Working with V-Ray Toon Material

Updated October 06, 2025 10:01

This article is an introductionary guide to VRayToonMtl and its setup. It should answer common questions such as:

Why is the scene setup different for VRayToonMtl?
Which camera types are best used for toon rendering?
Which light types are best used for toon rendering?
How does the Diffuse Ramp work?
How does the Toon effect work with and without GI?
Are there any tutorials available?

Currently, VRayToonMtl is only supported on the V-Ray CPU engine.

Why does VRayToonMtl have a different setup?

The toon style is a non-photorealistic rendering effect designed for rendering cartoons, animated films, comics and similar stylized productions. Unlike photorealistic rendering, it avoids broad, physically based illumination from Global Illumination (GI), environment lighting, and multiple light sources, and instead emphasizes clear light direction and crisp shading.

Standard VRayToonMtl setup:

Use non-physical Cameras and Lights
Use a single key directional light to define the shading from a specific direction.
Disable Global Illumination (GI) to prevent indirect light from softening the look.
Disable environment lighting or environment maps to remove ambient fill.
Remove or turn off additional light sources so the key light dominates the scene.

V-Ray Lights and Cameras could be used for toon rendering, of course. But since they are designed to be physically accurate, they require additional adjustments such as switching the lights’ directionality, decreasing the Intensity Multiplier, and disabling the Exposure control. Standard lights simply ease the workflow.

You could also enable Global illumination, environment maps and additional light sources to produce a smoother light distribution, however, for a convincing render in a cartoon style, their contribution should be significantly lower than the key-light's such.

Introductory guide:

1. Create a 3ds Max Standard Target Camera

2. Create a directional light source, f.e, 3ds Max's Standard Target Direct Light

3. Adjust the directionality parameters to ensure that all objects are within the light scope.

*Demonstration of the lighting scope adjustments in 3ds Max*

4. Apply a VRayToonMtl to the objects

The shadows and the Toon effect depend on the position and intensity of the directional light source.

5. Adjust the Diffuse Ramp with colors and maps for the desired effect

The Diffuse Ramp is responsible for the Toon effect variation - it controls the diffuse color based on the amount of light received.

*Render with the three newly created VRayToonMtls*

6. Disable GI to achieve sharp and solid shadows

If you want to keep GI enabled and receive smoother illumination, use a Background color:

In 3ds Max: 3ds Max's Environment and Effects settings or Render Setup > V-Ray > Environment > GI Environment
In Maya: Render Settings > Overrides > Environment > Override Environment > GI texture

The result depends on the chosen color: