Under Development
Ki Blender Addon
After purchasing the Kilelit NR Blender addon or Kilelit Blender addon, you will gain access to the download page for the respective files. If you had purchased the NR(Network Rendering) version, there are two parts to Kilelit NR. One being the Blender addon, the other being the Kilelit Network Rendering application. Download the Kilelit Blender addon and proceed to install as you typically would in Blender preferences->addons. As for the Kilelit Network Rendering application, if subscribed, download and run the executable installer.
Ki Blender Addon Installing
This documentation covers Ki(Kilelit) NR version of the Blender addon, but the non network rendering version of Ki is very similar. The only difference between the two, is the regular(non NR version) does not have the network rendering features.
Now lets begin going over the Ki Blender addon starting with how to install if you are not familiar with installing addons in Blender. The process is simple and straightforward. After purchasing the Ki Blender addon, non NR or NR, proceed to the file downloads under the Downloads page. After downloading, you should have a zip file. Now all you will need to do is open Blender and go to "Edit" and then to "Prefrerences", or you can simply press hotkey(Ctrl + ,) to open the preferences dialog. When you see the dialog, proceed to the addons section, and click the install button on the top right. Here you will simply find the Ki Blender addon zip file you downloaded and select that to install to Blender addons.
Installed Ki Addon
After installing the addon, you will see it available on the right tools tab. If you don't see this tab, press "N" on your keyboard to make the right tools tab visible, vice-versa. The image you see on the right showcasing the location of the installed addon, is the NR(Network Rendering) version of the Ki Blender addon. This version still heavily focuses on local rendering features, but this includes features to get your scene setup for network rendering and also launching the Ki Host application directly from the Ki NR Blender addon.
Now that you have the Ki Blender addon installed, lets go over the panels starting with the NR Render. Again keep in mind that the non NR version is very much the same as this version, except for the network rendering features.
Render Panel Introduction
The Render panel is the primary focus of the Ki addon. This includes different scenarios you can setup for your renders and the ability to automatically save previews with the Render History. The power of this addon is the automation of setups you would typically do to render for post compositing. With features such as the Selected Only, you are able to render only the selected objects in your scene with a few clicks. The typical process in Blender would involve selecting all the unwanted objects and making those not visible in the render by navigating to the object properties and adjusting the visibility of the selected objects. Then after rendering you would need to select all those objects again and make them visible to render. This simple task can get tedious amongst other scenarios. Such as setting up your scene to render a shadow catcher. With the Ki Render panel, all these tasks are automated and all you need to do is enable or disable.
If you are using the Network Rendering version of the Ki addon, you will see a toggle button whether you want to render over your network or not. When you enable the Network Rendering toggle button, you will see a button to run the Ki Host. While the Network Rendering toggle button is enabled, you will see the Render button change from "Render" to "Set for Network Render". This applies the rendering scenario you have enabled in the settings, such as Selected Only, and will keep these settings when you save your project and send a render job over the network with the Ki NR application.
One of the big benefits in using the Ki addon for your renders is the Render History feature. This feature dynamically allows you to preview your latest render while also displaying previews of your previous renders. You will also have the ability to open the images directory and better yet, specify where you want the images to be saved to. This addon comes with quick access to built-in features in Blender that allows you to control your rendering needs and scene on the fly. Lets take a closer look into the Render panel's features!
Network Rendering and Render History
Image A shows the network rendering toggle button(item 1). When enabling this, the Ki Host execute button will become visible(item 2). When you are satisfied with your render setup and you are ready to start a render job over your local network, you will see that the "Render" button is now displayed as "Set For Network Render"(item 3). Click on this to apply your settings you've setup if any. Save your project and proceed to the Ki Host application to start your render job. The top of the panel you will also see that you have access to the Render Engine and Device selector.
