Free Blender shader turns 3D models into pixel art (holy crap)

[BullockDS]

Source

As a forum with many talented spriters, I'm surprised I haven't seen this been discussed here yet (although if it has I certainly missed it). It's what it says on the tin: you can take 3D models and turn 'em into pixel art. Granted, the actual process isn't that simple, but relatively speaking, it seems to be somewhat straightforward. Examples:

Spoiler

Obviously, there's a bit of roughness if left as-is, but I'm honestly surprised with how great looking the results still are as-is. The "rough" shading kind of reminds me of how character graphics appear in Art of Fighting 3, particularly the up-close shots after a fight.

So, what do the fine folks here think? Does this ruin the "true" craft of spriting, or could this become a useful tool for projects? Myself, I think this could potentially become real popular in the MUGEN scene to create fighters (Smash characters, anyone? ).

Also, I'm sorry if this should've gone in a different forum; I figured I wouldn't post this in Custom Sprites/Pixel Art since I'm not actually posting any art of mine, but couldn't think of anywhere else to post it but here.

[[robo9]]

I can't take the post seriously with the dude's buttcrack spinning around and around

[~Axis~]

Well this would be incredibly useful in cutting down most of the time required to make sprite sheets if you have skills in modeling and animation. I dunno about it ruining the craft of spriting, but, there are just some things that look much better sprited by hand instead of using this filter. Think about a filtered Kirby or Megaman sprite in a game with sprited backgrounds. Sure it would look nice, but you would loose the benefit of using a custom style/shading that could only be achieved by hand. (unless there's a way to filter that too...)

Just my thoughts.

[Vipershark]

Isn't this just rendering models at a low resolution and with an indexed color palette?

[[robo9]]

Here's a better example, for those who don't want to click the source link and can't keep up with the spinning images

[E-Man]

This is a very interesting concept. If someone wants to make sprites in the style of the Donkey Kong Country game, I think investing time into this filter would provide a good start.

[BullockDS]

I can't take the post seriously with the dude's buttcrack spinning around and around

the yellow buttcrack collection 2015

now available from urban outfitters

Well this would be incredibly useful in cutting down most of the time required to make sprite sheets if you have skills in modeling and animation. I dunno about it ruining the craft of spriting, but, there are just some things that look much better sprited by hand instead of using this filter. Think about a filtered Kirby or Megaman sprite in a game with sprited backgrounds. Sure it would look nice, but you would loose the benefit of using a custom style/shading that could only be achieved by hand. (unless there's a way to filter that too...)

Just my thoughts.

It really doesn't look as great left as-is as the fine-tuned "manual" nature of spriting allows. That said, I personally think that in conjunction with spriting touch-ups, this could produce some wonderful results.

[Omega]

Uh-oh, us spriters are gonna go the way of the dodo if this becomes more robust.

[Vipershark]

Not really.
The ability to do this has been around for ages and isn't even much of a secret.... it's just something nobody really does cause lolphotorealism

Rendering at a low resolution isn't exactly all that hard to do, plus if you really want to use these as sprites they'll require manual touchups (by pixel artists!) anyway

[Koopaul]

Just remember that sprites don't always have to be pixelart. They can be drawings like Wario Land Shake It. Pre-rendered models. Made from clay. Whatever.

As long as they are a series of images that make a functional animation, its a sprite.

[Vipershark]

That's true, but how often do we actually use that term in that context outside of the ripping areas?
You're not wrong, but we basically always use "sprite" to mean pixel art (which it seems that this method does as well)

Regardless of what definition you use though, you're still gonna want someone to go and touch up the images afterwards.