Idea - making 3-d CG look hand-drawn.

[For Washuu]

Recently I finished up the Bakemonogatari season second season episodes, and it caused me to think about something: 3D animation.
The show was riddled with it, which I loved, and it even managed to make it *not* look out-of-place, but... it made me think.

In various shows I've seen -from Saint Knight's Tale to Cowboy Bebop to Sailor Moon- there has been Conspicuous 3-D animation, and... unlike in the -Monogatari series, people really don't seem to use it all that well most of the time.  And it-

ends up as believable as this-

Pete's Dagon- er, Dragon. ^_^;

NOW.... here's the rub.  The idea.  The product of sleep deprivation. NOTE: ELLIOT IS ABOUT TO GET SLIGHTLY TECHNICAL
The effect that occurs with 3-D rendering that can cause it to seem out-of-place has to do with the "real" lighting that is applied to it.  Within the 3-D rendering and/or animation software, the lighting and shading are calculated to look like real life, since the programs are created to be as accurate as possible.
The problem that arises from that (causing the conspicuousness) is that hand-animation doesn't do that in almost any case.  The animators draw a person and give them a few different shades that divide in such ways to give the viewer a perception of depth and shading.  E.g.-

A more hybrid, gradient-shaded style has become quite popular nowdays, though, but that's (mostly) beside the point. 

Now, characters aren't the idea that came to me.  That would be backgrounds.
If you watch any of the Bakemonogatari series, you'll quickly notice how the buildings and cars and... pretty much everything that isn't a person has the same "perfect" or "real" sort of gradient shading (like in the picture the car above)  Hence, "Conspicuous CG".

No here's my idea:  When the 3-D articles/location or "sets" are rendered-
1. They are rendered without their bordering lines being removed
--The outline of each face (flat surface) would still be present, paralleling the way that hand-drawn locations/cars/items/building in anime usually have borders.
2. An effect would be placed on each face that finds the median shade of the gradient that would by default be applied to that face.

In other words... it would have lines and each side would have one solid color.

*looks around at the empty classroom*
So...

Any questions, class?

[Auir]

Macross Frontier