ones.

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Finally, due to the nature of finalToon’s shading model it is possible that some materials will not
translate over from their original 3D look to a 2D look effectively, and may need tweaking so they
look good in the finalToon rendering.

Another potential problem that may occur is that due to the unlimited complexity a material can
have in 3ds max, some materials will be impossible for finalToon to convert. Unknown material
types will cause problems and finalToon can only handle materials that are known to the
program. However, if you run across a situation where finalToon has problems converting
materials, please feel free to contact us with this information so that future versions of finalToon
can (where possible) solve some of the more unusual material combinations.

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finalToon Field-Renderer
The finalToon Field-Renderer gives you the ability to render out your finalToon Edges to fields
correctly. Due to a limitation in the way that the 3ds max Effects system works, it is not able to
provide correct field data for finalToon directly. In an effort to create a simple path for users who
need to render their finalToon effects to fields (for television broadcast), we have provided a
quick and painless system as described below.

Before you render out to fields when working with finalToon, be sure to change your renderer
from the Default Scanline Renderer to Field-Renderer.

Procedure
Changing to the Field-Renderer
1. Go to the Pulldown menus and choose Rendering -> Render (or hit F10)
2. Within the Current Renderers rollout, click Assign....

3. From the Choose Renderer dialog, select Field-Renderer, then OK.

You should now have a new rollout beneath the Email Notifications rollout in the Rendering
dialog. This new rollout is called Field-Renderer, and it is here that you can choose which
Renderer you want to work with.

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The way that the Field-Renderer works is that it sub-classes any existing renderer (including
mental ray and finalRender), and makes them completely finalToon aware. This way, all
finalToon edge information can be passed through this rendering engine and sent to whichever
renderer you want. All of the normal settings for your selected renderer are kept intact.

By default, the built-in Scanline Renderer is automatically chosen for you when you select the
Field-Renderer.

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85
Tutorials

Tutorial 1: First Steps

These tutorials are designed to get you up to speed with finalToon in a sequential way. Each
tutorial builds on the skills that you learn in the previous lessons, so you should try to do them in
order.

One other thing worth noting is that these tutorials follow the material that is presented within
the video training materials on the CD. (Note: If you purchased finalToon as an electronic
download – you can download the video materials separately from the web installer.) We
recommend that you watch this instructional material before going through the written tutorials
as you'll get an idea of how quickly you can begin working with finalToon. Additionally, the
narrator for these videos is cebas President Edwin Braun, who gives you some extra insights into
the reasons finalToon works the way it does.

First Steps
In this first tutorial, we’re going to introduce you to a number of the basics involved with using
finalToon including creating and applying Line Styles. We’re going to start off with some very
simple shapes to use.

Creating a simple scene:

1. In the Top viewport, create a box approximately 50 units in all dimensions.
2. Next, from the Front viewport, create a cylinder with a radius of 10 and 130 units in
length, then position it so that it extends out from both ends of the box as shown in the
figure below.

3. Now in the Perspective viewports, adjust the view so it approximates the following figure.

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 4. Open the Material Editor and assign a single Standard material to both the box and the
cylinder. Then close the Material Editor.
5. Now lets render the scene.

As you would expect, you now have a very dull scene. But that’s about to change. The first thing
we need to do is change the background color so that the finalToon lines we create will be seen.

7. From the main 3ds max toolbar, select Rendering > Environment... Make the
Background Color swatch pure white (RGB: 255, 255, 255).

Now that you've changed the background let’s go ahead and add finalToon to your scene.

Adding the finalToon Render Effect

8. Select Rendering > Effects... This will bring up the Render Effects dialog.
9. From this dialog, click Add, choose finalToon from the list of options (as shown in the
figure below) and then click OK to add it to your list of active effects.

87
At this point, finalToon is now active in your scene, and will render its Line Styles. However, let’s
take a moment to find out how to control your line styles.

10. Open the Default Edges rollout.

Here is the heart of finalToon’s Line Styles. This is where you will spend time creating and
tweaking line styles to meet your needs. finalToon offers you a total of 6 different line types
(with multiple options inside of each). By default, the checkboxes beside the Visible Folds, Visible
Creases and Visible Intersections should be active.

11. Turn off (disable) the Visible Intersections and Visible Creases checkboxes, so that all
that remains active is the Visible Folds.
12. Render the Perspective viewport.
finalToon adds a thin, black outline around the borders of the object. That’s because the Visible
Folds option looks for those places on the objects where you have an edge that shares a visible
and non-visible face (via their normals). Where the faces “fold” away from the viewport and an
edge exists, such as along the side of the box, a line will be drawn.

