Best Cel Shader Ever
The signature Ensō look. Soft warm-to-cool falloff, a light bleed band, painterly facets and up to three live coloured lights, with cast shadows in EEVEE.
Ensō NPR Pack
19 cel shaders, each in one node
The Ensō NPR Pack brings every Mix 3D Design cel shader into one library. Pick a style, press Apply, and it works on any object with no UVs needed. Each style is a single node with its own controls, so you can tweak it right in the shader editor.
Every render below is the same Suzanne under the same light, with only the style changed. Use Show node on any card to see that style's node.
Ensō Shader-to-RGB
The Best Cel Shader look driven by every real light in the scene through Shader to RGB, with native cast shadows.
Manga Ink
A black and white manga page. Clean paper in the light, flat screentone in the shadow, a white highlight and contour ink.
Manga Shadow Hatch
Shonen manga shading. Solid black shadows edged with a band of tapered pen strokes that follow the light.
Cross Hatch Ink
Pen and ink cross hatching. Up to three line layers build up as the light falls off, and react to every light live.
Pencil Sketch
A graphite sketch with wobbly hatching, uneven pressure, smudged tone and paper tooth.
Engraving Lines
Banknote and woodcut engraving. One line direction, with line weight following the light and lines bending with the form.
Stipple Ink
Pointillism. Ink dots crowd together in the shadows and fade out in the light.
Ink Wash (Sumi-e)
Japanese sumi-e with layered wet ink washes, bleeding and pooled edges, dry brush streaks and a brushy contour.
Halftone Pop
Pop-art comic print. Flat cel colour, halftone dots that grow into the shadow, a hard highlight and contour ink.
Color Hatch Comic
Western comic colour. Flat cel with a warm bleed band, and ink hatching only inside the shadows.
Energy Aura
An anime power-up aura. Rising toon flames in three hard bands around the silhouette, energy spill and flickering arcs that play on the timeline.
Toon BSDF Rim
Real Toon BSDF diffuse and glossy with a Fresnel rim, lit by every light in the scene.
Light-Math 4 Band
Light math into four hard colour bands with a Fresnel rim.
Toon Metal / Car Paint
Banded horizon reflections over cel paint with a hard highlight. Made for cars and armour.
Posterize Metal (Gold)
Shiny posterized metal, gold by default. Roughness sets the highlight over banded reflections.
Toon Steps Interactive
Toon BSDFs through Shader to RGB into four clean light bands.
Smooth Toon Ramp
Stepped real light mapped onto a dark-to-light colour ramp, with a rim.
Posterize Sharp
Real light posterized per colour channel, so coloured lights stay coloured.
The cel shaders are part of the Ensō NPR Pack, a paid add-on for Ensō Engine. The free engine includes the native nodes and MV Text shown on this page.
Ensō NPR Pack
Skies, water, rain and motion tools
Beyond the cel shaders, the pack adds one-click tools for whole scenes. Everything here was added with the pack's own Add menu items and rendered in Ensō.
Anime Sky Pro
PackA full procedural anime sky in your World: painted cumulus, sun and moon lights, stars and time of day. Pick a look from Add › NPR in the World shader editor and the whole sky changes. Ten looks are included, each shown here over the Anime Ocean.
Anime Ocean
PackA stylized ocean with flat painted wave bands and planar reflections of the sky. Added in one click from the Ensō menu, sized to reach the horizon.
Rain System
PackFalling rain streaks, puddle splashes that play once and fade, and ripples, with an optional wet tiled ground. All the controls sit on one modifier.
Camera Flatten
PackFlattens a mesh toward the active camera while keeping its shading, the classic trick for 2D-looking characters and props. You can limit it to one vertex group, so only a face or a strand of hair goes flat.
Outline Modifier
PackAn inverted-hull outline added to any mesh in one click. It works in the viewport and in Cycles and EEVEE, and pairs with every cel style.
WithoutOutline
Wiggle Bones
FreeAdds a bone chain that fits inside any mesh and makes it jiggle and bend as it moves. Good for antennae, hair, tails and soft props. Included free with the engine.
Anime Smear
PackVelocity-driven smear frames: fast moves stretch the mesh along the motion with speed lines, then snap back when it stops.
Kiseki Trails
PackStylized weapon and motion trails that follow anything you animate, with shader styles for slashes, energy and speed.
Also in the pack
Stylized Anime Water VFXJapanese Signs & Lights libraryLiveNode PreviewAnime Look compositor setupsPainted Strokes materialAnime GlassPixel and multi shadows
New in Ensō
Seven new nodes
Every node below is native, written into Ensō itself, so there are no node groups to append and nothing to break between files. Each one is shown as it looks in the node editor, next to a real render of what it does.
How to spot an Ensō node
Ensō nodes have a warm gradient header with a soft glow around the node. Stock Blender nodes keep their usual flat header, so you can see at a glance which parts of a material only work in Ensō.
In the shader editor they live under Add › NPR › Ink & Paint. In the compositor, Ensō Outline is under Add › NPR › Filters.
Compositor › NPR › Filters
Ensō Outline
Draws anime ink lines over your render from the Depth and Normal passes, all in one node. Plug in the Render Layers and you're done.
- Inputs
- Image, Depth, Normal, Width, Depth Threshold, Normal Threshold, Softness, Color
- Outputs
- Image, Lines
Shader › NPR › Ink & Paint
Ensō Curvature
Finds convex edges and concave folds in screen space, live in EEVEE. Contact marks the crease where two separate objects touch.
- Inputs
- Radius, Contrast, Contact
- Outputs
- Convex, Concave, Curvature, Contact
Shader › NPR › Ink & Paint
Ensō Ink Bleed
Inks the outlines and creases of a surface and lets the ink run down in drips that wander and taper. Leak gives you the drips on their own.
