CrazyBump Beta 6

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

Hail, Polycounters,

CrazyBump Beta 6 is ready for poking and prodding!

This version includes some new tools for creating specmaps, and for removing unwanted shading from an image.

Full release notes are here:
http://crazybump.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=901#901

As always, I invite you to send me suggestions and criticisms!

cheers,

-Ryan

romi · Dec 2007

holy toledo Ryan! the new features looks awesome. i'm currently out of town. i cant wait to get back to the office so i can check out this version.

thanks,
Rom
snowblindstudios.com

Jesse Moody · Dec 2007

Marry Me! Xmas Came early. Thank you Ryan.

killingpeople · Dec 2007

thank you ryan for all your efforts. me and CrazyBump have been very close these last 3 months. looking forward to trying out this new version! so far it's looking extremely HOT.

-killing.normals

killingpeople · Dec 2007

well i gave it a quick pat-down and this new version is ridiculously righteous! i really look forward to getting to know it better *snaps on latex glove*

microscopic bug: i noticed i cannot manually type in values by selecting numerical values and typing in new ones, save the normal map settings.

-killing.ryan

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

Thanks, KillingPeople! I'll get that fixed in the near future!

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

I particularly need advice on how the specmap-creating tool should work. It less automatic than the other tools, so it probably has a lot of room for improvement in its controls and its output.

Ged · Dec 2007

sweeet!this is definitely an improvement, the shapes really look like they have volume now that the specmap and occlusion is in the preview. I spent like 30 minutes just putting pictures in and going...wow

Rob Galanakis · Dec 2007

If I had a sex change could I have your babies?

Baddcog · Dec 2007

This is really cool, much better than that damn Nvidia filter

I only played with it for a few but I'm stoked, it seems like it's gonna work out really well. I've been putting of quite a few normal maps lately so this should help

I really like the feature to get rid of source shadows, seems to work pretty good.

Thanks

JordanW · Dec 2007

hey Ryan, another solid update, this stuff is really cool. I have a question about calculation time. Right now I'm pasting a normal map into crazybump, then adjusting the enhanced detail on the displacement version to get some tight edges. Anyways when I adjust the slider the preview of the texture updates fairly quickly, but then the program hangs for about 4-5 seconds before I can adjust it again. It'd be nice if this could be gotten rid of since it slows down editing. If it's the programming having to send the texture to the 3d renderer it'd be nice if it didn't worry about the 3d stuff if we closed that window.

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

Thanks for pointing this out, TinMan.

What's happening is that CrazyBump is naively recreating occlusion and specmaps, even though the change you made doesn't affect them. I'll fix this for the next release!

JordanW · Dec 2007

awesome

pliang · Dec 2007

Thank you Ryan.

Re: The nvidia filter isn't that bad really, people just tend to run images through it without doing some post process work on it.

Baddcog · Dec 2007

I like the model viewer window alot. But I'm getting some weird results. I can post a pic if you want.

It happens after I adjust the level of detial sliders a bit.
All of a sudden it woull look like the bumps are extruded 3 times. The normal map is perfect, but the render window looks odd.

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

Could you send me a screenshot?

My blind guess would be that the displacement map is causing the trouble. Parallax displacement can have weird artifacts in some cases. Try reducing the depth of your displacement map, and see if that makes a difference!

EarthQuake · Dec 2007

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you Ryan.

Re: The nvidia filter isn't that bad really, people just tend to run images through it without doing some post process work on it.

[/ QUOTE ]

No really, it sucks shit. Even with a decent bump map created specificly for the nvidia filter, crazybump is 100x better.

Baddcog · Dec 2007

I've turned the displacement off and that does seem to be better. Of course I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the displacement is.

I'm just using it for models in Doom3 engine so I'm only using diffuse, spec and normal in the end.

killingpeople · Dec 2007

@ Baddcog: displacement maps are useful for artists creating parallax maps. it can look like crap from what i've seen, but it has it's use. i use them for a variety of composite methods. in otherwords, they are useful.

it would be nice to be able to toggle the visibility of all maps separately in the crazypreveiwer. some times i'm jumping in to create a single map and the previewer doesn't help when it's showing a spec and displacement map, etc, when i'm not looking to create all maps at that time.

