unreal · rendering

Stylized post-processKBVEPostShader

A stylized post-process pipeline targeting a painterly Breath of the Wild / Studio Ghibli look — anisotropic Kuwahara oil-paint smear, cel luminance banding, and depth-driven ink outlines, run as chained RDG passes after the tonemapper and off by default.

View source Pipeline CVars

RDG scene view extension

It runs as chained RDG passes from a FSceneViewExtension, inserted after the tonemapper, gated by CVars and off by default. Defaults also live under Project Settings → KBVE → KBVE Post Shader.

Enable — r.KBVEPost.Enable 1.
Target — desktop SM5+, BotW-tuned defaults.

KBVEPostShaderPlugin

UE 5.7Min engine

Post-tonemapStage

KBVELicense

Structure tensor flow

RGB Sobel resolved into a local flow tangent plus anisotropy that orients the smear.

Anisotropic Kuwahara

An 8-sector generalized Kuwahara over a flow-oriented ellipse produces the oil-paint base.

Ink & cel composite

Depth-driven ink outlines, cel luminance banding with preserved hue, and warm saturation.

CVar-gated, off by default

Every knob is a CVar mirrored under Project Settings; the effect ships disabled until enabled.

RDG passes

Pipeline

Structure tensor — RGB Sobel resolved into a local flow tangent + anisotropy.
Anisotropic Kuwahara — 8-sector generalized Kuwahara over a flow-oriented ellipse → oil-paint base.
Composite — ink outlines from scene depth + painted-luma discontinuities, cel banding (hue preserved), warm saturation, darkened by the ink mask.

Tuning

CVars

CVar	Default	Purpose
`r.KBVEPost.Enable`	`0`	Master on/off.
`r.KBVEPost.Radius`	`6`	Kuwahara sample radius.
`r.KBVEPost.OilStrength`	`0.85`	Blend original → Kuwahara.
`r.KBVEPost.Bands`	`5`	Cel luminance bands.
`r.KBVEPost.EdgeStrength`	`1.4`	Ink outline darkening.
`r.KBVEPost.EdgeThreshold`	`0.15`	Discontinuity threshold.
`r.KBVEPost.Saturation`	`1.15`	Painterly saturation.

Defaults also live in Project Settings → KBVE → KBVE Post Shader.

r.KBVEPost.Enable 1
r.KBVEPost.Radius 8

Roadmap

Status

P1: the core trio (structure tensor + anisotropic Kuwahara + cel/ink composite), BotW-tuned defaults, desktop SM5+. P2 will add GBuffer-normal outlines, a warm palette LUT, canvas overlay, flow warp, and Ghibli/BotW presets.

What look does KBVEPostShader produce?

A painterly Breath of the Wild / Studio Ghibli style — anisotropic Kuwahara oil-paint smear, cel luminance banding, and depth-driven ink outlines.

How is the effect rendered?

It runs as chained RDG passes from an FSceneViewExtension inserted after the tonemapper, gated by CVars and off by default.

How do I enable and tune it?

Set r.KBVEPost.Enable to 1 and adjust CVars like r.KBVEPost.Radius and r.KBVEPost.OilStrength; the same defaults are exposed under Project Settings, KBVE, KBVE Post Shader.