Can't figure out how to use Vertex Color instead of VertexNormalWS to create rim offset and offset outline based on Stylised paint shader breakdown

[xeryvelgarde (Xer)]

Thank you for responding and clarifying several things, including clearing up my misconceptions.

I’d modify my reply to say “look below for explanation” but I can’t now.

I do have another question since you definitely know more about shaders than me, I also tested it with the nodes for cheap fresnel that the article used and it does seem like the instructions are actually less than the one that was used in the final version of the Stylised Paint Shader.

Do you get why they did it the way they did? Is it because of the edge detection issue essentially? Or could you essentially bypass the edge detection issue without having to avoid flat surfaces and baking the smooth normals into vertex colors.

@MostHost_LA

Of note:
Using vertex paint you completely loose the rotation of the object in world space from the normals.
This may not matter - really mostly depends on the geometry of an object.
On a sphere, like the example, it will not. Because sphere math is its own thing.
On complex geometry it very likely will.

This makes me wonder then if I shouldn’t use the vertex paint by this point for rim erosion (again, my confusion comes from why it’s used in the first place, even after reading it - I’m an amateur with materials and textures). It’s not cheap like you said and I could possibly use more complex geometry.