Home Technical Talk

Knald - Master Thread

2456717

Replies

  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    No problem, Brashen. :)

    We seriously consider all requests put to us so you can never say never. :)
  • KINGKIRBY
    hello.

    I was hoping i could find out if knald is capable of baking out mesh AO on a model comprised of multiple parts (more than one texture). This is a common practice at work, im hoping to find out if there is a simple way to bake all the various parts at once.

    thanks for your time!
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    KINGKIRBY wrote: »
    hello.

    I was hoping i could find out if knald is capable of baking out mesh AO on a model comprised of multiple parts (more than one texture). This is a common practice at work, im hoping to find out if there is a simple way to bake all the various parts at once.

    thanks for your time!

    This isn't something that can be done currently but I can stick it on the list for consideration and see if it might be possible to add it at a later date.

    Thanks for the support! :)
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Hey metalliandy, any ETA on the clipboard copy paste support and the 1 pixel bevel fix? I'd like to start using Knald exclusively at work, but I still have to use other apps when extruding 1 pixel patterns, and without clipboard it's time consuming to quickly generate layers for a normal map.
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    Hey malcom,

    We are working on Knald updates atm so hopefully it wont be long before we get to your requests. I will make a post as soon as I have more information regarding this :)
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Great can't wait for the clipboard support.
  • oglu
    Offline / Send Message
    oglu polycount lvl 666
    an other vote for blending multiple normalmaps...!
    2. A stack of colour to normal with real time sliders for tweaking each separately. I often find I will export 3 greyscale images at least, then convert them to normal maps in Knald one at a time, then composite them in Photoshop to create final single map. Would be great if I could do this directly in the tool and see the preview in the 3D view. CrazyBump had this functionality, but it was a destructive workflow so once you closed the tool all your tweaks and layers were lost.
  • tynew
    Offline / Send Message
    tynew polycounter lvl 9
    Hey metalliandy,

    I was wondering whether Knald would support Paypal anytime soon?

    Cheers!
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    oglu wrote: »
    an other vote for blending multiple normalmaps...!

    Noted! Thanks :)
    tynew wrote: »
    Hey metalliandy,

    I was wondering whether Knald would support Paypal anytime soon?

    Cheers!
    Yes, we hope to support it soon. :)
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Yeah I'm finding this tool to be incredible, using it exclusively at work for photo to normal, love the ao/cavity/convexity it generates too. Crazybump is dead to me and Ndo I only use for beveling panels occasionally.
  • tynew
    Offline / Send Message
    tynew polycounter lvl 9
    Noted! Thanks :)

    Yes, we hope to support it soon. :)

    Awesome can't wait! :)

    That looks fantastic perna. I really can't wait to get my hands on this beast.
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Hi metalliandy, another feature request. Could you put a normal map rotater into Knald with similar functionality to this tool linked below.

    http://www.polycount.com/forum/showthread.php?p=963548
    http://www.crazybump.com/NormalsTransformer.zip
  • zacvrono
    Offline / Send Message
    zacvrono polycounter lvl 4
    Just wondering if there are advantages to using Knald over something like Ndo2? or even a bake from Xnormal? Knald looks great, but I already own the quixel suite and was wondering if Knald was still worth getting when I already have Ndo2
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    I have nDo2 as well, but have moved away from it both at work and at home after trying Knald. I just can't go back to the slowness of trying to tweak a photo to normal in quixel it's just too painful and wastes my whole day. I still occasionally use nDo2 for metal panels that I don't want to model, but never for any type of noise or detailing.

    My workflow these days at work is to bake a high to low in Maya then use knald to detail it, scuff edges, and bring details in from the diffuse.
  • bluekangaroo
    Offline / Send Message
    bluekangaroo polycounter lvl 13
    awesome tool indeed. not sure if it was intentional or not but I noticed the check box for parallax in the 3d previewer turns it off instead off on
  • tynew
    Offline / Send Message
    tynew polycounter lvl 9
    I'm not sure if this question has already been answered.

    I'm wondering if it is possible for me to just do a Low poly/mesh only AO without requiring a normal map?
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Load a white image as a colour map at the same resolution you want your ao, load the mesh you want your ao to be on, click update integrator, then click on mesh ao tick box. Takes about 7 seconds to bake a 4096x4096 map. Pretty crazy.
  • tynew
    Offline / Send Message
    tynew polycounter lvl 9
    Fantastic, thanks guys. A 4096 would probably take an hour to bake on my current rig without Knald. This program rocks.
  • Oniram
    Offline / Send Message
    Oniram polycounter lvl 15
    ive been having some issues with knald today. havent used it on my work pc in quite some time, and after having made sure my drivers are up to date, im experiencing the following:

    empty viewports: both the main window and the 3d preview window
    crashes: when importing normal maps, the plugin hangs up and crashes after a while.
    sliders not updating the viewports

    i tried rolling back my drivers, installing different versions, and still mostly experiencing crashes overall.
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    Oniram wrote: »
    ive been having some issues with knald today. havent used it on my work pc in quite some time, and after having made sure my drivers are up to date, im experiencing the following:

    empty viewports: both the main window and the 3d preview window
    crashes: when importing normal maps, the plugin hangs up and crashes after a while.
    sliders not updating the viewports

    i tried rolling back my drivers, installing different versions, and still mostly experiencing crashes overall.

