Cel Shading

 Now I bet you are all wondering what on earth Legend of Zelda and Cel Shading have anything to do with each. Well the interesting thing is that they have everything to do with each other, since Legend of Zelda employs the technique of Cel Shading in many of the game's sequels and variations.

WHAT IS CEL SHADING?

Cel shading (otherwise known as toon shading and often misspelled) is a type of shader in computer graphics that produces a type of non-realistic rendering that causes the appearances of computer graphics to be hand-drawn.  This technique mimics the iconic comic book and cartoon art style and can create a unique look of a game.

 THE CEL SHADING PROCESS

Cel shading begins its process with a 3D model like other rendering processes however it differs with its use of of non-photo realistic lighting. In Cel Shading conventional lighting values are calculated pixel by pixel and then mapped to a small number a shades to create the flat cartoon like appearance. With cel or toon shading there is no mixing or blending of shadows and colors but instead the shadows and highlights are places and stacked side by side. In toon shading, the use of edge detection is applied in order to render black outlines and contour lines which is a uniquely defining feature of toon shading. The image below is an example of toon shading with the black contour lines:

 By utilizing the edge detection with toon shading , games can easily create a very stylized art style that appeal to many players. It is important to note that cel-shading, as a term, is usually referred to the application of these outlines in gaming and animation, however this was not always the case. This techniques, while fairly recent (only coming into use at the start of this century) is most commonly found in video games.

 For those interesting in learning how to create toon shading you can check out the video below:

 TOON SHADING IN MAYA

 Cel Shading has been used in numerous video games from its start in Jet Set Radio for Sega's Dreamcast in 2000 to games such as No More Heroes, Pokemon X and Y and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. For anyone interested a full list of games using the cel shading technique can be found here.

In addition, you can find more info on cel shading on the following sites:

• GLSL Programming/Unity/Toon Shading
• Cel Shading