New in ArtEngine 2022

ArtEngine version 2022.7.1

Release date: June 27th, 2022

New Features and Improvements

Normal Generation (AI) Node

• Single image to material with the power of a real-world trained AI. 

• The new node Normal Generation (AI) is the next step in democratizing material creation in ArtEngine as it allows for higher quality outputs of normals in the image to material workflow. It brings a simple solution to the material workflow by creating AI powered normals. The AI model was trained on high quality photogrammetry materials and it allows for more precise normal generation than the usual Shape from Shading technique.

• Smart enough to maneuver through an image and add further depth and distinction in your Normal map. Makes phone image output data as close to photogrammetry results as possible, so you can capture your desired textures out and about on your phone and generate a higher quality Normal map than you can currently get with standard normal generation.

• The Normal Generation (AI) node requires 8GB of VRAM to run. Please ensure you only execute one of these nodes at a time. 

CLI Improvements

• You can now use solid color, metallic, and specular values nodes in the CLI workflow.

• Node properties and input file paths can now be overridden using custom CLI parameters.

Resolved Issues

• We fixed an issue where ArtEngine was failing to launch with the latest Nvidia drivers.

  We fixed an issue where If you drag and drop a material with fewer maps onto an imbued node, ArtEngine crashes. 

  We fixed an issue where the overwrite existing option in Unity Direct link was not working.

  We fixed some CLI issues where:

  The CLI --overrides option was leading to an error.

  CLI would output materials as a single image with only one of the maps.

Known Issues

• If one input folder has more maps than another, Batching will create extra black maps in the output folders to make up the difference in numbers, Mutation Revision doesn't work on resolutions that are not a power of two (e.g. 1K, 2K, 4K, etc).

• On machines with more than one GPU, or with recently updated GPU drivers, users may encounter GPU driver errors and will need to re-install Artengine and/or verify that Artengine is configured to run on their NVIDIA GPU.

• With re-opened projects that have Normal Gen AI executed, when moving the sliders the node will execute twice. To avoid this, please execute the node manually before adjusting the sliders.

ArtEngine version 2022.5.1

Release date: May 24th, 2022

New Features and Improvements

Chrome Ball -  Calibration Config File Path

• We have changed the names on the Multi-Angle To Texture (MAtT) node to match the Chrome Ball node property naming conventions.

• You can also use the Chrome Ball node to process images from a custom rig (up to 16 images) using a custom or auto generated config file. 

• Every time you run a set of images through the Chrome Ball node, a config file will be generated in %appdata%\.artomatix as chromeconfig .json. This config file can be used with all future rig captures without needing to have the physical chrome ball present in your photos (so you can avoid having to draw the mask image) 

• When a config file is used, the 3 manual properties are disabled as they are set from the config file. You can however edit the file to change these values.

• The file in %appdata% will be overwritten every single time you execute your nodes, so we recommend you copy the config file to a different location for re-use.

• The processing times when using a config file are now much quicker than the standard process. 

• In the same way you can right click a selection of images for the MAtT node, you can now right click a selection of 4 or more maps to connect all inputs automatically. Don’t include the mask in your selection, as there is a separate input pin for the mask. 

• If batching is enabled, you can now use batch input and output. The batch folders need to have the exact same order and number of images for this to work. 

• The Chrome Ball node is now compatible with the CLI tool. 

Nodegraph Updates 

• Increased stability in the way the node graph schedules node execution, with no loss of performance.

Resolved Issues

• We fixed an issue with the Baker regarding the node failing upon execution.

• We fixed a batching issue where the first material exported in successive batch runs contained the incorrect maps.

• We fixed an issue where moving the patches found in Mutation (structure) did not move patches to highlight areas of repeated pattern to draw from for synthesis.

• We fixed an issue where mesh nodes were unloaded after reopening the project file.

• We fixed the issue where drag and dropping material assets onto material nodes to replace the node’s material could lead to ArtEngine crashing.

• We changed the default value for the Scale to Fit property of Blend nodes to 'true' to better handle inputs of varying dimensions. This was also applied to built-in templates.

• We fixed an issue where EXR inputs to the Baker node resulted in invalid outputs, which if passed to a Seam Removal or a Mutation node, resulted in a hard crash on execution.

Known Issues

• If one input folder has more maps than another, Batching will create extra black maps in the output folders to make up the difference in numbers, 

• Mutation Revision doesn't work on resolutions that are not a power of two (e.g. 1K, 2K, 4K, etc)

ArtEngine version 2022.3.2

Release date: May 4th, 2022

New Features and Improvements

• We have released an update to fix an issue where templates with Blend nodes were defaulting to have the 'scale to fit' option unticked. The intention was to have Blend nodes have the 'scale to fit' option ticked by default, and this should have been reflected in the templates. We have fixed this issue in the 2022.3.2 release, which you can download here or directly within ArtEngine.