Next let’s take a look at how we can control the look of the Visible Folds.

Working with the Line Editor

13. Click on the button next to the Visible Folds checkbox labeled default 1.
This will open up the Line Editor, and it is here where you can control what each line type looks
like.
14. Within the Basic Parameters rollout, adjust the Thickness spinner to 4.
15. Re-render the Perspective viewport.
Now let’s change the way the finalToon handles the shading of the objects in our scene.

16. Close the Line Editor window by clicking Close (at the bottom of the dialog).
17. From the Render Effects dialog, open the Global Settings rollout.
18. Under the Shapes Color group of controls, select MAX Background.
19. Render the Perspective viewport.

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This time, the objects end up turning completely white when the finalToon lines are drawn,
making it look like it was only a line rendering. An interesting side note here is that if you look at
the Alpha channel that is created in your new rendering, you’ll notice that it shows the lines only
and is not solid as you might expect.

Of course, all of this re-rendering is going to get time-consuming, especially as you get into more
complex Line Styles. Changing settings over and over would become quite repetitive. Fortunately,
finalToon can significantly speed this creation process up.

Speeding the Line Style creation process up

20. Scroll to the top of the Render Effects dialog, and within the Preview group of controls,
enable the Interactive checkbox. This will force an immediate re-rendering of your
scene and leave the display up.
As finalToon is a Render Effect, it can take full advantage of the interactivity within 3ds max.
Now let’s get back to editing our Visible Folds Line Style.

21. Click on the default 1 button next to the Visible Fold line type. This will bring up the
Line Editor again for the visible folds.
22. At the very top of the Line Editor window, change the Style Name from default 1 to
Thick Line Blue. If you move the Line Editor window so it isn't covering the Render
Effects window, you'll see that the name next to the Visible Folds option has changed to
reflect the new name.
23. Next, within the Color group of controls in the Line Editor, change the color swatch from
black to blue (RGB: 0, 0, 255). Notice that your rendering updates to reflect the color
change immediately.
24. Close the Line Editor dialog.
Now we’ll make some other changes to our line types.

Changing the Pattern of Line Styles

25. Activate the Hidden Folds checkbox within the Default Edges rollout.
The scene re-renders automatically, but nothing happens. Actually, there are several situations
where finalToon will require a full re-rendering in order to update its effects. Activating unused
line types is one of those cases. Why? Because the information for those line types was not
calculated by finalToon on the original render, and must be recalculated in order to show up.
However, if you've rendered with multiple line types active, you can quickly turn the individual
types on and off and get full interactivity.

26. From the Render Effect dialog, click Update Scene to re-render the scene.

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 27. Click on the default 2 button that is connected to the Hidden Folds line type to re-open
the Line Editor.
28. First, rename this new line style hidden line, and then change it’s color from black to
blue (RGB: 0, 0, 255).
29. Within the Basic Parameters rollout, choose ‘Dotted’ from the Pattern pulldown menu.

As you can see from the interactive update, the hidden lines now take on a dotted pattern, and
our rendering begins to take on a technical illustration look. Let’s examine the pattern a bit more.

30. Change the Perspective viewport to hide the back part of the cylinder almost completely,
as shown in the figure below.

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 31. From the Render Effects dialog, click Update Scene to re-render the scene.
32. In order to focus on the dotted line pattern, within the Line Editor change the Thickness
spinner to 3.
On the next update of your rendering, you’ll see that the area around the far end of the cylinder,
the pattern bunches up, and it destroys the illusion of a 2D drawing.

But finalToon has the ability to overcome this limitation.

33. To fix the unusual bunching of the pattern, within the Line Editor for hidden line,
activate the Connect Lines checkbox in the Basic Parameters rollout.
Again, nothing seems to happen to the update. This is another case where finalToon requires a
full scene update to take advantage of this feature.

34. Click the Update Scene button to render the scene again.

When the scene is finished, you can see that the unnatural bunching has been resolved. This is
due to the ability of finalToon to normalize all of the edges it puts a line over through the
“Connect Lines” option. This is a simple, but very powerful feature that you’ll use over and over

91
again.

35. Now that the pattern has been corrected, let’s change the Thickness of the Hidden Folds
back to 1 through the Line Editor, then close that dialog.

