KnobMan, the VSTGUI AnimationKnob bitmap generator

[Hlis93]

another question: When I render the knobs with a specualr element, the light direction does not stay constant in the rendered knob. Rotating the knob rotates the highlighted side as well. Is there a way around this I am missing? thanks.

Pls use 'Gradation' option in the Lighing group instead. Basically, the effects by the primitive's options (texture, specular, emboss...) are rotated by 'Angle'. the 'Lighiting' group's effects are processed after rotate.

that is a very important hint. It took me awhile to figure it out.

I would like to take a moment to thank you for your time making this. It has become a most valued tool for me.

[ouroboros]

another question: When I render the knobs with a specualr element, the light direction does not stay constant in the rendered knob. Rotating the knob rotates the highlighted side as well. Is there a way around this I am missing? thanks.

Pls use 'Gradation' option in the Lighing group instead. Basically, the effects by the primitive's options (texture, specular, emboss...) are rotated by 'Angle'. the 'Lighiting' group's effects are processed after rotate.

that is a very important hint. It took me awhile to figure it out.

I would like to take a moment to thank you for your time making this. It has become a most valued tool for me.

any tips?

[Hlis93]

One thing that I did not catch on to right way and made big difference for me was how I handled the positioning of an indicator on a knob, I am sure that this was obvious to everyone else. At first I would zoom to the size I wanted and then adjust the width, this produced some unwanted effects in the rotation when I reduced the size in Photoshop. I now adjust length and width and use the offset to get it to the position that I need, if you are not doing something complex and only use the offset y you should be able to just set up the degree that you want it to rotate. However, since I tend to offset the whole knob you will have to mind the rotation centers if you do that. I will offset the entire knob so that I am able to adjust the shadows given the direction of light. Shadows are very nice if you use a seperate layer, increase the density and decrease the diffuse, adjust the presence of the shadow with alpha, this seems most natural to me. However a gradation on the indicator with the light direction shifted so that is slightly darkens both the left and right sides of the rotation can be a very nice effect for depth.

Don't know if that makes any difference to anyone but it has made a big difference for me when I resize the exported knobs. when embossing is applied to the indicator use the edge tools in the lighting section. Don't use the emboss on the primatives if the primative is rotated.

cheers,

Jonathan

[scuzzphut]

Jonathon,

I'm having difficulty visualising this - would you mind posting a couple of images to illustrate?

[bootsie]

just another praise cauz this is the greatest freeware tool ever!

[Hlis93]

just another praise cauz this is the greatest freeware tool ever!

I don't know how you do it but that is outstanding Bootsie.

[duncanparsons]

agreed - totally awesome knob!

[Hlis93]

Jonathon,

I'm having difficulty visualising this - would you mind posting a couple of images to illustrate?

OK. I have some pictures of this on my webpage. I dont not want to take up any more space on this thread then I have as I don't know how useful this information will be.

Here is a link the the page with the picture examples:

http://base-designs.com/knobman_tips

I hope this helps.

Jonathan

[duncanparsons]

Jonathon,

I'm having difficulty visualising this - would you mind posting a couple of images to illustrate?

OK. I have some pictures of this on my webpage. I dont not want to take up any more space on this thread then I have as I don't know how useful this information will be.

Here is a link the the page with the picture examples:

http://base-designs.com/knobman_tips

I hope this helps.

Jonathan

that's a really good resource. I seem to remember having a similar issue, and worked it out as you have. It's well presented - I like the way you've done default and changed settings: makes it really easy to understand for the novice

DSP

[scuzzphut]

Jonathon - now I understand - thanks for the tips

[ouroboros]

Yes, thank you very much Jonathan!
I discovered one of my problems through your tutorial:
He window was either sized oddly on install, or I resized it, but the lighting box was not available- I never saw it!

[brok landers]

scuzzphut, keep going, i beg you! tutorials are really _always helpful, i often find anything i still did not know, or would never have come upwith the idea to do certain things _that_ way ... it's always great if one can have a recource to reach for ...

thanks for that!

btw, maybe g200kg can provide you with additional information about knobman and it's development?

[g200kg]

Jonathon,

I'm having difficulty visualising this - would you mind posting a couple of images to illustrate?

OK. I have some pictures of this on my webpage. I dont not want to take up any more space on this thread then I have as I don't know how useful this information will be.

Here is a link the the page with the picture examples:

http://base-designs.com/knobman_tips

I hope this helps.

Jonathan

Jonathan,
Thank you very much for your great tutorial.
Can I link to your page from 'KnobMan' page?

I think current knobman has a problem about sharing the .knob-files if you use image-primitive or customized texture. The texture bmp should be placed 'Texture' directory, and image file should be placed correct directory. (especially, the image file position is saved as relative from knobman.exe, that will make the sharing .knob hard)

I would like to embed the used-images to .knob file in future release.
(that will make the sharing easy even if the .knob file may become big )

[brok landers]

that's indeed a good idea ...

g200kg, you know what bothers me most?
i made a good collection of knobs now, and where i struggle all the time, is, that there's no preview-image in the load dialog ... that would be really great, as i then can see, before i load up a knob in knobman ... is that possible?

[Hlis93]

Jonathon,

I'm having difficulty visualising this - would you mind posting a couple of images to illustrate?

OK. I have some pictures of this on my webpage. I dont not want to take up any more space on this thread then I have as I don't know how useful this information will be.

Here is a link the the page with the picture examples:

http://base-designs.com/knobman_tips

I hope this helps.

Jonathan

Jonathan,
Thank you very much for your great tutorial.
Can I link to your page from 'KnobMan' page?

I think current knobman has a problem about sharing the .knob-files if you use image-primitive or customized texture. The texture bmp should be placed 'Texture' directory, and image file should be placed correct directory. (especially, the image file position is saved as relative from knobman.exe, that will make the sharing .knob hard)

I would like to embed the used-images to .knob file in future release.
(that will make the sharing easy even if the .knob file may become big )

sure a link no problem.

On the other issues I don't know if there are problems no has said that there has been. I have told everyone they need to load the textures into the textures folder. The PNG images that use have to loaded by the person themselves, if they are marked will and inside the same folder and the .knob they should be very easy to find.