Jun 082017
As you may know, Brackenwood is a 2D animated series created in vector animation software. I started making early Brackenwood in Flash (Adobe Animate) and now in Toon Boom Harmony. Like most cartoon-style 2D, characters are generally outlines filled with colour. The result is often called ‘cel-shaded’ effect. I’ve been super excited about the prospect of dynamic lighting in Unreal Engine. Bitey will be a cel-shaded character with dynamic lighting. In the image below, drag the centre-line to see Bitey with flat shading and dynamic lights.


8 Responses to “Unreal Brackenwood”
Comments (8)
Bitey shiny
bitey 3d now?
This Bitey is not 3D. The lighting is acomplished by something called normal maps, which has been added to each individual frame of the 2D Bitey. When moving a 3D light around, it gives the impression that he is 3D in a sense, while he really isn’t. Adam pretty much generated the maps, but then painstakingly tweaked each map on each frame by hand so that it gave it more of a hand-painted and kind of claymation feel.
So cool… Can’t wait for more Bitey…
Oh wow that’s awesome !
I really love the brackenwood series. I can’t wait to see more of bitey!
I just got my son into the Brackenwood Series that I watched as a teen. Will we ever see more?
Yes I’m working on a new short right now and streaming the work live on my Twitch channel. Feel free to drop in to say hi and watch it taking shape!