PSOFT Pencil+ 4 for Maya

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.

Materials with high level of expressiveness
Fast and beautiful line drawing
Powerful render elements and file output functionality

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.

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

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