Instancing Line Styles

36. Back within the Render Effects dialog, enable the Visible Crease checkbox, and then click
Update Scene to view the new line type.
Crease lines are determined by smoothing groups within your objects, and it will draw a line on
the edges wherever a change occurs. This can be handy for adding quick detail to objects like
spaceship hulls. Simply apply a couple of different smoothing groups to the body of your model
and turn on Crease lines. Voila! Instant hull plating.

37. Now let’s say that you want to match the existing line style of the Visible Fold. Simply
drag and drop the Thick Line Blue swatch down to the Visible Creases option (drop it
over the button labeled default 3).
38. Choose Instance from the resulting dialog.
You now have two Line Styles that are connected and any time you make a change to one of
them via the Line Editor, you will affect both simultaneously. Your Default Edges rollout should
look like the following image:

39. Repeat steps 35 – 37 for the Hidden Creases – dragging the hidden line swatch and
replacing default 4. When you have completed this step, your rendering should
resemble the following image.

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 40. Next, activate the Visible and Hidden Intersections checkboxes and hit Update Scene.
As you can see, the Intersection line type looks for places where two objects touch or pass
through one another. This is a very handy option as well as the only way to grab edges that exist
between two objects.

41. As before, drag and drop the Thick Line Blue Line Style to the Visible Intersection
swatch and the hidden line Line Style to the Hidden Intersection swatch. Your results
should look like the following image.

Working with Angle Edges

42. Activate the Visible Angles checkbox to turn on the Angle Edges.
Angle Edges are determined by the angles of the faces between an edge, and this is a great way
to show how an object is constructed.

43. In order to keep some differences within our Line Styles, this time drag and drop the
Thick Line Blue swatch down to the Visible Angles, but choose Copy this time so you
can alter it’s appearance independently of the original or its instances.
44. Adjust the Angles Between spinners so they read 15 and 60 respectively.
What the Angles Between spinners mean in this case is that for all edges where the two faces

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that share it fall within a 15 to 60 degree angle of one another, finalToon should draw a line
along that edge.

45. Click Update Scene to view your results.

46. Re-open the Line Editor for the Visible Angles and adjust the line thickness to 2. This will
help separate it a bit from the thick edges of the outlines. If you want, you can also fade
the Angle lines by adjusting the Opacity spinner for the Lines to 50. At this point, your
image should look like the following image.

47. Save your scene fT_linestyles.max.

Now that you've had a taste of what finalToon can do with Line Styles, spend a bit of time
experimenting with different combinations of patterns, colors, thicknesses and line types to see
what kind of looks you can come up with.

In the next tutorial, we'll cover a bit more on Line Styles as well as beginning to go deeper into
finalToon and it's materials.

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94
Tutorial 2: Second Steps
This second tutorial will go into a bit more depth on the Line Styles that you created in the
previous tutorial, and will introduce you to the finalToon shader and Material type. As before, this
tutorial corresponds to the demonstration video of the same name that comes on your
installation media.

Second Steps
1. Open the file FT_secondstep_start.max. This file represents where you left off from
the previous tutorial, with the addition of the Hidden Angle edges Line Style.
2. Next, open the Material Editor.
This scene only has a single, Standard 3ds max material assigned to both the box and the
cylinder. As a result, all Line Styles that are applied to them must come from the finalToon
Render Effects dialog through the Default Edges.

Now you're going to learn how to apply Line Styles to individual objects within this tutorial.

3. Grab the second sample material swatch and drag it over to the cylinder to apply it.
4. So there is a visible difference in the coloration between the two applied materials, click
on the second sample sphere in the Material Editor to select it, then change the Diffuse
color of your newly applied material to a blue-purple (RGB: 130, 0, 255).
5. Go to Rendering>Effects to open up the Render Effects dialog.
6. In the Render Effects dialog, highlight the finalToon entry, then open the Global Settings
rollout and turn on the Shader radio button within the Shapes Color group of controls.

This will make it so that the normal material colors for the objects in your scene are rendered.

7. Render the Perspective viewport.

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As you can see, you now have the lines and the shading from the materials. But the line color is
very close to the color of the cylinder, so you should change that.

8. Open the Default Edges rollout, and click on the Blue Line Thick button next to the
Visible Folds line type. This will launch the Line Editor.
9. Change color of line to yellow (RGB: 255, 255, 0), close the Line Editor, then re-render
the Perspective viewport.

