Toon Outline question...
 

Hello, all. I have been working on a scene that I am toon shading. I have been adding outlines to the geometry, and everything is going good thus far. But, I'm turning the outlines into polygons, hich has slowed down my interface tremendously. So, what I've done is added all of my outlines to their own layer, and only make them visible for renders. This is working fine, but I'm wondering if anyone has any better ideas? Is there another way have the outline layer visible, and not slow down my interface? It's not a big deal, I'd just like some options.

Thanks in advance!

Hello

Ive had some trouble with my interface slowing down aswell. If you go to Display and turn on Fast interaction that some times helps

It works by displaying a low resolution of everything onscreen while you move around the scene. As soon as you stop it displays the full res version again.

I know it works well for Nurbs but im not too sure about polys, worth a try though.

:beer:

could you use a toon shader instead? toon shaders can create thick outlines around your main objects and also include as many (or as little) colors as you want in the main object. you might also be able to just have the shader outline the objects and not mess with the original materials on the interior of your characters if you combine them in a layered shader.

if you're just looking to find a way to make the layers visible, try changing the outline layer to template mode (that's the box next to the v in your display layer).

Azman, I have fast interaction on, but no luck there.

Neostrider, I am using toon shaders. And I'm creating pfxToonOutlines for all of my geometry. It's just that I'm converting them to polys, just because I think it looks better. But, the layered shader idea sounds intriguing. Care to expound upon that? And sorry for any confusion my original question may have caused, but no, I'm not confused about how to turn a layer's visibility on and off. I already know about the layer display options. I'm not that much of a noob! :p

i haven't used the new contour shader networks that have been incorporated into maya... i always kinda followed this tutorial here: http://www.fenriz.org/projects/maya/..._shading_i.php

so i wasn't aware you could convert the outlines to actual geometry... what i'm thinking of actually just draws thick lines around your object, but it's not a separate object. it doesn't take long to set up, so take a look anyway... but as far as your problem, no idea.

edit: on the 2nd page it addresses actual textures added to the contour shader. that might help ya too *shrug*

Yeah, I did that tute awhile back. Thanks, though. The new toon shaders in Maya are pretty cool, you should check them out. You can do quite a bit with them, as the options are pretty in depth.

Thanks for the help, guys. I appreciate you trying to help my issue!