# Cel

Anime · ink + tone

An animation cel is a clear sheet with an inked outline, painted on the back in a few flat colors, one for light and one for shadow. Cel turns your picture into that, with ink lines, screentone, rim light and speed lines.

## Controls

### Paint

- **Bands** (hero knob, 2 to 5, rests at 3). The hero. How many flat tones the paint has, from two to five. Two is stark light and shadow.
- **Saturation** (Fader, -100 to +100, rests at +30). Pushes the paint more vivid, or drains it toward gray.
- **Flatten** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Smooths texture away inside each shape so fills go flat, while the edges hold.
- **Shadow color** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Turns the shadow band cool and violet, the way cel painters mix shadow paint.
- **Highlight** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). Paints the brightest parts as a crisp, near-white highlight band.

### Ink

- **Ink** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 70). How strong the inked outline is.
- **Line width** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 30). How thick the lines are.
- **Line detail** (Fader, -100 to +100, rests at 0). Up draws more lines, down to the fine detail. Down keeps only the strongest edges.
- **Line color** (Select: Black / Color / Sepia / Blue). The line color. Black, Color for a dark shade of the paint underneath, Sepia or Blue.
- **Line boil** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). The lines are redrawn twelve times a second and never sit still, like hand-inked animation.

### Screentone

- **Screentone** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 50). How much screentone goes into the shadows.
- **Tone size** (Knob, 1.0× to 4.0×, rests at 1.0×). How big the screentone pattern is.
- **Tone pattern** (Select: Dots / Lines / Cross). The screentone. **Dots**, **Lines**, or **Cross** for crossed lines.

### Light

- **Rim light** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). A bright edge on the side of each shape that faces the light.
- **Light angle** (Knob, 0° to 360°, rests at 45°). Which side the rim light comes from.
- **Glow** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). A soft bloom around the brightest parts.

### Action

- **Speed lines** (Knob, 0 to 100, rests at 0). White speed lines rush in from the edge of the frame toward the center.
- **Impact** (Pulse button). Press it for the hit frame. For an instant the tones flip to stark ink and paper.

## Presets

- **TV Anime**: Flat paint, cool shadows, a crisp highlight band.
- **Manga Page**: Black ink and screentone on white, no color.
- **Sunset Rim**: Warm rim light on every shape and a soft glow.
- **Action Frame**: Speed lines rushing in and a boiling line.
- **Sketchy Boil**: Sepia lines redrawn every frame over soft paint.
- **Watercolor Cel**: Soft flat fills with colored lines and no tone.
- **Anime Cel**: Flat paint, cool violet shadows, a crisp highlight band and a warm rim light.