The Line Styles for both the box and the cylinder now turn yellow. Remember that the Blue Line
Thick Line Style was instanced across a number of the Default Edges line types - so that is why it
comes across now. However, at this point we want to have different Line Styles on the box and
cylinder, and the Default Edges doesn't allow this, so we need to find a way to create local Line
Styles.

Creating Local Line Styles

10. From within the Default Edges rollout, disable the Enable Default Edges checkbox and
close the Render Effects dialog.
11. If it isn't already available, re-open the Material Editor and click on the Standard button.
This will bring up the select the Material/Map Browser window.

96
 12. Select finalToon as the material type and hit OK. This will change the material type
applied to the cylinder to a finalToon material.
By default, the finalToon material comes up using a finalToon shader. This is what controls the
cartoon shading for your finalToon materials. For now, we want to have normal, 3D shading on
our models since we're still focusing on the Line Styles, so we're going to switch this shader out.

13. Within the Shader Basic Parameters rollout, click the dropdown next to the finalToon
shader and select Blinn.
The shading on the sample sphere now returns to a normal 3D look.

Now if you look at the rollouts for the finalToon material, you'll see that they are identical to a
normal 3ds max material with one exception: the finalToon - Edges rollout. This is where you
can begin to control your Line Styles for different objects.

14. Open the finalToon - Edges rollout and press the button that currently says Use Global.
When you perform this action, the button title will change to Use Local and the line types
beneath it in the rollout will activate, indicating that you now have local control over the Line
Styles for that particular material.

15. Back in the Blinn Basic Parameters rollout, change the Diffuse color to yellow (RGB: 255,
255, 0), then re-render the Perspective viewport.

Since the default settings for the local Line Styles are active, finalToon applies Visible Folds,
Visible Creases and Visible Intersections to your cylinder. You should also notice that the box no
longer gets any Line Styles applied to it at all. This is because the Enable Default Lines checkbox
within the Render Effects dialog has been turned off.

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 16. In the finalToon - Edges rollout, click the default 1 Line Style next to the Visible Folds to
open up the Line Editor.
17. Change the Thickness of the lines to 2.0, then close the Line Editor.
18. Copy the default 1 Line Style from the Visible Folds to both the Visible Creases and
Visible Intersections. Select Copy for both.
19. Re-render the Perspective viewport.

Beginning to use the finalToon shader

Now let's apply another finalToon material to the box and start looking at the finalToon shader
controls.

20. Click on the first sample sphere within the Material Editor, then click on the Standard
button to bring up the Material/Map browser.
21. Choose finalToon and click OK.
22. Go to the finalToon - Edges rollout and turn off the Use Global button so that this
material will use it's local Line Styles.
23. Next, drag and drop the default 1 Line Style from the Visible Fold line type to the Visible
Creases and Visible Intersections line types. Select Instance when prompted.
24. Click on the default 1 Line Style to open the Line Editor. Change the color of the lines
from black to blue (RGB: 245, 0, 20).
25. Change the Thickness to 4.0, then close the Line Editor.
26. Render the Perspective viewport.

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Now you can see that you have two different Line Styles applied to two different objects. You
should also notice that instead of a shaded box, the finalToon shader has produced a flat, toon-
like appearance.

27. Select the yellow cylinder material, and change it's shader from Blinn back to finalToon
then drag the yellow Body color swatch to the Specular swatch.
You might be wondering why the Shadow, Body and Specular colors are all the same, and its
because finalToon gives you the option of controlling the relative Brightness of each swatch, so
that you can quickly create highlights and shadows for your objects without having to set all
three colors. Set one, and adjust the Brightness spinners next to the Shadow and Specular
swatches. For now we'll leave them as they are.

In order to see the toon shading, you have to put a light source in the scene.

28. In the Top viewport, add an Omni light as shown in the figure below. Placement does not
have to be exact. Be sure that the Cast Shadow checkbox is active.

29. Render your Perspective viewport.

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Now you can clearly see the toon shading effect on both the cylinder and the sphere. What is
interesting about finalToon is that it allows you to control how much of your object appears in
the Shadow color.

30. Select the yellow cylinder material. Within the finalToon - Shader rollout, adjust the
Shadow Size(%) spinner to 50.0.
31. Re-render your scene.

Now the cylinder has a much heavier shadow appearance even though the position of the light
has not changed. Be aware that this shadow information is not based on any lighting solution, it
is strictly provided so that you can adjust and tweak the way the shadows look on your objects
using the finalToon shader.

