Documentation: Concept Art Shader 2 - for Unreal Engine
Showcase Video
Contents:
1. Introduction
2. Initial Setup
3. Settings
4. Screenshot Maker
5. More
1. Introduction
Concept Art Shader 2 is a rework of the Concept Art Shader Pack, I created a few years ago.
This new version not only improves the look, but also the usability greatly.
It is compatible with Unreal Engine 5.3 or higher.
The Shader is aimed for the use in concept art, but if you want to use it for a game, for archviz, or whatever you are using the Unreal Engine for, there's nothing standing in your way.
2. Initial Setup
To start off, simply drag and drop BP_ConceptArtShader, from Content > ConceptArtShader_2 > Blueprints, into the level you want the shader to be applied to.
You are presented with a preset, that you can change to your desire.
3. Settings
Select & Mix Backgrounds
The first step in achieving your desired style is to set up your background.
There are five background styles, which you can mix together with the sliders. If all sliders are set to 0, the background will have a solid color.
Layers further down in this list will have a higher blending priority.
Blending Method - Choose between blending the backgrounds with Lerp, Multiply, or Screen.
Solid Color Background - If all sliders are set to 0, the background will have a solid color. You can select the color with this parameter.
Post Process Input 0 - This background is basically your original scene color, or the "Lit" View Mode.
Diffuse Color - This background only displays the Base Color or Diffuse Color in your scene, like the "Unlit" View Mode.
Clay - The clay shader removes all color from the scene, and replaces it with a color of your choice. Only the color from lights and emissive materials are not effected. It resembles the "Detail Lighting" View Mode, but values are still visible.
Scene Depth - An improved version of the "Scene Depth" View Mode in Unreal.
Additional Background Settings
Some of the backgrounds have additional settings you can adjust.
Clay Color - With this parameter, you can change the color of the clay shader.
Diffuse Color - Desaturate - Desaturate the Diffuse Color background.
Scene Depth - Contrast - The distance it takes to blend between near color (default: black) and far color (default: white). A higher value means the blending between the two colors happens within a shorter distance. The slider is locked to a maximum value of 10, but you can type in higher values to achieve a hard edge.
Scene Depth - View Distance - At which distance the blending between near color and far color starts.
Scene Depth - Near Color - Change the color close to your camera from black to anything you want.
Scene Depth - Far Color - Change the color far from your camera from white to anything you want.
Line & Shading Color
On top of the selected background, outlines, hatching, or ink shading can be generated.
With Line & Shading Color, you can select the color those will have.
Outlines
There are three types of outlines. Depth based outlines, diffuse based outlines and lighting based outlines.
Depth Outlines are generated where ever there's are harsh border in the scene depth. They are especially good at drawing outlines along the silhouette of a mesh.
To add more detail to your outlines, you can add Diffuse Outlines and Lighting Outlines.
Diffuse Outlines are drawn wherever there's a harsh border in the diffuse color.
Lighting Outlines are drawn wherever there's a harsh border in the lighting. They for example trace shadows or reflections.
For all three types, you can adjust the Threshold and Line Width separately.
With Threshold, you can adjust in which areas outlines are drawn.
With Line Width, you can adjust their thickness. Set the Line Width to 0, to disable the specific outline type completely.
Hatching
There are two main types, and two subtypes of hatching.
The main types are Lighting Based Hatching, and Diffuse Based Hatching. Similar to the outlines, those are generated either where the diffuse color, or the lighting is brighter or darker.
For both main types, you have the subtypes Primary Hatching and Secondary Hatching. Primary Hatching is generated where ever the Brightness or Value is below a certain Threshold.
Secondary Hatching is drawn on top of the Primary Hatching, where ever the Brightness or Value is below a separately defined Threshold.
Hatching Texture - you can chose between line hatching, dotted hatching, or scribbled hatching, for both lighting based and diffuse based hatching types. To do that, click on the folder icon below the texture slot,
and drag & drop one of the textures into the slot. You can of course also import and use your own hatching textures.
With Texture Scale, you can adjust the UV scale of the selected texture.
With Rotation, you can rotate the primary or secondary hatching separately, to achieve cross-hatching with different angles or parallel hatching.
Offset assists the parallel hatching, but can also be change to achieve more randomness.
Thickness - Adjust the thickness of the lines/dots.
Wrap Around Geometry - If enabled, the hatching will be displayed as if it was drawn directly onto the geometry. When it is disabled, the hatching will be overlaid as a 2D texture on top of the viewport.
Ink
There is a primary and secondary ink shading. Similar to the hatching, the Primary Shading is applied to the lighter shadows, and the Secondary Shading to the darker shadows.
With the Threshold, you can adjust at which brightness value the ink shading will be generated.
With Value, you can adjust how light/dark the primary and secondary shading is displayed.
4. Screenshot Maker
The Screenshot Maker is a tool to automatically create multiple High Resolution Screenshots of the separate shader passes.
To use it, you first need to enable it with Enable Screenshot Maker. If enabled, the tool will start creating screenshots, as soon as you press Play.
Res X / Res Y - Set the desired resolution of your screenshots.
Camera - Select the camera, of which you want to take the screenshots from. The camera needs to be in the same level as BP_ConceptArtShader, in order for you to be able to select it.
Custom Prefix - Set a custom prefix to the file name.
Custom Suffix - Set a custom suffix to the file name.
Filetype - Select the output file type. PNG, JPG, BMP, TGA, EXR & HDR are available.
Screenshot Delay - Increase the delay between each screenshot taken, if you are noticing issues, like certain aspects of the shader not fully loading.
The screenshots will be saved in the default location for HighResScreenshots, that's usually the Project Folder > Saved > Screenshots > WindowsEditor
5. More
In this blueprint, you still have access to all the other post process settings, you would normally have in a Post Process Volume. Simply select the "PostProcess Settings" component in the Details panel of the blueprint.
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Although this blueprint has an integrated Post Process Component, you can still have another own Post Process Volume in the level. Just make sure, the Priority is set to >0, otherwise it might fight over priority with the Concept Art Shader.
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Lumen will affect the areas at which the shader is generating hatching or ink shading. However, it also causes flickering, because lumen lighting is constantly moving, and the shader is catching all those tiny changes. Therefore, Lumen Global Illumination is disabled in the blueprint by default. But it can be enabled again, in the "PostProcess Settings" component, or through a separate Post Process Volume.
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You can combine the Clay shader with the Lighting Only or Detail Lighting View Mode, to get rid of all remaining base color values and get an even cleaner look. The color can then still be adjusted through the Clay Color parameter.
Outlines and hatching can also still be generated on top of this.