Ramp Shading
- banded shading
- posterised shading
- tone ramp
Light divided into several flat bands, so a form turns in visible steps.
Opens an image model with the prompt in it. The price is on the page before you sign in.
What it is for
Several bands describe a turning form far better than one shadow can, while still keeping every area flat and reproducible. It is the middle ground between a drawing and a render, and it is where most stylised illustration lives.
How it works
The value range is divided into a fixed number of flat bands, usually three to five, with hard edges between them. The bands follow the curvature, so a cylinder reads as parallel stripes. The lit bands run warm and the shadow bands run cool, which is what keeps it from looking mechanical.
When to use it
Use it when a flat picture needs real volume. Avoid it at very small sizes, where four bands on a small form turn to noise.
Told apart from its neighbours
Flat Shadow uses one shape and one tone. Toon Shaded is this applied by a renderer to a three dimensional model. Anime Cel uses two tones and adds a drawn highlight.
Where it is used
It carries a game asset, a book illustration, an editorial picture and any drawing that needs to look sculpted without being rendered.
- Illustration and concept art
- Stylised games and animation
The prompt
Replace the blanks with your own character, keep the rest. Then run it on an image model.
<character>, ramp shaded, the light across every form divided into four flat bands with a hard edge between each one, running from a bright lit band through two mid bands into a deep shadow band, each band a distinct flat tone with no gradient inside it, the bands following the curve of the form so a cylinder shows as four stripes, warm tones in the light and cool tones in the shadow
What goes wrong
A smooth gradient with a posterise filter over it comes back. Ask for the bands to follow the curve of the form, and for the shadow bands to be cooler than the lit ones.
Leave out
smooth gradients, a single shadow tone, soft band edges, a photographic falloff, grey shadows
Watch for
Give the number of bands and say the shadow is cooler than the light. Four bands with a hue shift reads as designed; four bands in the same hue reads as a posterise filter.
Questions
Draw it
Pay for the one run. No subscription, and the price is on the model page before you sign in.
