Screenshot 1 of 4. A cave scene with an obsidian portal, lava and ore blocks in a cartoon style, rendered with the Cartoony shader.
What Cartoony works with.
| Platform | Java Edition |
|---|---|
| Loaders | Iris, OptiFine |
| Minecraft versions | 1.17, 1.17.1, 1.18.2, 1.19.4, 1.20.6, 1.21.11, 26.1.2, 26.2, 26.3 |
Cartoony is a cel-shaded shader pack for Minecraft Java that pushes the look toward old-school animation, with stepped lighting and inked outlines. It runs on Iris and OptiFine, so it is Java only, and it appears in the shader list as Cartoonie. The creator, xsoras, aims it at players tired of ultra-realistic shaders.
Shader loaders and versions
- Iris and OptiFine: Minecraft 1.17 to 26.3.
What the look is made of
The style rests on a handful of deliberate choices rather than a long effects menu.
- Cel-shaded lighting in smooth, stepped bands.
- Depth-based edge detection that draws outlines around shapes.
- Eight-level color quantization with seamless transitions.
- Tuned saturation and warmth, plus a light vignette at the screen edges.
- Normal-based shading that keeps a little 3D depth, with Reinhard tonemapping and gamma correction.
- Full lightmap support, so torches and lava light the scene, and a separate lighting pass for held items.
Installing Cartoony
- 1.Install a shader loader. Use Iris on Fabric or NeoForge, or OptiFine.
- 2.Place the pack's .zip file in your shaderpacks folder.
- 3.Open Options, then Video Settings, then the shader menu.
- 4.Select Cartoonie.
Trade-offs
Cartoony is one look with no presets listed, so there is little to tune if the outlines or banding are not to your taste. The creator recommends a mid-range GPU and calls the shader code efficient, but gives no frame-rate figures. The project links no source code and lists no licence. If the pack fails to load, the guide on fixing shaders that do not work covers the usual causes.
Questions about Cartoony.
4 questions
How do I install Cartoony?
Install Iris or OptiFine first, then put the pack's .zip file into the shaderpacks folder. Open Video Settings, go to the shader menu and select Cartoonie. No other mod or library is listed as required for the newest release.
Does Cartoony work with both Iris and OptiFine?
Yes. The pack lists releases for both Iris and OptiFine, and neither needs an extra dependency. With Iris, you run it on Fabric or NeoForge. OptiFine works on its own.
Does Cartoony work on Bedrock?
No. Cartoony is a Java shader pack, and Iris and OptiFine are Java mods that Bedrock cannot run. Bedrock uses a different format, so this pack will not load there. To use it, play on Java with either loader and select Cartoonie in the shader menu.
Is Cartoony good for low-end PCs?
The creator recommends a mid-range GPU and describes the shader code as efficient, but publishes no performance numbers or low-end preset. Treat it as a mid-range pack and test it on your own hardware before committing.