- Inputs
- Width, Crease, Outline, Detail, Variation, Rain, Rain Length, Drip Variation, Smudge, Seed
- Outputs
- Mask, Line, Leak
Shader › NPR › Ink & Paint
Ensō Brush Normals
Turns any surface into layered paint strokes by bending its normals. Use the built-in strokes or load your own brush atlas.
- Inputs
- Brush image, Scale, Length, Width, Strength, Bristles, Randomness, Flow, Seed, Atlas Columns, Atlas Rows, Normal
- Outputs
- Normal, Height, Stroke
Shader › NPR › Ink & Paint
Ensō Screen Rim
An anime rim light that appears only where the surface ends against something farther away, so it stays a clean band instead of a Fresnel glow.
- Inputs
- Width, Threshold, Softness, Direction
- Outputs
- Rim
Shader › NPR › Ink & Paint
Ensō Line Detect
Gives every kind of line its own mask, so you can ink silhouettes thick and creases thin. In the clip silhouette is red, crease blue and contact yellow.
- Inputs
- Width, Crease Angle, Depth Threshold
- Outputs
- Line, Silhouette, Crease, Object Border, Contact
Shader › NPR › Ink & Paint
Ensō Hatching
Manga halftone dots, lines and crosshatch driven by any shade value, pinned to the object so the pattern never swims.
- Inputs
- Shade, Scale, Angle, Softness
- Outputs
- Dots, Lines, Crosshatch
Compositor · NPR › Filters
Ink lines in one node
Ensō Outline reads the Depth and Normal passes and inks the render in a single compositor node. No Sobel graphs, no Map Range chains to rebuild in every file.
Depth edges are planar-exact, so floors, roads and open water stay clean all the way to the horizon while silhouettes and folds get a crisp line.
WithoutEnsō Outline
- InputsImage, Depth, Normal
- ControlsWidth, Depth and Normal Threshold, Softness, Color
- OutputsInked Image, Lines mask
Shader · Ensō Curvature
Edges that read like a drawing
Screen-space curvature with even convex and concave bands, live in the EEVEE viewport. No baking and no extra geometry.
The Contact output finds the crease wherever two objects meet, like rocks against a wall or stairs against a base, so separate meshes still read as one painted form.
- OutputsConvex, Concave, Curvature, Contact
- ControlsRadius, Contrast, Contact
- Runs inEEVEE viewport and final render
Shader · Ensō Ink Bleed
Hand-inked drips
Ink runs down from your lines, wandering, slanting and tapering to a point. Each run has its own width and length, and none of them end in a bead.
Rain sets how many runs fall, Rain Length how far they travel, and Smudge how much they wander.
- ControlsRain, Rain Length, Smudge, Variation
- Line widthFollows the line Width, with a pixel minimum
- OutputMask, ready to mix your ink color
Shader · NPR
Rim, lines and hatching
Three new shader nodes built on the EEVEE pre-pass. Each one gives you a clean mask to mix into any material, so they work with the shading you already have.
Screen Rim
An anime rim light that appears where the surface ends against something farther away, not a Fresnel glow.
WidthThresholdSoftnessDirection→ Rim
Line Detect
Every kind of line as its own mask, so you can ink silhouettes thick and creases thin.
→ Line→ Silhouette→ Crease→ Object Border→ Contact
Hatching
Manga halftone dots, lines and crosshatch driven by a shade value, pinned to the object so the pattern never swims.
ShadeScaleAngle→ Dots→ Lines→ Crosshatch
Included add-on · MV Text
Music video titles in a few clicks
Animated Geometry Nodes text with compositor effects layered over your scene. Pick a preset, type your line, then stack effects on top. Japanese vertical text works out of the box.
14 presets
TypewriterPopGlitchWaveDropSpinTategakiSlamZoomFlickerScatterRiseStampShake
12 compositor effects
GlowNeonKiraOutlineShadowRGB SplitGlitchShakeSpeedFlashDreamyPixel
Interface
Set up for anime work
Ensō opens on the Anime and Anime Shading workspaces in the Ink and Paper theme, a warm dark theme made to be easy on the eyes over long sessions.
Everything Ensō adds lives in one top-bar menu and a Shift+E pie in the viewport. Ensō's own nodes carry a soft glowing header, so you can tell them apart from stock nodes at a glance.
- WorkspacesAnime, Anime Shading
- ShortcutsShift+E pie, Ensō top-bar menu
- ColorStandard view transform by default
Cycles
Renders on every modern GPU
The beta ships with precompiled Cycles kernels for NVIDIA and AMD, so GPU rendering works on first launch. Intel Arc support is included and prepares its kernels the first time you render. Pick your device in Preferences › System.
| Vendor | Cards | Backend |
|---|---|---|
| NVIDIA | GTX 900 series through RTX 50 series | CUDA · OptiX on RTX cards |
| AMD | Radeon RX 5000 through RX 9000, plus recent Ryzen integrated graphics | HIP · HIP RT for hardware ray tracing |
| Intel | Arc graphics | oneAPI · kernels prepared on first render |
Private beta
Ensō Engine 1.0 Beta
The engine is free. This first beta is for Windows 64-bit and is shared with testers directly. Both builds are the same program; choose the one that suits how you work.
Installer
EnsoEngine-1.0-beta-windows-x64.msi
Portable
EnsoEngine-1.0-beta-windows-x64-portable.zip
Ensō keeps its settings in its own folder, separate from Blender's, so it installs next to your existing Blender without touching it. Based on Blender 5.3. MV Text, Wiggle Bones and the Ensō menus are included.