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Toon bands material from a fixed light direction

Build a cel-style material whose flat colour bands come from a half-Lambert term against a light direction given as a parameter, with an ink rim from the facing angle, emitted so it looks the same in Cycles, EEVEE and the viewport. Use it for stylized characters, props and illustrations.

Recorded render of Toon bands material from a fixed light direction

What this component contains

  • ATTRIBUTION.md
  • LICENSE
  • README.md
  • component.json
  • graphcheck.py
  • material_toon_bands.py
  • meshcheck.py
  • preview.png
  • test_material_toon_bands.py
  • test_package.py
  • verification/native.json

How it works

Operator
baltor.material_toon_bands
Parameters
material_name, lit_color, shadow_color, bands, light_direction, rim_color, rim_width, assign
Result
One emissive material with a node tree; assigned to the active object.
Blender
4.2 or later
Axes
Blender Z up, -Y forward
Units
metres

Recorded checks

blender 5.2.1 LTS (hash 9e2066aef7ef built 2026-08-25 02:12:34)

  • addon_install_and_enable
  • operator_runs_with_defaults
  • blender_data_matches_core
  • addon_disable_unregisters
  • script_mode_runs
  • clean_reopen_addon_file
  • clean_reopen_script_file
  • gltf_separate_export
  • engine_output_clean

Limits to consider

Stylized and not physically based: scene lights, shadows and bounce light do not affect it, because the light direction is a material parameter and the colour is emitted. The rim follows the facing angle, so flat faces seen edge-on darken entirely; it is not a true outline. Rendered here with Cycles CPU only. Verified in Blender 5.2.1; written for the 4.2 API.