Author Topic: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers  (Read 25568 times)

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Offline foxlive

  • Posts: 342
  • Location: France
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Re: kbrenders - automated 3D rendering service for keycap designers
« Reply #50 on: Mon, 05 February 2018, 22:18:45 »
Hey!!

This kbrenders look like a very nice tool. But again it appears to be offline for me. I totally understand that the cost of making 3D raytracing render online is high, but what about making the tools opensource and release it on like github so we can use or own power to perform the render. It would be an amazing tool for those who want to make 3D renders of keyset idea they have but don’t have that much 3D skills (I’m really more a 2D boy, lot of experience in photography, vectorial design, but 3D I never touched and I am still quite confused about it  :-X )


Thanks about considering this !  :thumb:
               

Offline CQ_Cumbers

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #51 on: Tue, 06 February 2018, 08:06:25 »
Hey!!

This kbrenders look like a very nice tool. But again it appears to be offline for me. I totally understand that the cost of making 3D raytracing render online is high, but what about making the tools opensource and release it on like github so we can use or own power to perform the render. It would be an amazing tool for those who want to make 3D renders of keyset idea they have but don’t have that much 3D skills (I’m really more a 2D boy, lot of experience in photography, vectorial design, but 3D I never touched and I am still quite confused about it  :-X )


Thanks about considering this !  :thumb:

How does it appear offline to you? Are you having trouble accessing the website, or are you unable to submit a render, or are you not receiving the email, etc? Perhaps it was simply taking a while to load because of the sample renders? If you are having trouble using kbrenders please don't hesitate to report them on this thread.

With regards to open source, getting everything to run locally would require a great deal more work, as I structured everything as a set of cloud microservices. It would also negate much of the convenience of a service versus a set of files. Furthermore, I have already spent years on this project and will likely spend more, and so would like the possibility to eventually profit somehow even if it is not the primary goal.

Offline foxlive

  • Posts: 342
  • Location: France
  • The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog
Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #52 on: Wed, 07 February 2018, 03:32:21 »
Hey!!

This kbrenders look like a very nice tool. But again it appears to be offline for me...
More
I totally understand that the cost of making 3D raytracing render online is high, but what about making the tools opensource and release it on like github so we can use or own power to perform the render. It would be an amazing tool for those who want to make 3D renders of keyset idea they have but don’t have that much 3D skills (I’m really more a 2D boy, lot of experience in photography, vectorial design, but 3D I never touched and I am still quite confused about it  :-X )


Thanks about considering this !  :thumb:

How does it appear offline to you? Are you having trouble accessing the website, or are you unable to submit a render, or are you not receiving the email, etc? Perhaps it was simply taking a while to load because of the sample renders? If you are having trouble using kbrenders please don't hesitate to report them on this thread.

With regards to open source, getting everything to run locally would require a great deal more work, as I structured everything as a set of cloud microservices. It would also negate much of the convenience of a service versus a set of files. Furthermore, I have already spent years on this project and will likely spend more, and so would like the possibility to eventually profit somehow even if it is not the primary goal.

Thanks for your answer. I did not try again but yes I cannot load the website, it appears down for me. I will check again. For the open part, I totally understand that you don’t want to spend any more time making it portable to run localy and I also understand that with all this work you want to make some profit with it. I am still thinking on some keyset idea, and I think I will use your service in the future. At this time if I don’t succeed to submit some render I will contact you directly.  :D
               

Offline CQ_Cumbers

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #53 on: Wed, 21 March 2018, 09:20:31 »
Just so you know, I've recently made some major updates to the service.
  • The rather bulky TEK80 keyboard has been replaced with the Mech27
  • A 60% layout in the form of the Klippe has been added
  • Custom legend images that cover the entire keycap are now supported. As always, you can preview how they will appear on kle-render.herokuapp.com
« Last Edit: Wed, 21 March 2018, 12:02:26 by CQ_Cumbers »

Offline phorx

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #54 on: Wed, 21 March 2018, 09:29:54 »
Neat!  I hope this removes some barriers for some keysets makers.

Offline koduh

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  • Location: Arizona
Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #55 on: Wed, 21 March 2018, 11:31:09 »
Just so you know, I've recently made some major updates to the service.
  • The rather bulky TEK80 keyboard has been replaced with the Mech27
  • A 60% layout in the form of the Klippe has been added
  • Custom legend images that cover the entire keycap are now supported. As always, you can preview how they will appear on kle_render.herokuapp.com

fixed the link. its a hyphen not underscore.

 kle-render.herokuapp.com

Offline jimirolln

  • Posts: 282
Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #56 on: Fri, 23 March 2018, 11:47:47 »
i made a mistake assuming the tool would not rearrange the keys but i am having trouble figuring why the custom style wasn't applied...also the render was spammed to my email...i am willing to chalk the ten up as a learning curve but if you could help me trouble shoot the custom style i would greatly appreciate it...ty
« Last Edit: Fri, 23 March 2018, 19:26:37 by jimirolln »