The last concept we'll cover in this tutorial is how to render an object without finalToon edges. In
order to eliminate the lines from a finalToon object, all you need to do is turn off one checkbox.

32. Select the box's material in the Material Editor and open up the finalToon - Edges rollout.
33. Turn off the Enable Edges checkbox at the top of the rollout.
34. Re-render the Perspective viewport.

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Doing this will turn off the local Line Styles and leave the object without any Edges. Please note
that if you have Use Global enabled in the Material Editor and the Default Edges in the
finalToon Render Effects dialog are active, then that object WILL get lines applied to it. So to
recap, there are two ways to eliminate lines from being applied to your scene objects.

• Turn off the Use Default Edges checkbox within the finalToon Render Effects dialog and
only use Local Line Styles on objects you do want finalToon lines on.
• Turn off the Enable Edges checkbox within the finalToon - Edges rollout in the Material
Editor when Use Local is active, so that no global Line Styles are applied and neither are
local ones.

Now that you've had a bit more time with finalToon, it's time to dive into some of the cool, more
advanced features of the Line Styles that will let you give your illustrations a more hand-drawn
look.

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Tutorial 3: Advanced Line Styles
Throughout the first tutorials, you've learned about finalToon's Line Styles and how to quickly
create some fairly basic looks for your objects. But at this point, you're probably wondering how
you can create some more advanced, organic looking Line Styles. This tutorial should give you a
much better handle on this aspect of finalToon.

Advanced Line Styles

finalToon has some very sophisticated controls for building Line Styles that look like they were
drawn by an artist. Things like variable line weight (how thick the lines are) and some human
inaccuracy in the precision will go a long way to creating a convincing 2D look.

Examining a Slash Pen effect

1. Open the file named slash_pen.max. This file is installed into your
\Scenes\cebas\finalToon folder.

This scene already has a very organic Line Style applied to it.

2. Render the Perspective viewport to see the effect.

As you can see, when rendered, the torus does not look like it was computer generated and it

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appears to have been drawn with a technical marker (called a Slash Pen - hence the name of the
file). Let's examine how this was done.

3. From the main 3ds max toolbar, select Rendering>Effects, and select the finalToon
entry.
4. Open the Default Edges rollout and click on either of the default 1 entries beside the
Visible Fold or Visible Creases entries to open the Line Editor. (they are instanced, so
changing one changes both)
5. Within the Line Editor, open the 2D Effects rollout.
You will see the two effects are active: Extend and Slash Pen as shown below.

6. Within the Slash Pen controls, change the Angle spinner from 60 to 360. Re-render the
Perspective viewport.

The results show that the thickness of the lines have shifted. A slash pen does not have a nice
pointed tip like normal writing pens, then have a rectangular tip good for marker drawings. The
Angle spinner determines how finalToon's virtual slash pen's tip touches the paper.

7. Change the Angle value back to 30.

Examining the Extend effect

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Next we'll look at the Extend effect present in our scene. If you look in the 2D Effects rollout,
you'll see that the Extend checkbox is active. But what does it do? Let's turn it off to find out.

8. Turn the Extend checkbox off and render your Perspective viewport.

Now the overlapping of the line ends is gone. That is what Extend does - it finds where the lines
are supposed to end and "extends" them out further, giving the appearance of a hand-drawn
image. It is a very easy way to create good 2D sketch looks. Of course, there are plenty of other
controls within the Line Editor to further enhance that organic look. Let's take a look at them
next.

9. Go to the Rendering Effects dialog and turn on the Interactive checkbox.

10. Now back in the Line Editor, open up the Noise Effects rollout.

11. Turn on the Noise Line checkbox and change its Amount spinner to 80.

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You can see the jitter in the line now. It's as if the artist had WAY too much caffeine. What's
important to note here is that the line is actually been distorted off of the surface of the mesh.
This is a really powerful feature.

12. Next, change the Noise Line Frequency spinner to 0.1.

Now instead of getting the very jagged look, the Line Style now takes on a much more organic,
young child-like feel.

Creating a Library of Line Styles

There are literally thousands of combinations that can occur when you create specific looks for
your projects. As such, finalToon provides you with a way to store the Line Styles you create -
giving you the freedom to build up a library of looks that you can load, tweak and render quickly.
Up to this point, you've been building Line Styles. Now it's time to see how easy it is to build your
library of looks.

