Where do I start with cel-shading in Maya 2018?

Alfax

I'm about to start working on an animated short for my last semester in university and I'm somewhat lost on where to start with cel-shading. I'm shooting for a shading style similar to the one seen in Wind Waker but I don't know how to set this up in Maya 2018, or any other version of Maya really. Working with shaders is a bit of a new territory for me, to be fair. Any assistance is appreciated!

RN

Cel-shading or toon shading is related to NPR (non-photorealistic rendering). Searching for "autodesk maya NPR" should get you some results.

In Maya you have the Ramp Shader that allows you to colour a surface with a custom gradient, sampling that gradient based on the incident light on the surface. If you use a constant gradient (meaning interpolation set to "None"), you get toon shading a la Wind Waker. You can do this with other 3D software as well.

On this article search for "Brightness": https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/maya/learn-explore/caas/CloudHelp/cloudhelp/2016/ENU/Maya/files/GUID-022F69B8-B1A3-46A3-9917-0D9CBDBB6733-htm.html

Alfax

Sorry for not replying in so long! I've been pretty busy modelling and setting scenes up for the short. I'll be doing some test renders and posting them here.

Also, does this gradient set-up still allow me to use decals or texture files, or do I have to choose between the two?