Offline CQ_Cumbers

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #57 on: Fri, 23 March 2018, 19:20:17 »
For future reference, I would like to make clear that if you use a layout template that matches that of the keyboard you selected, and do not add, delete, or rearrange keys, the legends will appear exactly as they do on kle-render.herokuapp.com, because the exact same code is used to generate them. Please check your layouts before you submit them. Also, it is an unfortunate limitation of the approach I have used that custom CSS styles will likely never be supported, as the parsing is done in python and does not use a browser layout engine

Offline jimirolln

  • Posts: 282
Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #58 on: Fri, 23 March 2018, 19:32:36 »
ty...and thank you for responding to my email...it was helpful...i thought the render was good...and the tool is very impressive...i just got into code this year and took a hard detour with this hobby i have become addicted to...else i would love to help you work on this render bot...i think it is absolutely amazing...could node.js be implemented to solve the custom style bug...new fonts in the kle tool is really the only reason i play with the editor
« Last Edit: Sun, 25 March 2018, 03:56:24 by jimirolln »

Offline CQ_Cumbers

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #59 on: Thu, 19 April 2018, 07:14:41 »
I've made some more changes to kbrenders recently:
  • A full-size layout is available in the form of the Triangle keyboard
  • Most renders should now take less than an hour to complete
  • I've tried to make the website more readable and emphasize the need to use templates

Offline THRILLHOIAF

  • Posts: 169
Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #60 on: Thu, 19 April 2018, 12:11:39 »
I've made some more changes to kbrenders recently:
  • A full-size layout is available in the form of the Triangle keyboard
  • Most renders should now take less than an hour to complete
  • I've tried to make the website more readable and emphasize the need to use templates

This is fantastic!

I have a couple questions pertaining to KB and KLE-render

Does KBrenders support ISO and Norde renders?

I tried doing some simple KLE-renders of an iso kit and a norde kit but a lot of the icons came up as x'd out boxes,

I assume thats just because SA font does not support most of the norde/uk symbols/letters

just wondered if maybe it was different for KBR

great stuff though my friend :)

Offline Coreda

  • Posts: 772
Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #61 on: Thu, 19 April 2018, 13:01:36 »
Really glad you could transform the original service/idea into something more maintainable and still affordable :thumb:

Offline FearsomeCubedWarrior

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #62 on: Sat, 09 June 2018, 09:55:45 »
Does it support different SA profile? I was thinking about 40% 1234/3 keyset but not sure, if the tool will render alphas as R1 properly if I change the original MM2 template.

Offline CQ_Cumbers

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #63 on: Sat, 22 September 2018, 12:12:58 »
I've recently added a major update to kbrenders - support for arbitrary keyboard-layout-editor layouts! If you select a specific keyboard, kbrenders still requires a template, but if you select "Freeform", kbrenders will render any layout that works in kle-render, without a case. This should be useful for rendering uncommon keyboard layouts, kit designs, or anything else you can think of fitting into keyboard-layout-editor. There are still no plans for supporting non-uniform row profiles or custom CSS, and depending on how large your layout is renders may take more than 2 hours to complete. However, this update should nevertheless make kbrenders a significantly more versatile tool for set designers.

You can see more Freeform render samples at the bottom of kbrenders.com

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« Last Edit: Sat, 22 September 2018, 13:04:44 by CQ_Cumbers »

Offline vosechu

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #64 on: Fri, 25 January 2019, 18:58:45 »
Any chance we could get a planck case at some point? Also, love that you're doing this! Very happy to put some money into it.

Offline vosechu

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  • Location: Portland, OR, USA
Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #65 on: Sun, 31 March 2019, 23:22:41 »
Wanted to post that I've gotten extremely good feedback from these renders. Thank you so so much CQ!

Example render:
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IC with feedback thread:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MechanicalKeyboards/comments/akgqxj/ic_sp_sa_fluffy_clouds/ef4p3qm

Offline Moridin

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #66 on: Fri, 18 October 2019, 03:47:08 »
Does anyone have any sample kit renders (GMK)? No keyboard, just kits laid out.

Offline MMKB

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #67 on: Fri, 18 October 2019, 14:08:48 »
kbrenders
Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers

I am now offering a service to 3D render your keyboard-layout-editor keycap set designs within 24 hours - check it out at kbrenders.com. I currently charge $10 for every render, so if it fits your use case it can be significantly faster and cheaper than many comparable offerings.

Currently, it supports six keyboard layouts - Triangle (Full Size), Mech27 (TKL), Espectro (96%), M65 (65%), Klippe (60%), and Mech Mini 2 (40%) - and three keycap profiles - SA, DSA, and GMK. Only legends that are visible in kle-render will show. Final output is photorealistic, unlike kle-render, because kbrenders actually ray traces every request in blender instead of compositing 2D images. Try it out and tell me what you think! I'd especially appreciate any feedback on what new features would be most important for keycap set designers.

