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Stylized Toolkit: Create

by StylizedToolKit·Workflow

Images © StylizedToolKit. Used for product review; image policy.

Why we like it

Stylized Toolkit: Create earns its place in the superhive library by covering an NPR pipeline in one bundle—line work, cell shading, baking and normal maps—rather than a single effect. STK Lines' per-click binding and its algorithmic 3D-as-2D line width stand out, and Bake and Simplify hands final export back to Blender.

What is Stylized Toolkit: Create?

Stylized Toolkit: Create is a bundle of four Blender addons for comic, cartoon, hand-painted, artistic, retro and other non-photoreal styles. STK Lines builds 3D geometry line work meant to read as 2D from the camera, adjusting line width relative to an object's depth, the closest point's distance to the camera and the camera's focal length. Curves can be bound to a mesh and re-contorted to it with one click, and a snapshot feature captures perspective and deformation states for recall or conversion into shapekeys.

STK Color is a cell shader baking and texture layer system covering diffuse, emission and transparency channels, with layers that can be masked, colorized, painted on or used as adjustment layers. STK Bake and Simplify produces diffuse, ambient occlusion, depth, edge and texture bakes, then flattens materials into a Principled BSDF setup on a duplicate object for export or further use in Blender.

STK Normal Map is a separate addon for normal map baking onto a target object with a Principled BSDF node setup, configuring the normal map automatically once baked. Artwork made with the bundle is allowed for commercial, personal and educational use, and the addons are licensed under the GPL.

Who is Stylized Toolkit: Create best for?

Stylized Toolkit: Create is best for blender artists working in comic, cartoon, hand-painted, retro and other non-photoreal styles who need stylized line work, cell shading and bakes prepared for export.

How much does Stylized Toolkit: Create cost?

Stylized Toolkit: Create is completely free to download and use.

Key features

  • STK Lines adjusts line width relative to an object's depth, the closest point's distance to the camera and the camera's focal length so line work reads as 2D
  • Binding system attaches curves to a mesh and re-contorts them to the mesh with one click after it moves or deforms
  • Snapshot feature captures perspective and deformation states that can be recalled, updated and converted into shapekeys
  • STK Color provides cell shader baking and a texture layer system for diffuse, emission and transparency, with maskable, colorizable and adjustment layers
  • STK Bake produces diffuse, ambient occlusion, depth, edge and texture bakes, while STK Simplify flattens materials into a Principled BSDF setup on a duplicate object
  • Transfers a grayscale image or the Principled BSDF alpha value into a Base Color texture's alpha channel for apps that lack independent alpha channels
  • STK Normal Map bakes normal maps onto a target object with a Principled BSDF node setup and sets up the normal map automatically

Tags

#Blender#NPR#cel shading#line art#comic#cartoon#texture baking#stylized

Frequently asked questions

Does Stylized Toolkit: Create work with Blender 5.1?

Stylized Toolkit: Create has been maintained across several recent Blender releases. STK NormalMap was confirmed to still work in Blender 5.1 with no changes needed, and both STK Create and STK NormalMap were updated for Blender 5.0. The addons were also made to work for Blender 4.4 and updated for Blender 4.3. Along the way, fixes addressed issues in Blender 4.0 and later, such as combine-alpha features skipping the emission texture. For versions outside this range, check the developer's page for current details.

Can I use artwork made with Stylized Toolkit: Create commercially?

Stylized Toolkit: Create allows all artwork you create with the bundled addons to be used for commercial, personal and educational purposes. The addons themselves are licensed under the GPL. That covers the four included tools—STK Lines, STK Color, STK Bake and Simplify, and STK Normal Map—so materials, line work and bakes you produce can go into paid projects as well as personal or classroom work. For the full licensing terms and any conditions tied to the GPL, refer to the developer's page.

Is Stylized Toolkit: Create free?

Stylized Toolkit: Create is listed as free in this catalog. Pricing and distribution terms can change, so the developer's page is the place to confirm current availability and any licensing conditions. Separate from cost, artwork made with the addons is allowed for commercial, personal and educational use, and the addons themselves are licensed under the GPL. If you need to be certain about how you can distribute or use the tools, review those terms directly on the developer's page before relying on them.

How does Stylized Toolkit: Create make textures compatible with other 3D apps?

Stylized Toolkit: Create handles this through STK Simplify. It converts surface materials made with the addon into simplified materials with only emission, diffuse and opacity textures plugged into a Principled BSDF shader, applied to a duplicate object. Simplify can unpack textures and transfer either a grayscale image or the Principled BSDF alpha slider value into the alpha channel of a Base Color texture, which makes those textures usable in other 3D apps whose shaders lack independent alpha channels. Export itself is handled entirely by Blender.

Does STK Normal Map require a Principled BSDF setup?

STK Normal Map requires that the target object—usually a lower-poly object than the source—has a material with a Principled BSDF node setup. It is a separate addon within the bundle dedicated to normal map baking, and once the bake is done it sets up the normal map automatically. If your target object does not yet have a Principled BSDF material, you would add one before baking. The other tools in the bundle, such as STK Bake and Simplify, cover diffuse, ambient occlusion, depth and edge bakes.

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