    Sorry to hear that, man.
    Can you please try reinstalling Knald and see if that helps? (Remember to reset your activations in your Knald account)
    Which GPU and driver combo are you currently using?
  • Oniram
    Offline / Send Message
    Oniram polycounter lvl 15
    sure thing. ill try reinstalling.

    currently using AMD Radeon HD 7900 series. driver 14.4
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    Cool, thanks.

    I will hit you up on IM for more details etc.

    Cheers :)
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    metalliandy, we are now getting 100% repro rate hard crash on loading a normal map of any format, or loading a colour map and then pressing update integrator. Can't think of anything that changed except I've updated my video driver.

    Multiple team members are having this issue, please help Knald is part of our production pipeline.

    Geforce GTX 680
    Driver 344.11
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Okay, uninstalling the driver and getting an older driver 337.88 fixed the always crash. Crysis averted for the time being.
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Tested at home with different pc, 100% crash with latest nvidia driver 344.11
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    Thanks for letting us know, Malcolm. I see if there is anything I can do to get that fixed.
  • CrazyButcher
    Offline / Send Message
    CrazyButcher polycounter lvl 18
    malcolm, can you try http://www.nvidia.com/download/driverResults.aspx/78216/en-us (works for me on 970, would be interesting if the driver fixes issue for pre 9xx series, too)

    edit: actually that driver only works with 9xx, sorry.
  • repete
    Offline / Send Message
    repete polycounter lvl 6
    PayPal please :thumbup:
  • almighty_gir
    Offline / Send Message
    almighty_gir ngon master
    Paypal doesn't let you pay for pornographic material. And Knald is sexy as fuck.
  • repete
    Offline / Send Message
    repete polycounter lvl 6
    Paypal doesn't let you pay for pornographic material. And Knald is sexy as fuck.

    I know and I am gobsmacked, I want my Knald porn yesterday :poly124:
  • Jeff
    Hi,


    I had absolutely no problem at all during the BETA since the very first release.
    So, I logically bought the final release earlier this year.
    Marvelous tool, exceptional response, and tons of good features.

    Now the really bad point with final release towards nVidia updates are :

    - With nVidia drivers 335.23, everything worked fine EXCEPT when loading a color map to integrate >> Y flipping for unknown reason.

    - So I updated the drivers to the latest version, aka 344.11. And now things are getting even worse : the generated normal map looks like a jerky 256², while the original map is a 4096²

    Installed Knald build is also the last one, so the 20131209001.
    Did you forgot to follow your product : 09 december 2013 version 001, am I wrong ?

    So, Andy, do you intend updating ?
    Or is there any logical answer from any user down here ?

    Thanks Andy & guys.
    Cheers.


    EDIT
    ****

    For the FlipY (from ColorMap) problem quick temporary solution :
    - I reinstalled drivers 335.23
    - Flipped the color (from Mari) manually (in Photoshop)
    - Then I got exact same result !!!
    My explanation is that a TheFoundry Mari signed .tga is flipped in Knald while Photoshop version integrates correctly. Also why the flipped photoshop signed .tga integrates correctly without flipping.

    So I resaved the Mari signed .tga in photoshop without pre-flipping it.
    That's all folks but it just drives me nuts ^^

    For the very buggy 344.11 problem, it's just a real huge unsolved problem.
    Please help Andy, I just can't accept playing Battlefield4 with old drivers :o)


    Geforce GTX 580
    Driver 344.11
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    Hi Jeff,

    Sorry about the problems you are having.

    It seems that the latest nVidia drivers have broken OpenCL somewhat, so I would recommend rolling back to the last WHQL driver before 344.11, which should work fine, until nVidia can fix the issue.
    We have filed a formal bug report with the nVidia driver team and hope they will have the issue resolved soon.


    Could you send me a copy of the original unmodified normal map that you were having the Y flip issue with please?

    Regarding updates, yes we do plan on updating Knald. We have a bunch of very cool features that we want to add and will do so as soon as we can.:)
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Hey guys, just wanted to let you know Knald is a must have, we've been using this for a while at work, the whole enviro team here uses it on every single asset we create for details on top of our high/low bakes. Can't live without it now it is embedded in our production pipeline.

    Really looking forward to updates on this, something small that would really help us would be not having to choose show all file types to load .psd textures. And also a reload button for the currently loaded image in Knald as our workflow is basically edit a temp .psd and keep updating it export a map, then hide a layer, open in Knald, export next map. Would speed up the workflow with .psd browsing just working and being able to reload the .psd as you update it outside of Knald.
  • Jeff
    Hi Andy,


    Sorry for late answer, and thank you for this so quick one on your side :)
    I reverted to 335.23 version while waiting for another solution.
    About the original file, I will send to you the original Mari tagged .tga
    Thanks again, can't wait for the added features and update :P


    Yeah malcolm, absolutely, Knald is among those genius tools we just can't forget once used to it ... and even more once it's integrated in a production pipe. Hope all this is gonna be fixed for you too once updates released, on Knald or nVidia's side.

