PixaFlux - PBR Texture Composer - Open Beta Testing

Hello,

We’re happy to announce a new Beta version of PixaFlux.

For the past 6 months we have been upgrading PixaFlux from a node based image editor into a powerful PBR Texture Composer.

These are some of the features we have added recently:

  • PBR Viewport (Albedo Normal Roughness Metalness Occlusion) with direct and ambient illumination.
  • Native support and tools for normal images. (Convert Modify Blend)
  • New nodes for normal image sculpting. (Relief Grow Shrink Relax)

These are some of the node base image editor features:

  • Parametric Non Destructive Workflow with super fast iteration
  • Image’s size, position and pixel format can vary as it flows through the node graph.
  • Combine raster and vector images on the same node graph.
  • Image Deformation.


And this is our next milestone:

  • Share shapes among multiple nodes.

If you are interested in helping us Beta Test PixaFlux please download the latest version from our website. Please send us your comments and feedback. For more information about PixaFlux visit the wiki or watch our videos on YouTube.

Thank you!

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I select the node type, click on the graph, the cursor changes… and nothing happens. perplexed.

You could be more specific about the application…

Is it open source?

Will be free?

Will be multi platform? (I use Linux).

makes me wonder why not created this inside Blender ?

Hello,

You need to drag and drop the node into the node graph. The wiki has mini tutorials for all the nodes… This is the wiki for the reader node.

This YouTube video shows how to use PixaFlux.

Thank you for trying! Now I realize there should be a help menu item pointing people to the wiki!

All the scene engine libraries are open source (MIT), but the main application is not.
Yes, it is free.
No, it’s not multiplatform yet!

liking it so far,
but unable to see .obj in model viewer,

hoping it’s a size issue :slight_smile: i.e will the default blender cube show in model view with default settings?

could you provide a working model .obj we could test, thanks.

I second that razorblade, this would make Blender the only tool I needed in my workflow.

I have been thinking of spending some cash on substance designer or quixel but it is all so expensive, this would change everything, why don’t you work with the BF on this?

Are you concerned about gpl?

  1. Dragging a menu item into a work area is an action I never saw in any other application (non standard Ui -> immediate uninstall)
  2. Crashes immediately as soon as any new node is added.

Too bad, I would have loved to have a free nodal image editor above and beyond what Blender compositor offers.

Most probably the camera near and far values are too short or too long.
In the Model viewport right click the [+] to open the Model Viewport Settings.
Play with the Camera Near and Camera Far values until you see your model.
Add a bright color constant node to the model albedo to make it more visible.

This axe and hammer models are shown when the camera is at position (50,50,20), target at (0,0,0) and near is 10 and far is 100.

For the next release I will fix this so that the camera position, target, near and far are all set to ‘make the model visible’ values.

Thank you for testing!!

I haven’d decided what is the future of PixaFlux.

Yes, GPL is a concern. Many companies don’t like GPL. I use the ZLib license (I was wrong on my previous reply) in my open source code.

  1. Mmm… I thought dragging stuff into the work area was common, but yeah, I have never done it from a menu. I will fix it so that after you select the item in the menu then you click the viewport and the node is created.

  2. Crash. Could you please submit the Crash Report. Please try dragging an image file (png or jpg) from windows file explorer into the node graph.

Thank you for testing!

interesting but it imo needs some further changes :wink:

some ideas;
right click in the node editor to add nodes.
easier reconnect/binding of nodes. more click space around the lines for easier selecting/deleting.
search function to not having to memorize where the nodes are.
ctrl+V ctrl+d for copy pasting.
custom meshes import in the 3d view via drag and drop
ram consumption needs to be optimized.
adding the shape creation and painting into the 3D viewport.
transform and translate could be merged into one node.

You could also look into Apache-2.0. http://opensource.org/licenses/Apache-2.0

Thank you myclay, I’ll try to implement some of them.

I like how in Blender you press the space bar and a menu with a list of tools comes out. Something like this would be useful, and it can use the right mouse too as you suggest.

In the node graph you can Shift and drag with the left mouse button to duplicate nodes. (but it’s broken now, only duplicates one :frowning:

I like the idea of dragging and dropping meshes, but I’ll make it work with the graph viewport. Dragging into the model viewport wouldn’t tell me if the user plans to add a new node, or add a model to the node.

RAM… Yes, I have a few ideas to make it more RAM efficient!

3D Painting is possible… I have done that before and before.

Transform includes translate.

I will look into the apache license!

Thank you for all your comments!

Really interesting piece of work.
I look forward to it being multi-platform so that I can test it!

me too. +1 for linux edition (64)

Honestly I don’t know when I can start working on a Linux or MacOS version. I have never been able to successfully install a C++ IDE that works with CMake and Qt in Linux… And I don’t have any Apple hardware… But I know I’ll have to do it soon!

Wouldnt coding it inside blender solve the multiple platform issues, then you can just focus on what your app is doing, and buildbots do the rest. Maybe some grace pencil extension ?

I think you have a real misunderstanding of how coding in general works.

Pix: QtCreator should cover you in Linux.

FYI i’m a programmer, if he sticks to the main blender code, then there is a lot there already inside blender.
I think he’s for the most part re-inventing the wheel here.

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