NPR Rendering

Now that I'm attempting an entirely new rendering style for the film, I've had to switch to a rapid fire r&d mode to get the film looking halfway decent.  I started with exploring a ramp node tied to the facing ratio of a sampler info node to achieve some of the bold rendering effects.  I pushed it even further by creating multiple levels in the ramp to give a little more definition and then overlay a normal pass in after effects to differentiate the color on each individual polygon face.  Here's a look at a sample shading network with a texture where I plugged the ramp into the color offset channel of the file texture.

Change of Plans

I spent the better part of last week rendering my first full shot from the film and the realization I came to was that I was not going to be able to render the film in time for graduation.  I had to come to a compromise on the rendering style that would economize the time and resources I have left to complete the film.. I've decided to achieve a low-poly, geometric non-photoreal style which renders quickly and allows me to focus the remainder of my time on the animation.  Below is a test render of the new direction I'm heading in.