You can see sample renders as well as read more about how kbrenders works at kbrenders.com

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Excellent job setting up the rendering engine & website! I will place an order as a donation.
        

Offline MdotMaxson

  • Posts: 274
Re: kbrenders.com - an automatic 3D rendering service for keycap designers
« Reply #68 on: Fri, 18 October 2019, 15:37:36 »
This looks nice! Do you have any interest in turning it into an executable or releasing the source so people can run it on their local machines? That would help with server costs not getting out of hand. But if your goal is to keep to yourself in case you decide to turn it into a paid service later on that's totally understandable.

I would highly doubt someone charging 10$ a render is about to make their service open source. Clearly trying to profit. That seems super high to me. I mean most ICs have like 5-10 renders. Then that doesn’t count what if you do the render and from that output  decide to tweak the colors or legends or etc. Then if you run an IC like an IC should be run and actually accept feedback from the community ( seems as if no one actually plans to take criticism in ICs lately; might as well call it an announcement post AP instead of IC) then you will thus need more renders to show community you listened. Easily could hit 150-300$ just on renders.

Then again I have no idea these “designers” make every time they run a group buy. I know they’ll vary since some sell 100 sets and some sell 2,000 sets, but I dunno if they’re making like 1$ per set or is it like 10$ per set? I don’t really care, nor do I want to know.

Offline fatboycarney

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Re: kbrenders.com - an automatic 3D rendering service for keycap designers
« Reply #69 on: Sat, 19 October 2019, 19:29:39 »
This looks nice! Do you have any interest in turning it into an executable or releasing the source so people can run it on their local machines? That would help with server costs not getting out of hand. But if your goal is to keep to yourself in case you decide to turn it into a paid service later on that's totally understandable.

I would highly doubt someone charging 10$ a render is about to make their service open source. Clearly trying to profit. That seems super high to me. I mean most ICs have like 5-10 renders. Then that doesn’t count what if you do the render and from that output  decide to tweak the colors or legends or etc. Then if you run an IC like an IC should be run and actually accept feedback from the community ( seems as if no one actually plans to take criticism in ICs lately; might as well call it an announcement post AP instead of IC) then you will thus need more renders to show community you listened. Easily could hit 150-300$ just on renders.

Then again I have no idea these “designers” make every time they run a group buy. I know they’ll vary since some sell 100 sets and some sell 2,000 sets, but I dunno if they’re making like 1$ per set or is it like 10$ per set? I don’t really care, nor do I want to know.

I wanted to reply to this simply because I am new to this and figured I might be able to shed some light on the value I think a service like this offers. It definitely does not replace 3D artists but I think it fits a niche. If you want to check out my set I am running (a little self promotion) you can see what the service offers.
Yes 10 bucks is not cheap per se but I would say comparatively it is quite inexpensive. I dont have the skills or software to create a render at this quality. If you do look at my set you will see I was able to do 1 render that contains multiple kits to allow me to get something of high quality up for feedback before an artist renders my set. I was also able to get my keys on a board and got some great feedback.

To your other points, I also have no idea how much a designer makes, I really just had an idea, wanted to go through this journey and see how it goes. Its sort of a leap of faith but thus far I have met some amazing people in this community and it just makes me want to give back to it more. I think if you asked a lot of creators on this site they would say the same.

I will also add that at least thus far launching a set (which I am only scratching the surface of) is a fair amount of work, definitely not a turnkey system to get paid (I dont think thats what you were saying i just wanted to add that in for anyone reading from my experience thus far)

So Thanks @CQ_Cucumbers

Offline Pikeo

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #70 on: Thu, 16 April 2020, 14:40:10 »
Are silver the only case colors?

Offline CQ_Cumbers

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Re: kbrenders - Affordable 3D rendering services for keycap designers
« Reply #71 on: Wed, 21 July 2021, 20:27:23 »
I know it's been a while since I've posted here, but I wanted to let people know about a few recent updates to kle-render that should hopefully be useful for designers.
  • The kle-render FAQ now covers how to use transparent PNGs as custom legend images (It's been a feature for a while but was perhaps a bit hidden).
  • Custom fonts are now possible, though there are restrictions and it might take some effort to get them to work. See the github issue for details.
  • The default GMK font now more accurately matches actual GMK keycaps (especially the symbols). It won't be perfect, but should be less wrong than before.
As always, the above changes affect both kle-render and kbrenders, so you can use the former to preview exactly how your legends will look before paying for a full 3D render.
I've also made some kbrenders-specific changes:
  • Front-facing camera angles have been changed to better show the tops of keycaps.
  • Case materials have been added, namely light/dark anodized aluminium and white/black paint.
  • Lighting is now more direct, and a stronger texture has been applied to GMK keycaps.
  • Price has been reduced to $5 per render, though if server costs get out of hand again I will increase it.
Also, if you ever need help getting your KLE layout to work with either tool I'm usually happy to take a look at it. mail@kbrenders.com is the most consistent way to reach me, I do my best to respond but can sometimes be very busy with work.

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