ArtEngine version 2022.3.1

Release date: March 8th, 2022

New Features and Improvements

HDRP 3D Viewer - Load custom meshes

• You are now able to load your own meshes into the Unity Window from the Node Graph by right clicking in the Node Graph and choosing ‘View in HDRP Viewer’. You can also load your own materials onto these meshes.

Clone Stamping - live wrapping view

• You are now able to see a live update of your textures tiles in the 2D viewer, so you can see if your seams will tile correctly as you are making changes. The wrap edges checkbox for clone stamp should be ticked to enable this view.

CLI - Better control of parameter settings 

• You can now edit parameters of nodes without changing the xml directly. The CLI node parameters can be named by adding an attribute to the XML Model sub-elements in the graph file, and CLI node parameters can be specified with CLI parameters.

Chrome Ball - Workflow Change and CLI compatibility

• We changed Chrome Ball to use input pins instead of a folder path. This means that within the ArtEngine UI you can bring in your scanned chrome ball images (up to 16) and then right click to add them directly to the Chrome Ball node. Then you can either bring in your chrome ball mask image or use mask paint to draw it directly. The chrome ball mask input is required to execute the node. 

• If you still want to use a folder path process within ArtEngine UI, you can use the batch input node, split materials, and assign individual images to the chrome ball inputs. Make sure the number and name are always the same, paying special attention to the Chrome Ball Mask input.

• Chrome Ball node can now also be used from the CLI, which was the main reason for this change. 

Resolved Issues

• We have added a more detailed error message when using Style Transfer (Beta). As a reminder, Style Transfer can only accept a maximum of 1k inputs.

• Fixed issues with the HDRP Lit Specular Color material causing the materials in Unity to look overblown.

• Fixed an issue where the Templates files were not loading into ArtEngine correctly.

Known Issues

• When executing a batching process, please execute the batch input node for best results. Pressing execute all causes batching to skip some input folders.

• If one input folder has more maps than another Batching will create extra black maps in the output folders to make up the difference in numbers, 

• Mutation Revision doesn't work on resolutions that are not a power of two (e.g. 1K, 2K, 4K, etc)

• Seam Removal, Mutation, Mutation (Structure): using an Ignore mask with hard edges may sometimes cause artifacts in the output of these nodes. There is a known workaround for this problem, which is to blur (or feather) the mask edges. You can do so in one of the following ways:

  • When creating the mask using a Mask Paint node, you can adjust the hardness property of your brush at the time of painting to ensure mask edges are feathered.

  • When working with an existing mask, you can pass it through a Blur node before connecting it to the Ignore port of Smart Mutation nodes.

ArtEngine version 2022.1.1

Release date: February 17th, 2022

New Features and Improvements

• Unity Window

Camera Controls: Camera project can be now changed between Perspective and Orthographic. You can now use the mouse wheel to zoom in and zoom out. In addition, the FOV can be adjusted between 15 and 150 from Perspective projection.

Lightbox Controls: You can now choose from a list of preloaded HDRI using the Skybox option under the Lightbox Control settings in the Unity Window.

Light: The light can be moved around the object using Shift+RMB+Mouse Pan. The light can also be turned on/off using the toggle.

• UI Refresh - Icons

The interactive icons throughout the user interface have been tastefully upgraded to make it look clearer and more user friendly.

Resolved Issues

• Clone Stamp

  • Undo sometimes cleans all of the painted strokes, if undone quickly.

  • Sometimes cannot paint strokes after imbuing.

• Fixed an issue where Mutation nodes failed to handle duplicate maps.

• Fixed App crash when loading a 3D model to the node graph.

• Fixed App crash when trying to move a folder in the asset library by dragging.

• Fixed an issue where the Ambient Occlusion node failed to produce preview when connected in a batching workflow.

• Fixed Height Generation node failure after a few executions.

• Output map types were not updated when input map types were changed in Mutation Revision.

• Fixed issues with Ignore Mask on Height Map for Seam Removal and Content-Aware Fill.

Known Issues

• Seam Removal, Mutation, Mutation (Structure): using an Ignore mask with hard edges may sometimes cause artifacts in the output of these nodes. There is a known workaround for this problem, which is to blur (or feather) the mask edges. You can do so in one of the following ways:

• When creating the mask using a Mask Paint node, you can adjust the hardness property of your brush at the time of painting to ensure mask edges are feathered.

• When working with an existing mask, you can pass it through a Blur node before connecting it to the Ignore port of Smart Mutation nodes.

• Nodes that are not recommended for Batching: Color to Mask, Color Muse, Mask Paint, Color Transfer, and in general nodes that are more specific to the individual bitmaps coming through.

• There is an issue with Batching creating extra black maps for output folders to make up the difference in numbers, if one input folder has more maps than another. 

• Please note that GPU driver requirements for ArtEngine have been recently updated. ArtEngine now supports NVIDIA GPU driver versions 461.72 or later. The newer drivers greatly improve execution speeds of the Up-Res and JPEG Artifact Removal nodes, as well as neural pattern matching in the Mutation (Structure) node. If you have an older version of the driver, you will be prompted to update it the first time you launch ArtEngine.