Cel shading's usage is... completely wrong?

Cel shading refers to a specific type of 3d rendering aims to mimic 2d texture. You would assume that's what the tag is for. But the wiki then points at how "cel shading" is also used for 2d animation now, suggests that the tag is used for the lighting and proceed to give a mixture of 2d and 3d examples. That's very confusing and problematic because:

1. While there are similar terms for 2d animation, they didn't come from cel shading. Quite the opposite, cel shading is named after the traditional 2d coloring process using celluloids. You can at best say that this is an ambiguous term used for two things. And wikipedia does use "cel shading" for the 3d rendering style.

2. We already have anime coloring for the 2d coloring style.

3. Some of the posts there wouldn't even fit anime coloring necessarily. While they are still layer-based and budget-saving, the number of layers a gacha game illustration has is still much more than an average anime. Either we put them both under the same tag, create a new tag, or don't tag gacha cels at all because people can't recognize them anyway.

4. We don't have a tag for actual cel shading.

The main problem is that "cel shading" is now used as a byword for any "simple, anime-like shading" style, which explains why the tag is as messy as it is. Given such a generalized usage, I wonder if cel shading and anime coloring could be merged into a single tag.

TrueKringe said:

The main problem is that "cel shading" is now used as a byword for any "simple, anime-like shading" style, which explains why the tag is as messy as it is. Given such a generalized usage, I wonder if cel shading and anime coloring could be merged into a single tag.

I don't know if I'd agree with it being such a specific byword, since I also see it used for comic-like and cartoon-like shading as well.

TrueKringe said:

The main problem is that "cel shading" is now used as a byword for any "simple, anime-like shading" style, which explains why the tag is as messy as it is. Given such a generalized usage, I wonder if cel shading and anime coloring could be merged into a single tag.

As I mentioned above, the term "cel shading" even in 2d alone can mean two different things. The flat 2d animation shading, and the more elaborate layered shading used by some gacha games (as opposed to the thick painting-styled shading more games are starting to use).

For the 3d term, toon shading and cel rendering are possible alternatives.

BUR #28317 has been approved by @nonamethanks.

deprecate cel_shading
create alias cel_shading_(2d) -> anime_coloring
create alias cel_shading_(3d) -> cel_rendering

I'm gonna make a request before this thread sinks. This BUR is assuming we either untag the gacha shading style or put it under the same tag as anime shading. If anyone is interested in making a distinct tag for the gacha shading or has any better ideas please reply.

I have no idea what a "gacha shading style" is but it definitely shouldn't pollute anime_coloring.

Cel shading is exclusively a 3D graphics term so any usage to refer to "anime coloring" is wrong. "Cel rendering" is a nonstandard term (only 4k results on Google vs 1M for "cel shading").

I don't have an opinion on this topic, but if it's of any help towards the discussion, I mainly know of cel shading as a term due to the fact that Hyanna-natsu would often title some of her old making-of videos with "Cel Shading" (example). I've never heard anything about it applying to 3d before until I ended up looking at this thread.

Make of that what you will. But I don't know enough about cel shading to really say.

Nameless_Contributor said:

I have no idea what a "gacha shading style" is but it definitely shouldn't pollute anime_coloring.

Some examples: love_live game_cg, colorful_palette, genshin_impact official_art, bang_dream! official_art and stuff already under cel_shading like crash_fever official_art.

It's more refined than anime coloring, but still layered unlike painting-like shading.

Looking into it, most things under cel shading that isn't crash fever are anime coloring, so whoever added crash fever had a different understanding of the tag.

Nameless_Contributor said:

Cel shading is exclusively a 3D graphics term so any usage to refer to "anime coloring" is wrong. "Cel rendering" is a nonstandard term (only 4k results on Google vs 1M for "cel shading").

I agree. However as the current state of the cel shading proves, most people don't know anything about terminology and will just create mistags and misleading wikis. And as stated there are similar 2d terms originated from "celluloid", and research shows that there is a notable amount of people using "cel shading" to refer to 2d art. I don't know if a good wiki and some gardening can prevent future mistags. But I kept it as aliases at the very least.

magcolo said:

As I mentioned above, the term "cel shading" even in 2d alone can mean two different things. The flat 2d animation shading, and the more elaborate layered shading used by some gacha games (as opposed to the thick painting-styled shading more games are starting to use).

For the 3d term, toon shading and cel rendering are possible alternatives.

I'll admit the wiki doesn't exactly make it easier.

This bulk update request is pending automatic rejection in 5 days.

This bulk update request has been rejected because it was not approved within 45 days.

The bulk update request #28317 (forum #291771) has been rejected by @DanbooruBot.

The bulk update request #28317 (forum #291771) has been approved by @nonamethanks.

cel shading needs a deprecation wiki now.

@magcolo

Done

Somewhat related, attaching here for the related discussion, but anime coloring tag name kind of sucks and is extremely vague. I wouldn't have guessed it refers to this technique (actually my first thought was that it referred to characters having different colors in an anime adaptation) and not all images that use this coloring technique actually look like something from an anime (something we've run into in the Discord).

My first thought was something like animation cel coloring or maybe celluloid coloring?

What should be done about the cel tag? Should something like that be nuked, or deprecated?

Ourobouro said:

What should be done about the cel tag? Should something like that be nuked, or deprecated?

should be cleaned and turned into a metatag with the "(medium)" qualifier