Wondering if anyone has automated the process of creating multi-sized GUIs with Knobman somehow. I see that KM 3D java version files are open-source (MIT). There’s also the JAR version of the Knobman 2D, but I couldn’t run on my Windows 10 machine. Still, just wondering about those things. If I do something on my own I will post here later on. Maybe the best way is to make the GUI background very large, and have all buttons positions relative and not fixed. That way I could create 4 sizes, I would say. And still, keep the realistic format. Yeah, I know, Jules will cry VECTORS, but I don’t like that, always used graphics and will continue to use it unless I figure my own way of creating nice knobs using vectors in real-time…
Ive a bit of a mixed reaction. Sad to hear knobman’s having problems in win10, it’s cute. Personally I find its 3d output a little fuzz, but the bigger thing is, I find 3d knobs rather passé. Moreover, for every user who sends me a song they made with my software, there’s three who write me saying my word is ugly and they want to make 3d knobs for it–who then disappear when they send me a picture and are disappointed I don’t want to buy it without hearing how it sounds.
When I first tried JUCE there was a very good dial that ended up exactly as was in Ableton Live M4L, I don’t know yet if it is still around, I just started yesterday; you could double-click it for default value, enter numeric values and use up and down keys from the keyboard; most widgets for skinning knobs don’t have so many usability features. I’d be willing to give it another spin, I have macOS 10.9 and 10.15 currently as well as win10, I didn’t keep win7, if there’s a skinnable widget with the same usability features, but I would not be making anything 3d, lol. Im not sure what you’d want to automate about it.
I’ve personally moved to SVG based graphics, but I used to render my own knob strips. I didn’t use Knobman because I have a bit of experience with CAD and rendering.
I’ve used SolidWorks to model the knobs and Keyshot to do the rendering. Blender can probably fit the task better and be way cheaper, but it’s the stack I’m familiar with.
I’ve used a Python script inside Keyshot that automatically rotates the knob and renders a set amount of pictures, and then another Python script to stitch up the results.
I used to render separately for each size because I find Keyshot renders with anti-aliasing look better than scaled images. But honestly I’ve scrapped the PNG GUIs because I looked into optimizing for high DPI monitors and it started getting more clunky and unelegant.
Static positioning for the smallest size and scaling it in the code for the larger sizes was my choice. Personally I’d rather position stuff with JUCE bounds rather than coercing some tool using configs.
I can’t believe I’m saying it (because I really don’t like it), but you might want to take a look at VSTGUI. IIRC their knobs render strips and their GUIs are configured through XML.
I also think Will Pirkle has a GUI tool that uses strips for it’s knobs, but honestly can’t remember, and I think it changed a lot since I’ve seen it.
I would love to take a look at that Python script. I have my own way through a terminal/bash script stitching it together with imagemagic in the console after a round with Photoshop, cutting them out of the transparency after exporting elements as layers out of Keyshot. That is quite the effort and took some time to get right.
Is it possible to get a sample of that Python script? Here or via PM.
If I do something on my own I will post here later on. Maybe the best way is to make the GUI background very large, and have all buttons positions relative and not fixed. That way I could create 4 sizes, I would say. And still, keep the realistic format. Yeah, I know, Jules will cry VECTORS, but I don’t like that, always used graphics and will continue to use it unless I figure my own way of creating nice knobs using vectors in real-time… 