13. Close the Line Editor from the previous section and go to the Render Effects dialog.
14. Within the Default Edges rollout are two buttons: Load and Save. Click on Load.
15. From the Load dialog, select Hand-drawn_01.fts. It may take several moments to load
the Line Style, but once loaded, your render should automatically update to reflect the
changes as shown below.

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finalToon comes with a number of *.fts files that you can use right away - either directly or as a
starting point to further refine and tweak to your liking. Just remember that when you load or
save a Line Style, you are actually saving everything about that look. All of the line types you
have defined (Visible Fold, Visible Creases, Hidden lines, etc.) will be stored in the *.fts format.
Try a few out and see what they look like!

You can also save specific line type settings (such as just the Visible Fold) from within the Line
Editor using the Load and Save buttons there. When you save here, the settings associated with
that one line type are saved to a *.ton file.

Look at Map Controlled Line Styles

Beyond standard 2D effects that are mathematically calculated, there is another way within
finalToon to control the Line Styles: Mapping. We'll look at this option next.

16. Open the scene named map_light_control.max. This file is installed into your
\Scenes\cebas\finalToon folder.

This is a very simple scene, but it will help to show exactly how powerful a map-based Line Style
can be.

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 17. Render the Perspective viewport.

Notice that the line where the light hits is thinner and where the shadow exist a thicker line. You
might be wondering how this effect was created. Let's look at it.

18. On the main toolbar, click Rendering>Effects to open the Render Effects dialog. Click on
the finalToon entry to bring up it's parameters.
19. Open the Default Edges rollout and click on the default 1 button next to the Visible Fold
to bring up the Line Editor.
There are several rollouts here that you haven't explored yet. One of the is the Edge Maps
rollout.

20. Click on the Edge Maps rollout to open it. Within it are a number of map options, and
next to the Thickness spinner you can see that there is a Falloff map associated with it.

When you deal with Edge Maps, you need to have the Material Editor handy so that you can load
maps into it and adjust their parameters.

21. Open the Material Editor and select the Falloff map swatch.
As you can see, it is set to Shadow/Light, and the two color swatches control how thick the line
gets. In general terms, the brighter the swatch, the thicker the line; the darker, the thinner the
line is. Of course, in this example, the portion of the Falloff map that is white controls the
thickness on the shadow side of the object, and this is why we get a thicker edge away from the
light source in the scene.

22. Go back to the Line Editor and activate the Opacity checkbox. Drag and drop the map

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 from the Thickness slot above into the one next to the Opacity spinner. Choose
Instance.
23. Change the Amount spinner to 100.
24. Re-render the Perspective viewport.

You can see now that the Falloff map makes the line more transparent as it gets closer to the
highlights on the cylinder. Be aware that the spinners can go above an Amount of 100, so you
can "force" even more extreme effects out of the same maps.

25. Turn the Opacity checkbox off.

26. Activate the Bump checkbox and click the button connected to it.
27. Choose a Cellular texture map (leave the defaults) for this effect and render again.

You can see now that the position of the Line Style is now controlled by the Cellular texture. And
since the mapping for the finalToon lines can be animated just like any other 3ds max material,
you can create some really outrageous effects in a short span of time using the mapping
features.

At this point, you should probably start experimenting with different combinations of Edge Maps
and 2D Effects to build you own looks and Line Styles. Or better yet, load one of the pre-built
Line Styles that comes with finalToon and use that as a jumping off point to design your own
style.

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Tutorial 4: finalToon Hatching
In this next tutorial, we'll introduce you to the basic concepts and functionality of the finalToon
Hatching map, so that you can start to produce some more artistic output on the surfaces of your
finalToon objects. As has been mentioned before the other tutorials, this material is very similar
to what is presented in the Hatching demo video included on your CD-ROM, and you are
encouraged to watch that material prior to doing this tutorial so that you have a good
understanding of the concepts presented within.

finalToon Hatching
1. Open the scene hatching_start.max. This file is installed into your
\Scenes\cebas\finalToon folder.

This is a very simple scene designed to show you some of the benefits and fuctionality of the
finalToon Hatching map.
2. Next, open the Material Editor, and you'll be presented with the one material in the
scene.
3. Open the finalToon - Shader rollout for this material.

You should see that only the Body color of the finalToon shader is active, and that it has a map
associated with it.

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 4. Render the Perspective viewport.

