I have been making games for a while now and have a substantial understanding of the 2D animations and processes. However my understanding with 3D modeling is limited even though I have made some low poly models during my time.
There is a certain method that I would like to grasp and there has been very little material and information on the matter. The workflow considered here can be achieved in 2D environment which gives more control for the sprites or in 3D environment where the result is sometimes quite vague but can be corrected later on. Nonetheless both methods utilizes scaling bigger elements into a smaller counterparts which makes high resolution material convert into pixel art, which can then be altered on a single frames afterwards.
I have done a tremendous amount of work researching this matter while trying to learn pixel art and even though I have gained experience, drawing the frames one by one takes too much time for this game I'm currently designing. Therefore I would like to try this workflow described in this article.
Motion Twin has done remarkable job with this workflow (the game Dead Cells itself) and I actually found out about it, the game and the workflow, after deciding to go with the same approach for my own game.
For two years I have now struggled with this workflow which I want to learn to finally continue with my game. For the 2D side of this workflow, we use high res source images and skeleton based animation and there is a nice introduction for it here. I intend to do some of my animations through this method, but would like to handle character animations through the first method (3D).
So my question is: What software would you recommend for doing this 3D to PixelArt conversion? (Low resolution rendering with cel shading) I know the best solution would be to write a tool of your own for the task like the Twin Motion did, but I don't have the required skills.. nor the time to do that as it can be done with most of the 3D rendering tools out there. Also what are your thoughts of this workflow? I think it's genius and efficient.
Few years ago in some forums some would have said "Forget it", just make it simple and draw the sprites one by one. That's not an answer, we are better than that and I know that you know it.
I'm not expecting to get a full perfect answer. I'm looking for perspectives and ways of approach with healthy discussion about different possibilities.