    Cheers guys
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Hey guys, we have a new feature request for Knald. We often bring in 16bit greyscale blurred noise to create subtle worble in our normal maps. It would be great if Knald had a gussian blur feature that would tile, so once you bright the noise in you could make it softer without having to worry about seams.
  • tungerz
    Offline / Send Message
    tungerz polygon
    Looks great,
    Got a question though,
    Does it also bake object space normals, curvature, gradient maps?

    Cheers,
    ~Tung
  • Jeff
    Hi Tung,

    Knald generates textures from any 2D source texture, color, height or normal.
    So, as it's not mesh dependent (except for the transmission/thickness-like baking), I would advise you to use tool such as http://www.handplane3d.com/, which one's able to convert your world/tangent/object normals in every ways possible, and it's also taking into account the various software's engine implementations.

    For the curvature, yes, it produces really nice results, splitted in two separate passes, aka convexity & concavity >> which are both combined in a usual curvature map.

    Now with the gradient map, not really, but you can also work the other way around, generating various sampled height/depth maps and combine them in photoshop with a base diffuse/color or any custom gradient, if I've understood correctly what you mean by gradient maps. There are, if I'm not wrong, various methods described on Polycount.

    Hope I answered thoroughly :)
    Cheers.
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    Hello guys, does anyone know what the default settings are for the integrator, there doesn't appear to be a way to reset them and I'd like to get back to what they were.
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    @Malcolm, Good idea for the blur. I will see what I can do.

    The default values for the integrator are:

    Max Iterations: 300
    Cont/Deriv: 80
    Slope Range: 0%
    Planar Rigidity: 0%
    Enable Noise Reduction: On
    Smooth: Off

    :)
  • Jeff
    Would it make sense, when not being able to remember/access these defaults values, to simply delete "C: \Users \*** \AppData \Roaming \Knald Technologies \Knald.ini" ? ... assuming this would also reset the other prefs. On the other hand, I must confess these values are reset on my side, each time I relaunch Knald.

    Or you meant, on the fly Malcolm ? In this case, ignore my reply :)
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    @Jeff, yes, the defaults on the Main tab should load each time Knald is started. Perhaps we should consider having a button to reset them without having to restart Knald however.
  • ZippZopp
    Offline / Send Message
    ZippZopp polycounter lvl 12
    any updates with regards to nvidia drivers? i'm on the latest which is currently 344.65 and knald is not usable with this driver, it crashes everytime i load a normal map in
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    ZippZopp wrote: »
    any updates with regards to nvidia drivers? i'm on the latest which is currently 344.65 and knald is not usable with this driver, it crashes everytime i load a normal map in

    Hey!

    Not yet, sorry. :(

    We are recommending that people use the 340.52 drivers (or any recent driver before 344.11) until further notice.

    Sadly this is completely out of our hands, but we will let everyone know once we get an update from NVIDIA. We hope they will have the issue resolved soon.
  • malcolm
    Offline / Send Message
    malcolm polycount sponsor
    We desperately need a fix for this, our rendering team has asked us to update our drivers, but this breaks Knald so we're stuck.
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    malcolm wrote: »
    We desperately need a fix for this, our rendering team has asked us to update our drivers, but this breaks Knald so we're stuck.

    Hey Malcolm,

    I'm really sorry about this. We are currently working with NVIDIA on this and really hope that it will get fixed soon. We will definitely let everyone know as soon as we hear anything, but as it's a driver bug the only solution is to use an older driver unfortunately. :(
  • Axiom
    Just got this error today, happens whenever I double click the .exe file to launch:
    "The program can't start because C:\Program Files\Knald Technologies\Knald\knald.exe is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    Axiom wrote: »
    Just got this error today, happens whenever I double click the .exe file to launch:
    "The program can't start because C:\Program Files\Knald Technologies\Knald\knald.exe is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."

    That sounds like a windows issue to be honest. Have you tried reinstalling Knald or checking that knald.exe is in the C: \Program Files\Knald Technologies\Knald\ directory?
  • Axiom
    That sounds like a windows issue to be honest. Have you tried reinstalling Knald or checking that knald.exe is in the C: \Program Files\Knald Technologies\Knald\ directory?

    Yeah tried both. I am running windows 10, maybe that's it.
  • metalliandy
    Offline / Send Message
    metalliandy interpolator
    Axiom wrote: »
    Yeah tried both. I am running windows 10, maybe that's it.
    hmm, interesting. I will do some research and see if I can find out anything that could be causing the issue.
  • Axiom
    hmm, interesting. I will do some research and see if I can find out anything that could be causing the issue.

    Thanks! Other than losing the ability to use one of my favorite tools, windows 10 has been pretty great so far.
2456717
Sign In or Register to comment.