The hatching strokes cover all of the objects, and are denser within the shadowy areas. If you
were to turn on the Shadow color within this material, all of the darker hatching that is occuring
would be replaced by the solid shadow color. So generally speaking, you probably only want to
use the Body color for your Hatching styles.

5. Go to Maps rollout and select the finalToon Hatching map that is associated with the
Body color. It will bring up the following options:

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Now the first thing you noticed when you rendered the scene is that the hatching strokes were
rather large for the scene itself. We'll fix that next.

6. Reduce the Map Size to 64 and re-render.

Notice that the stroke are much bigger. That's because the Map Size takes the image you feed it
(in this case, the stroke2.gif) and creates a square map around it for repeating. So in this case,
you're going from a 128x128 pixel map down to a 64x64 pixel map. That results in bigger,
blockier strokes. Not really what we want.

7. Increase the Map Size to 256 and re-render.

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The strokes now appear much smaller and more hand-drawn. One other important note before
we move on. If you start to increase the Map size significantly, you can crush your render times
since it will be creating huge square bitmaps and filling them with the stroke. It is best to stay
somewhere in the range under 1024 pixels.

Now the image is better, but it still isn't where we want it - it's still to regular and even.

8. Activate the Cross Strokes checkbox to add more hatching to your pattern.
9. Re-render the Perspective viewport.

Now within the shadowy areas are extra strokes that are currently perpendicular to the original
strokes.

10. Within the Stroke Homogeneity group of controls, change the Rotation spinner to 80%.
Render to view the results.

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As you can see, adjusting the rotation begins to loosen up the stroke direction. Instead of all
pointing in the same direction, you now get some more variation and crisscross patterns
emerging from the rendered output. Now let's produce some more contrast in this image. We can
do this within the Strokes Density group of controls.

11. Change the Shadow Decay spinner to 10.0 and render.

Now you can start to see a much heavier shadow area (especially along the back of the sphere
and cylinder) Light Rise works in a similar fashion except that it punches up the areas where
there is direct illumination on your scene. You'll find these two spinners to be invaluable as you
try to fine-tune your images.

The other aspects of the Stroke Density group of controls work in a similar fashion. We
recommend that you watch the demo videos to get a better understanding of their output control
as they are very simple and straightforward.

Now when it comes to the orientation of the strokes, you need to work with the Stroke
Homogeneity group of controls. Here you'll find a number of spinners that lets you define

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whether strokes are more prevalent in one axis or another, and how they are rotated. Let's take
a quick look at those controls.

12. Change the value of the Rotation spinner to 10 and render the Perspective viewport.

Now the strokes are wildly different in their orientation. This kind of hatching can produce some
very interesting results on your objects provided the scaling is adequate.

13. Change the U-Axis spinner to 2 and render your view.

What this does is tell the finalToon Hatching map that only 2% of the strokes should be placed in
the U-Axis of the bitmap it creates. The same goes for the V-Axis spinner. The results of this kind
of control mean that you can induce the hatching pattern to have "holes" or gaps in it when
rendered, further enhancing the illusion that is was sketched by hand and not generated by a
computer.

Of course, this only scratches the surface of Hatching in general. Our advice is to load up several
of the included strokes and see what works for you. finalToon can even use a text bitmap as a
stroke pattern! So use your imagination and have fun experimenting.

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Tutorial 5: Reflections
In a cartoon world, reflections are generally extremely difficult or impossible to achieve without
some special rendering passes in order to fake the reflection into "seeing" the drawn edges that
are applied to your objects. finalToon has addressed these issues with several Reflection /
Refraction maps that help you overcome such obstacles with ease.

Reflections
1. Open the scene file named reflection_start.max. This file is installed into your
\Scenes\cebas\finalToon folder.

This is a very simple scene with a floor object that we're going to make reflective shortly. But
first, we need to build a finalToon material for the cylinder and the box.

Setting up the object materials

2. Open the Material Editor and select the Plain Gray material (the second sample swatch).
3. Click on the Standard button and from the Material/Map Browser, choose finalToon.
4. Next, open the finalToon - Edges rollout and turn off the Use Global button so that we
can create local Line Styles.
5. Activate the Hidden Folds checkbox and click on default 2 to bring up the Line Editor.
6. Change the line pattern from solid to Dotted, then close the Line Editor.
7. Next, click default 1 and from the Line Editor, change the Thickness spinner to 2, then
close the Line Editor.
8. The last thing we want to do is go to the Rendering>Effects dialog, and within the
finalToon Render Effect, make sure that Use Default Edges is turned off under the
Default Edges rollout.
9. Render your Perspective viewport to see the results.

