PSOFT Pencil+ 4 Features

PSOFT Pencil+ 4 for Maya is a non-photorealistic rendering plugin which can reproduce the appearance of pen-and-ink and color pencils drawings as well as animation cels.

This plugin makes it possible to reproduce in 3D the distinctive art style seen in Japanese animation and illustrations. It is also effective for creating non-photorealistic looks made from simple planes and lines and which are useful for creating simplified illustration drawings to convey ideas.

It is also great as a visualization tool for product and graphic design as well as for motion graphics and animation.

Materials with a high level of expressiveness.

Pencil+ 4 can reproduce the flat look of cel shading. It provides fine control over shading so you can attain the textures you are looking for.

Toon Shading

Easily setup cel shading textures.

Highlight

Make highlights curve or expand and contract into a crescent along the shape of the object.

Line Related Functions

Configure line drawing for individual materials.

Gradation Offset

Control gradations using maps. Use this to display darker colors at specific locations.

Fast and beautiful line drawing.

Pencil+ 4 Line functionality can be used to create a wide range of richly expressive lines such as mechanically uniform lines, lines jutting out of objects for a rough sketch look, or lines with width modulation like those found in Japanese manga.

Visible Lines

Draw lines using simple settings.

Hidden Lines

Draw edges at the back of objects as in perspective views.

Brush Details

Create lines that look as though they were hand-drawn such as lines with width modulation, dotted lines, wavy lines, etc.

Brush Settings Instance Copy

Copy brush settings as instances.

Reduction Settings

Vary line width and transparency based on the distance to the camera. You can also use the distance to a specified object.

Render View Toolbar

Pencil+ 4 adds its own rendering buttons to the render view to make using Pencil+ 4 Lines more convenient.

Multithreaded Rendering

The Pencil+ 4 Line rendering engine supports multithreading and multiple platforms. It can quickly draw lines even for complex scenes with thousands of overlapping objects.

Display Lines in the Viewport

Pencil+ 4 lines can be displayed in the viewport so you can do modelling while checking the lines.

Reference Functionality

Line settings can be referenced.

Selected Edges

Draw lines on selected polygons and edges.

Open Edge

Draw lines on open edges of polygons.

Merge Groups

Draw on multiple grouped objects as though they were a single object.

Self-Intersection

Draw lines where an object intersects itself.

Size Reduction Settings Instances

Reduction settings can be copied as instances.

Draw Lines on Object Intersections

Lines can be drawn over the shape of objects to, for example, represent panel lines on complex mechanical designs. Since, unlike textures, this is independent from the resolution, the panel lines are always drawn clearly.

Curve Rendering

NURBS and Bezier curves can be drawn as outlines, making it easy to add lines to 3D models using curves.

Powerful render elements and file output functionality.

Output lines to separate files for compositing. You can also output lines to EPS and PLD formats.

Line Render Elements Output

Output Pencil+ 4 Lines to render elements files. Freely combine line sets and edge types to create the output.

Line Z Depth Output

The Z depth of lines can be output. A common use is to add depth of field in post-processing using compositing software.

Line Vector Image Output

Output Pencil+ 4 Lines to EPS files. We recommend resolution-independent vector images for visualization purposes such as in the fields of architecture, manufacturing and product design, as well as for web contents, interactive application interfaces, etc.
Sample Files

PLD File Output

Output PLD files containing Pencil+ 4 Line data. The PLD file format makes it possible to edit Pencil+ 4 Lines in After Effects. Pencil+ 4 Line for After Effects is required. (Pencil+ 4 Line for After Effects is sold separately and is only available in Japanese.)
Pencil+ 4 Line for After Effects (Page in Japanese)

Utilities

We offer utility plugins that improve Pencil+ 4 usability.

PSOFT Pencil+ 4 Bridge
for Maya Planned for Release

Pencil+ 4 Bridge for 3ds Max / Maya / Unity / Blender is a utility used to write Pencil+ 4 Material (*1) and Pencil+ 4 Line settings to file and read them back. The data is managed as a file separate from the scene file, so it can easily be applied to another scene. Thanks to the Bridge, Pencil+ 4 settings can be shared between host applications for greater convenience.

*1 Pencil+ 4 Bridge for Unity can only write and read Pencil+ 4 Line settings.

Download Page

Main Features

* There are differences in the implemented functionality between Pencil+ 4 products based on the host application.
Please look at the following charts for details.

Material

  • Cel shading
  • Configurable line drawing detection
  • Line color substitution

Line

  • Visible line drawing
  • Hidden line drawing
  • Advanced line settings
  • Detailed brush settings
  • Distance-based reduction
  • Line size map
  • Edge detection settings
    • Outline
    • Open edge
    • Object
    • Intersection
    • Smoothing boundary
    • Material ID boundary
    • Selected edge
    • Normal angle
    • Wireframe
  • Support for external references
  • Display Lines in the viewport
  • Pencil+ 4 Line window
  • Pencil+ 4 Line rendering buttons
    (in the render view)

File Output

  • Line render elements output
  • Line Z depth outputNew
  • Line output to EPS format
  • PLD file output

Operating Environment

Host Application:Windows version
Autodesk Maya 2020 / 2022 / 2024 / 2025
*Maya 2023 is not supported.
*Operates with the Maya Software renderer.
Hardware:Requirements identical to those of the host Maya version.
License:Standalone License
Network License
Information about the license is here.
Release Notes

Demo Version Purchase

PSOFT Pencil+ Case Studies
Gallery

Japanese