I was wondering if anyone knew a good way to create a nice cartoonish cellshaded effect?

i have found only one tutorial on it and it involved overlapping duplicated objects... i want to be able to use this effect on players (animated meshes) as well as all items in the level and i dont think u can do it with that technique.

heres the tut i was talking about... http://www.hl2world.com/wiki/index.php/Cell_Shading

The only way I can think of would be to modify Source's rendering code to include outlines for all objects. But then (depending on the rendering code) you might have to make the outlines yourself.
There might be a better way, so stick around for others' comments.

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Also change the texture of the dock. Docks are rarely tile. -Facepunch
As I Lay Dying

What you're talking about would probably best be accomplished by creating a shader for the Source engine, which requires quite a bit of programming know-how, and you couldn't use it in a map for an existing Source engine game or mod. This would be a good option if you're going to put together a mod team with a dedicated coder, but if you want to create a cell-shaded map for an existing game this method won't be possible.

The only other way I can think of, and the only way you could release this on an existing mod, would be to create custom models that consist of the base model and a shell of polygons around it facing inward, then BSPZip the models into your map. The main two problems I see with this is that it would make the download size pretty large, and it would effectively double the number of polygons in each model, so it's not really an ideal solution. Despite that it's probably the easiest most effective way that you could make cell-shaded player/weapon/item models without creating a full-blown mod. Add to that the 'hollow method' from that tutorial, and you have yourself a cell-shaded map. Either way, creating a cell-shaded effect on models and world geometry won't be a small task.

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Shader
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Shader_Authoring

http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Category:Modeling
http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Bspzip

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that sounds about right. i appreciate the help, thx!