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As expected, the box and cylinder render with their local finalToon Line Styles, and the floor
renders black. Now it's time to add a reflection to our scene.

Setting up the Reflection Maps

10. Back in the Material Editor, select the Floor material that has been applied to the floor
object.
11. Open the Maps rollout on the Floor material, then activate the checkbox next to the
Reflection slot.
12. Click the button connected to the Reflection map, and from the Material/Map Browser,
choose finalToon Flat Mirror.
finalToon actually ships with two different map types that handle reflections: finalToon Flat Mirror
and finalToon Reflect/Refract. It also has one specifically designed for Refraction called finalToon
Thin Wall Refraction. These maps are identical to their 3ds max native counterparts, and if
you've ever used any of the native ones before, you'll be pleased to know that they work exactly
the same way. In fact, the dialogs are also perfect matches for one another; the only different
being that the finalToon versions are "aware" of the finalToon Line Styles.

13. By default, the finalToon Flat Mirror map has a checkbox next to Apply Blur on. Turn it
off for now.
14. Render the scene to view your results.

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The results are pretty impressive and very quick. But more important is that when the reflection
is calculated, it is done so correctly, so that Line Styles that would be considered "hidden" looking
at the object from our perspective render in the reflection accurately (not with the hidden Line
Style). Also, the finalToon shader is also correctly reflected in the image above.

And finalToon respects all of the other attributes of the Flat Mirror map type.

15. Within the finalToon Flat Mirror map, choose the Use Built-in Noise radio button from the
Distortion group of controls.

16. Next, activate the Turbulence noise, then render to view the results.

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So you can now see that the distortion controls also reflect the finalToon Line Styles without
incident. At this stage, you should be able to try out the finalToon Reflect/Refract map on your
own to achieve some very unique output.

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Tutorial 6: Handling Transparent Objects
In this final short tutorial, we're going to discuss an issue that has plagued line renderers for a
long time: the problem of transparent objects and viewing drawn edges behind them. This has
been a shortcoming of other rendering technologies due to the fact that either a user could only
have a few layers of transparency, or it was completely not possible without rendering in passes
and compositing the layers together. However, finalToon gives you full control over how you see
the Line Styles that reside on objects behind a transparent object.

Handling Transparent Objects

1. Open scene transparency_start.max. This file is installed into your
\Scenes\cebas\finalToon folder.

This is a city scene, looking down the road. However, there is a box in the right foreground area
that we want to act as glass. We still want to see the buildings behind it, but we want them
slightly tinted to indicate that the glass is indeed there. Unfortunately, this poses a big problem.

2. Render the view to see the results.

As you can clearly see, all of the Line Styles that exist behind the pane of glass are not rendered.
Fortunately there is a way to overcome this obstacle.

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 3. Open the Material Editor and choose the transparent Glass material.
4. Within the Blinn Basic Parameters rollout, change the Opacity from 20 to 100.
This makes the glass completely opaque. Don't panic - this is necessary for what we want to do -
namely see through the glass and be able to see the Line Styles that are applied to the buildings
behind it.

5. Go to the Maps rollout on the Glass material.

6. Activate the checkbox next to the Refraction slot, adjust it's Amount spinner to 80, then
click on the map button next to it.
7. Choose finalToon Thin Wall Refraction as the map.
Obviously, this map is ideal for creating window panes, car windshields, etc. However, we need
to tweak it a bit before rendering. By default, this map has a Thickness Offset of 0.5, which will
produce a refractive effect. Since this is supposed to be a flat piece of thin glass, we don't want
any distortion.
8. Within the Refraction group of contorls, change the Thickness Offset to 0.0.
9. Next, deactivate the Apply Blur checkbox so there is no blurring of the objects behind
the glass.
10. Render the Camera viewport.

This time around, the Line Styles for the building are rendered. And since the finalToon map is
fully 3ds max compliant, you can also apply bump mapping, adjust the blur amount to produce
frosted glass, etc. It's just that simple.
For more information on the refraction capabilities of finalToon, please consult the
documentation and we encourage you to watch the demo video on refraction with finalToon
included on your CD-ROM. Now it's time for you to start building your own finalToon scenes and
creating your own looks and Line Styles!

Enjoy the software, and if you have any questions, please drop by our support forums.

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