Knot So Normal Mapper

Knot So Normal Mapper is the latest in the Jegas line of innovative and affordable gaming tools for both professional & amateur game, multimedia and simulation software developers. Knot So Normal Mapper was created using our C17 - DirectX Game Engine. Have a look at our samples of what Knot-So can do!

Written by gamers for gamers, Knot So produces high-quality 3-D Displacement and Normal map textures from 2-D image. 

Author: David Westfall

Assistant Developer: Jason P Sage

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To purchase your own license of Knot-So, visit our pricing page here

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 What is this really for?

Today's graphics cards are able to run mini programs referred to as shaders that can change how 3D graphics are rendered. This application is specifically tooled to create files that can be used in conjunction with your existing graphic files that you are using to texture your 3D models and 3D scenes so that when the appropriate shaders are employed your models and scenes can have 3D relief. For example, a texture of kitchen tile can be processed by Knot-So and the files it creates, when fed to a Parallax shader, will make the kitchen tile appear in 3D; without the need more polygons to your scene or model.

Now there some other tools out there you can use; some are quite a bit more expensive and others don't quite have the punch our algorithm does. See the results below for yourself. Our Normal and Displacement Maps work great in various shaders that can use these kinds of files for image pre-processing and post-processing special effects! 

Another example might be that you have an armored knight as a character in one of your games. With Knot-So you can make the rivets on that armor appear in 3D. Let's look at some examples.

Say you have these textures...

You can click these images to see their full size glory... but back to task...

..and you process them in Knot-So

The results, when you save, are that two files are output per texture/graphics file you process: Normal Map and Displacement Map. So say you loaded into Knot-So the first texture above, on the left, which is named floor2.jpg and you selected to save, you would be prompted for a filename and you need to select the file type (extension) you wish the output to be saved in. The filename you provide is used to create two filenames; so if you selected to save your output as floor2 and selected file type JPG, the resultant files would actually be named floor2_Normal.jpg and floor2_Displacement.jpg and the original floor2.jpg file would remain unchanged.

So... Here are some shots of the results but I must tell you that seeing a still screen shot is a world different than seeing the moving or animated results in Knot-So or in your own 3D software! There are subtle changes that you can only see, that bring the effect to life when you move a camera or object around in 3D Space; this is the only way to fully appreciate what the shaders can do with files created with Knot-So. That said, we'll present some still shots of what the above textures look like in Knot-So and what the output Normal and Displacement Maps look like. 

You can experiment with how these textures look on your system yourself... using the textures above or using graphics files you already have by downloading Knot-So. The download is free, and the limitation is that you can not preview the processed files or save them until after a license is purchased. You can however view the textures in the preview in 3D with a parallax shader applied. i.e. you can see Knot-So results of the software without having to purchase it.

Knot-So Preview Still Shots

You'll find that higher resolution textures can prove to result in very interesting renderings; look for example at the door section with the metal edges... shoot they all look pretty good I'd say!

Next let's look at the output that Knot-So created from the above textures. First, let's look at the Normal Maps...

Knot-so Normal Maps

And lastly... lets see those displacement maps...

Knot-So Displacement Maps

So there you have it: You know what Knot-So is, what it's for and what the results look like. So... what are you waiting for? Try it out! We appreciate feedback!

Most importantly, have fun creating!