Dev VST image mapping / Knob movement question

[Subliminal Seducer]

Hi all
I'm drawing a VST GUI for a friend & I'd like to know how images are integrated into the plug.
BTW I'd like to know what format I have to choose to make a knob movement (PSD,GIF,Jpeg...), and wich soft should I use to make the animation; It's a round knob so should I make an image for all 360° or less ?
I've got Photoshop,Flash,PaintShop Pro & animation shop...Is this enough or should I use something else ?
I'm not programer/developper , but good @ design , so any comments are welcome.

Thx in advance 4 Ur help

[Dan Island]

I was going to ask this question too

[ew]

The guy who does EVM synths has a great little knob maker/mask maker available on his site.
http://www.sinte-virtual.com/evmsynths/
I've been playing around with it building knobs for a new Reaktor thing I'm working on.
EDIT:It's not there anymore Maybe he'll stop by and let us know what's up.
ew

[pHz]

i can do this for synthedit but have no idea how hand-coded vsti handle this

so im interested too

slainte rob

[cold c]

I think they use bitmap images (on windows machines.) Basically, it's one bmp file of a stack of around 50 knobs.

For software, you can use anything, photoshop, corel, whatever you are comfortable with or can afford. 3d studio max if you're feeling ambitious, or you could draw it freehand, scan it in, add effects/colouring and rotate it in photoshop etc.

[pHz]

if thats right it works just like SE then

easy-peasy

slainte rob

[pljones]

Get the VSTSDK dev kit from Steinburg. It comes with a ControlsGUI example with knobs and stuff.

[cold c]

If you're looking for ideas try these spirograph thingies.

http://www.wordsmith.org/~anu/java/spirograph.html
http://www.dogbomb.com/spi/
http://math.dartmouth.edu/~dlittle/java/SpiroGraph/

[FerryB]

making knobs in vst gui can be done with glyphs. bitmaps with all the wanted rotation states of the knob. selecting which bitmap related to the angle.

see also:

http://mysite.freeserve.com/kdbanglia/knobmaker.htm

[evmsynths]

Its buggy. No manual or error trapping but might be of use. v0.91

http://sinte-virtual.com/evmsynths/kalok/kalok.htm

There will be a better version at sometime in the future.

EVM

[evmsynths]

http://www.sinte-virtual.com/evmsynths/kalok/kalok.htm

Forgot the woobble ewe's...

[evmsynths]

http://www.sinte-virtual.com/evmsynths/kalok/kalok.html

Good christ, I must be pissed. This one had better work...
EVM

[cbit]

i designed a GUI for a C++ plugin a while ago and i was looking for similar information. here's what i learned..

For dials, you just need to choose a sensible number of divisions to create. I don't believe the number of frames has any bearing on the actual resolution of the dial, it will just make its movement look more or less smooth (i think it might be a good idea to use an odd number of frames and make sure the middle one is exactly at 12 oclock, for neatness). I used 31 frames for the NDC plugin 'The Modulator 2', which seems smooth enough for me. if in doubt, ask your friend what would be a good number of frames for the dials.

oh yes: don't make the knob rotate 360 degrees. It makes it difficult to tell whether it's at its minimum of maximum position (1 and 359 look very similar at a glance, both positions have the dial pointing at roughly 6 oclock).. check commercial plugs for good idaes about incorporating useablility into the GUI design.

I was asked to supply the graphics as 24 bit .bmp files. (i know alpha blending is also possible, then you'd use a different format, png maybe?, but we avoided it in that project for the sake of simplicity).

For each control (dial,button etc) that has more than one frame, all the frames need to be provided in one image, one frame butting up directly beneath the previous. (for dials with many frames, you'll end up with a long thin image, like a movie reel. For buttons or switches you may only need 2 frames).

There is a program called trentstitch that's very handy for 'gluing' seperate image files together in strips like this. It's a bit tricky to find these days but i seem to remember it being on one server i looked on. export the seperate frames as numbered files in a directory for ease of 'gluing' together.

As for software, think about which soft it'll be easiest to arrange the rotation of the dials in (if you use dials).. i used fireworks (normally used for web graphics work) because it can handle the rotation as well as the conversion to bmp format.. but i know others use flash, and freehand and photoshop.

i hope that was useful. let me know if there's anything else i might know that would help.

[VitaminD]

I dont know really.. but as far as Pentagon I goes (rgcaudio vsti) the knobs ARE in fact done the same way as in Synthedit. its just a trent-stitched, vertical column of knob images.

like already mentioned.. you DONT want an entire set of knobs in all 360 degrees.

Its best (imo) to have about a 135 degree amount of rotation on each side, starting from the 12 o'clock position. So total would be 270 - so 90 degrees of TOTAL non-animated space from both the left and the right sides.

I only do gui and graphics for a hobby.. but knob making is the most crappy thing in design ive ever come across yet.. its SOOOoooo tedious. I tend to make static backgrounds and gui's just for fun.. but when it comes to actually making the knobs for it - i just cant bring myself to make them too often. Simply because its a pain in the rear to get a whole set.

I guess this would be a cool project for someone to make.. a serious GUI animation package for software developers. The package would include a knob animator among other objects which has full modeling and rendering with shading and lighting abilities. and a batch ability to render a knob on a single axis.

I think that would be quite the loverly

[duncanparsons]

if you use Borland C++Builder, you can use Pete Morris' DIB Controls for Delphi. Then you just have 1 bitmap, and it will do very accurate rotatinos for you.

try http://www.droopyeyes.com, or http://www.stuckindoors.com

HTH
DSP