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

Good suggestion, KillingPeople. I'll hook that up.

soulstice · Dec 2007

Thanks Ryan!

You're hardwork is appreciated!

beancube · Dec 2007

thanks clarky.

pior · Dec 2007

Hi Ryan!
Kicks ass as usual.

I have one request still! When opening a normalmap would it be possible to allow the user to pick what kind of green channel is needed? Just a single tickbox with 'invert y channel' in the Open window would do the trick, near the Common Info tab.

Also in that window it would be neat to have an extra 2d thumbnail displaying a lit preview of the normalmap with a light coming from the top - making it very easy to chose the appropriate 'y' option.

I often have to go back to photoshop to resave my maps because of this... Would be nice to skip that step :P

Thanks!

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

Thanks for the suggestion, Pior!

At present, you don't actually need to go back to photoshop: Just toggle the "invert y" setting in CrazyBump's preferences before loading your map.

pior · Dec 2007

Woah okay I never bothered checking the preferences! My mistake. I guess that's what happens when a app so nicely put together :P So yeah the invert Y is here, thanks for the info (would have been weird to not have this somewhere, at beta6!)

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

Seems like it might be a good idea to also have that option on the "open file" screen, so people know that it exists.

Scott_W · Dec 2007

[ QUOTE ]
I've turned the displacement off and that does seem to be better. Of course I'm not entirely sure what the purpose of the displacement is.

I'm just using it for models in Doom3 engine so I'm only using diffuse, spec and normal in the end.

[/ QUOTE ]

Displacement/ parallax maps are very handy for faking surface geometry on flat polygons. Rocks with deep grout, brick walls, muddy river banks... For instance: I created a deep normal map of a corrugated sheet metal surface, then extracted a height map from that. In the material, the height map gives the illusion that the wavy folds of the metal actually rise and fall on the surface and obscure each other when seen from extreme angles.

As you walk back and forth and shift your view of the panel, it's virtually identical to looking at the textured high res source mesh, only you're looking at a flat plane:)

Ryan Clark · Dec 2007

Parallax mapping suffers from artifacts when a bumpmap is too steep or sharp. I think that's what you were seeing, Baddcog.

For instance, if you have CrazyBump's "enhance detail" and "depth" sliders both turned up at the same time, you'll just get a shimmering mess.

Try parallax mapping with a softer bumpmap, and you'll have a better idea what it's for!

Parnell · Dec 2007

Wow just got the update.
I love the occlusion maps!!
Thanks Ryan!
B

Illusions · Dec 2007

My only request is that if you choose the upgrade option, that it not make new icons on the desktop, startmenu, quicklaunch, etc...as they are already there, or priorly deleted purposefully.

Ryan Clark · Jan 2008

Hi all,

CrazyBump Beta 7 is available. Please send me your feedback and suggestions!

Download links are here: http://crazybump.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=255

New features include:
<ul type="square">
-More options for the preview window. All maps can be toggled independently.

-Controls to add highlights & crevices from your normal map to your diffuse texture.

-A control to soften the displacement map, because parallax can look bad with sharp edges.

-Major overhaul of the specmap controls. We gained some new sliders and lost some old ones.

-New option to "save all textures"

-New option to load diffuse color from the clipboard.

-Performance improvement: Maps aren't rendered when they aren't visible.

-Nifty "fade in" effect for the title screen.
[/list]

cheers,

-Ryan

bugo · Jan 2008

thanks again Ryan, i will be testing this one out.

Sage · Jan 2008

I like this spec option very cool man. I love your 3d viewer, can you add the ability to add a custom diffuse and spec map either one that is saved or one being generated from crazy bump. You can already load a custom mesh with a normal map and it works great it be nice to have the other options as well. It doesn't seem like you can at the moment, hmm I wonder... I'll have to try something. Thanks for all the hard work you put into this, another great update.

Alex

Eric Chadwick · Jan 2008

Ryan, would it be possible to use decimal values for the type-in sliders?

