How to Create Stylized Grainy Cel Shading in Cinema 4D

In this video you will learn how to create stylized, grainy cel shaded materials to apply to your 3D objects in Cinema 4D!

Learn more about the new Sketch & Toon Model Pack V.04 here

Topics covered include:

• A quick intro to the Cel Shader
• How to add noise and grain to the Cel Shader
• How to create grainy shadows using materials as light gels
• Create grainy shadows with falloff using light gels and Ambient Occlusion

If you have any questions, be sure to post it in the comments section and if you create anything utilizing this grainy cel shading in Cinema 4D, be sure to share it with me! Thanks for watching!

Tutorial:

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By Edward Hassenfratz|November 8th, 2016|19 Comments

About the Author: Edward Hassenfratz

19 Comments

S.K. Thoth November 8, 2016 at 6:28 pm

Thank you for your clarity and generosity! I so appreciate your tutorials and your various creations.
EJ Hassenfratz November 8, 2016 at 6:31 pm

Thank you very much for your kind words and for watching my tutorials! Really appreciate it!
Daniel M November 8, 2016 at 10:54 pm

Que verga! in mexico is the way to say fucking awesome, always so helpful sir.
EJ Hassenfratz November 14, 2016 at 8:24 pm

Haha, much appreciate, Dan! Thanks for watching!
HelenaK November 16, 2016 at 3:42 pm

Hi Ej, do you reckon we could do something similar on C4D lite? Instead of using bumb with sketch and toon maybe applying texture noise over just the luminance channel somehow?
EJ Hassenfratz November 18, 2016 at 4:51 pm

I think something like that could definitely work, and even using Noise in the Diffuse Channel may work. Please update me if you try and any of those options work, I’d be interested to know!
HelenaK November 28, 2016 at 5:10 pm

I think I made it work :) I used lumas/colorize with bump (noise scaled 3%) , and then on the infinite light I had the “infinite angle” under “Details” cranked up to 7% so it diffused nicely the hard shadow. http://i.imgur.com/MOjSKxO.png
Thanks for the tutorial!
EJ Hassenfratz November 30, 2016 at 8:14 pm

Looks great! Thanks for watching and sharing!!
Jorn December 1, 2016 at 8:20 am

Hey EJ, I thank you for your tutorials, they are truly great! However, somehow I cannot get the shadows to work on the floor, neither way you described it. There is just nothing. only bright blueness. The shadows on the objects also looks funky as they seem to be more or less on te edge of the torusses I uses (i placed them behind each other so technically the shadow of the front one should fall on the back one. Any idea what I could be doing wrong?
Jorn December 1, 2016 at 10:43 am

sorry, figured it out. thanks!
EJ Hassenfratz December 1, 2016 at 6:41 pm

Oh good! Glad you got it figured out! :)
Ignacio April 5, 2017 at 4:40 pm

Thanks so much EJ, really love your tutorials!
EJ Hassenfratz April 5, 2017 at 4:48 pm

Thanks very much Ignacio! Appreciate the kind words!
Timm January 17, 2018 at 3:15 am

Great tutorials, EJ! Thanks a lot!
I am still having issues though with the noise when moving something in the scene or the camera itself.
The grain starts flickering like crazy.

I tried to increase the aliazing settings (which obviously changes the look, too) and played around with the delta values in the noise tab. None of that really works. Do you have any suggestions how to solve this?

thanks in advance!

Best
Timm
Estelle June 5, 2018 at 8:31 am

Thank you so much for your advices and your happy mood !
EJ Hassenfratz July 24, 2018 at 12:46 am

Thank you so much for your kind comment and thank you for your support and watching!
George January 1, 2019 at 9:46 am

Thanks for this amazing tutorial!
However, when I select Lights option in Cel, there are more than two light sources on my material preview. One at the center and one at the upper left corner. I can’t get rid of the one with the center. Is there any setting I need to adjust?

Thank in advance!

Best regards,
George
EJ Hassenfratz January 4, 2019 at 12:17 pm

You need to uncheck “Camera” as well because it will use the camera as a light source as well as any lights in your scene!
Asha Sriram June 30, 2019 at 3:24 pm

Hey EJ, thanks for such a great tutorial. I am having the exact same problem as George. I have ensured that “Camera” is turned off but I’m still seeing the two light sources on my cel shader. Is there any way I could send you a picture of what I am doing?