by Cogumelo Softworks·Rendering
Images © Cogumelo Softworks. Used for product review; image policy.
Earns its place in the superhive library as an in-house NPR renderer for Cycles, pairing color-based shading, shadow, and specular outputs with raytrace line rendering and vertex-color Face Paint tools.
Toonkit For Cycles is Cogumelo Softworks' in-house solution for rendering NPR, PSR, and stylish images with Cycles. It implements new OSL shader nodes that integrate into the Cycles node system and Blender's viewport, and the shaders stay fully interactive as you work. Most converge to noiseless production-quality images in roughly 4 to 32 samples.
In Toonkit, every node output is a color — including shadings, shadows, and specular — so you can mix and operate them without the usual mix restrictions. A Face Paint system uses vertex colors in Edit Mode to speed up painting for cartoon styles. Two raytrace-based line rendering nodes handle outlines, with controls over the influence of Normal, Depth, Object Id, Silhouette, and Vertex Color.
The add-on suits anime, technical, arch viz, engineering, and expressive art work. Version 1.7 added support for Blender 4.x, reworked the Face Paint tools around Blender Color Attributes, and made the downloaded file act as its own installer, alongside a code redesign. Earlier versions extended support to Blender 3.x and 2.93.
Toonkit For Cycles is best for artists rendering anime, technical, arch viz, engineering, and expressive art styles with Cycles.
Toonkit For Cycles is completely free to download and use.
Toonkit For Cycles added support for Blender 4.x in version 1.7, and earlier releases extended it to Blender 3.x and 2.93 as well. Its shaders are built on OSL and integrate into the Cycles node system and Blender's viewport. For the exact list of supported builds and any version-specific notes, check Cogumelo Softworks' page and the online documentation, which was refreshed alongside recent releases.
Toonkit For Cycles is listed as free in this catalog. Licensing terms can change over time, so confirm current details on Cogumelo Softworks' page before you download. The add-on is an in-house solution the developer built for NPR, PSR, and stylish rendering with Cycles, adding OSL shader nodes to Blender. Version 1.7 also simplified installation, since the downloaded file now acts as the installer.
Toonkit For Cycles simplified its install workflow in version 1.7, where the downloaded file now serves as the installer itself. The add-on brings OSL shader nodes into the Cycles node system and Blender's viewport. Online documentation was released and refreshed to cover setup and usage, and the internal link to those docs was fixed in the latest version. See Cogumelo Softworks' page for the current download and documentation.
Toonkit For Cycles implements two raytrace-based line rendering nodes for Cycles. They offer controls over the influence of Normal, Depth, Object Id, Silhouette, and Vertex Color, letting you shape outlines from several inputs. Beyond lines, the add-on outputs shadings, shadows, and specular as colors you can mix and operate freely, and it includes Face Paint tools that use vertex colors in Edit Mode for cartoon styles.
Also in Rendering for Blender.
by Wayward Art Company
Mask Tools is a Blender add-on for texturing and creating complex materials without exporting to other software. Add paint layers and procedural effects like edge detect, dust, and grunge to produce realistic textures.
by polygoniq
Render Manager Addon Renderset is a Blender addon from polygoniq for creating and managing scene variations through renderset contexts. Switch camera, HDRI, render and visibility settings without duplicating collections or objects.
by don1138
QLE (Quick Lighting Environment) is a Blender add-on that adds a basic lighting setup to your scene from a panel under Properties > Scene. One click builds a World, four Area Lights, a tracking Empty, and a Backdrop.
by Joshua Knauber
Layer Painter is a Blender addon (2.82+) that brings a layer system to material creation, combining painting and procedurals with masks, filters and baking. Built with a PBR workflow in mind, it also supports stylized painting.
by William Landgren
Pro Lens 2 is a rebuilt Blender add-on for adding lens effects to your camera, with controls placed in the Camera Properties panel for adding or removing the effect, adjusting strength, and applying natural vignetting.
by Physical Addons
Physical Starlight and Atmosphere - Sky is a Blender addon for real-time, physics-based sky and atmosphere rendering. It works in Eevee and Cycles, using photometric measurements and analytic air mass volume calculations for scientifically accurate atmospheric scattering.
by Andrew_D
Extreme PBR Nexus is a Blender addon for managing a library of over 1800 materials, compatible with Cycles and Eevee. It includes texture painting between materials, animated water, and displacement built on native Blender modifiers.
by Community
Tri-lighting is a Blender add-on that places a three-point lighting setup on the selected or active object. Found under View3D → Add → Lights, it was previously bundled with Blender 4.1.
by Håvard Dalen
Lens Sim is a Blender addon that simulates camera lenses using real-world optical data. It extends the standard Blender camera so you can choose and render dozens of lenses in Cycles.
by pioverfour
Sun Position is a Blender add-on that positions and animates the Sun to simulate real-world natural lighting, using geographic location, time and date based on the NOAA online calculator.
by Dynamic Sky
Dynamic Sky is a Blender add-on that creates dynamic sky for the Cycles render engine. Originally authored by Pratik Solanki, it was part of Blender 4.1's bundled add-ons and is now offered as-is.