For example, I'm finding that Occlusion Power at 0 is very different from Power at 1... I'd like to try values like .01, 0.2, etc.

[edit... oops, nevermind, looks like you changed the algo, power=0 isn't doing the same thing in 7 that it was in 6.2]

Also seems like the upgrade link is downloading the 6.2 upgrade, not the 7.0 upgrade. Might be my cache though.

Sage · Jan 2008

Hah, hah, I can load my diffuse and normal map and my custom model inside crazybump now, sweeet

. It be nice if loading the maps was more streamlined but this rocks. Thanks Ryan!

Alex

Phobos · Jan 2008

oh noes, Im having issues with the upgrade and full install.
Was using 6 before, opened it up today and grabbed the update the BAM. Freezing at the "Open texture from file" and Open Normal map from file" screen.

Going to roll back to 6. Anyone else having this issue?

pliang · Jan 2008

I think I just ran into a similar issue as you did.

Ryan Clark · Jan 2008

Hey guys,

Thanks for reporting this problem!

I have an idea about what's wrong. I'll have an update shortly which I hope will solve this.

Meanwhile, if Beta7 has trouble then please switch back to Beta 6.2: http://crazybump.com/beta/CrazyBumpUpgrade62.exe

Thanks very much for helping to test CrazyBump!

-Ryan

Silva_Spoon · Jan 2008

Is it possible to add something like a tricount check on the obj you import in to prevent users from being able to import meshes that are too dense for their system to handle? I ask because I accidentally tried importing a highpoly head by mistake and it crashed windows. It would be nice if crazy bump had not tried to load it if it could somehow recognized that the tricount was too high. Or I guess I could just be more careful :P

Ryan Clark · Jan 2008

Thanks for that suggestion Bryan. It sounds like a good idea. Crashing is not something we want to do ;)

What mesh format were you loading when CrazyBump crashed? Obj?

Silva_Spoon · Jan 2008

yeah

arrangemonk · Jan 2008

i dont like the new specular settings, the old one were simple and good
but i think this is "functionality vs usability"^^

Ryan Clark · Jan 2008

Thanks, Arrangemonk!

The specular controls will be revised again soon, and your advice will be helpful.

Could you tell me more about why you prefer Beta 6 specmaps? Is a specific control that Beta7 is missing, such as the "original texture" slider?

thanks very much,

-Ryan

Eric Chadwick · Jan 2008

Ryan, I'm finding the type-in numerical fields kind of hard to use. The number becomes half-hidden when I edit it, making it hard to see what I'm typing.

It would also be helpful if I could use arrow up/dn keys when editing, to increment in whole numbers up/dn, like Photoshop does.

arrangemonk · Jan 2008

i'm missing the "orginal texture" slider
atm it seems to be a fixed mixing value

Ryan Clark · Jan 2008

Eric- Thanks for the suggestions! We'll see both of those in the next beta.

Arrangemonk- Thanks for the information. I'll make sure that's improved in the 7.5 specmap controls!

IronHawk · Jan 2008

cant wait to check this out! Thanks Ryan.

Ryan Clark · Jan 2008

Okay, new beta is posted!

It improves the specmap interface, adds arrow-key controls to all of the number fields, and fixes miscellaneous bugs.

http://crazybump.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=1212#1212

Phobos · Jan 2008

Hey I just tried out 7.5. I'm still getting the freezing at the image load screen.

My computer spec are.
Windows XP Pro 32bit.
Athlon 64 34
2 gigs ram
GeForce 6800 gt 6.14.11.6375 drivers

Maybe its a driver issue? I wont put it past this computer. its the millennium falcon of computers

Ryan Clark · Jan 2008

Hi Phobos,

If there's a more recent geforce driver, then it might be worth a try.

Otherwise my guess would be a bad relationship between CrazyBump and some other program running on the computer. Are you running antivirus software?

Also, could you try dragging an image file onto the title screen? Does that work any better?

thanks for testing the software,

-Ryan

Phobos · Jan 2008

I will give that a shot and report back to you.

CrazyBump Beta 6

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