Image B shows the Render History enabled(item 1). When you enable the Render History, you will see all the parameters of this feature displayed on the UI. On the right of the "Disable Render History" there is a "Empty" button(item 2). This button allows you to clear the render history directory, but be aware that this will remove all the rendered images automatically saved by the script. When you click this button you will also get a confirmation dialog for extra measure. Below these you will see a button with a lock icon, and a directory path parameter(item 3 & 4). This allows you to specify the directory you want your render history images to be saved to. After specifying the directory you want, you can lock the directory clicking the lock button(item 3). This displays the directory parameter as text so you don't accidentally change it or affect it. Below these you will see a image preview parameter(item 5). Clicking on this parameter allows you to see a image preview of all your scene renders saved as "kilelit_preview"(see image C below). Finally the button below the image previewer called "Open History Location", as the name suggest, allows you to open the directory you have specified in the directory parameter where the "previews" are saved to(item 6).
When you click on the image previewer a dialog will show displaying all the render "kilelit_preview" images. There is a default image that shows a checkered background and the name "Kilelit" on top. Whenever you specify a directory, this default image will be copied into that directory so the previewer will always have a default. This prevents errors on the preview enumerator that shows as NoneType when it's looking for an item to display. So be careful not to delete the default image.
Rendering Toggle Buttons and Lighting Control
Now lets go over the rendering toggle buttons we have below the render preview feature. These features allow you to easily control your render setups through its automated procedures. When you are rendering an animation or an image and you want to prevent any accidental UI interactions that could potentially lead to errors, the Ki Render panel includes a quick access to lock the UI during renders(item 1). This feature is built into Blender and located under the menu bar Render. When you have the render history enabled, the UI lock will automatically be enabled to prevent user input errors while the image previewer is updating.
The button next to the UI lock is the global illumination toggle button. This allows as the name suggest a global illumination(item 2) in your renders, but can also help with certain scenarios such as shadow catcher rendering. When this is disabled in a shadow catcher render, I've noticed the shadow is cutoff thus not representing the shape of the object well. So when you are rendering a shadow catcher, this feature will automatically enable, and after the render is completed, it will automatically disable. After a render you are able to view it by opening a separate window. To do so you can click the View Render(item 3) button.
The four toggle buttons below are the different rendering modes. If you want to render an animation(item 4), toggle Animation. If you want to render with the background transparent, toggle Transparent(item 5). When you toggle the Transparent button, you will also see a check parameter called "Transparent Glass" show up(item 5a). The Selected Only(item 6) toggle button allows you to render only the selected objects in your scene. When you enable this mode, the different methods will become visible. Using these methods(item 8, 9, 10) we can quickly render the desired results. Also when we enable the Selected Only toggle button, we can also see which item is selected, if any(item 6a). The last mode we have is the ViewPort Render(item 7). This allows us to create a screen capture of the viewport. This also works with the render history feature. So a viewport capture will also be visible in the render history parameter.
The last few items on the Render panel are new built-in features in Blender 4.0 that affects lighting scenarios in your renders. These features offer control over lighting in your render results such as caustics and light object include/exclude in your render results. These specific parameters were included for quick access as you setup your scene for rendering.
Render Settings For Cycles and Eevee Overview
The Render Settings panel offers quick access to tweak your render settings while remaining in the same space within the Blender environment. Assuming you are familiar with the built-in render settings in Blender, here you will find the same parameters available. The UI will adjust according to whichever render engine you are using between Cycles and Eevee.
When you have Eevee enabled as your render Engine the UI will change to display the render settings for Eevee engine. This UI offers a compact easy to look at setup where you can focus on one feature at a time from the AO parameters to the Shadow parameters.
Render Passes and Material Override Overview
The Render Passes panel offers quick access to setup your passes you want to include in your render for post. The three main toggle buttons will display the necessary parameters in the panel UI. Offering a focused view of these features. Depending on which feature you toggle, this will display the respective parameters in the UI.
The Material Override panel as the name suggests, will allow you to create a material to override all materials in the scene. If the script does not find a material named "Clay Render MTL" in the current scene, it will display a red button to create the material. When you create the material, the UI will update and you can toggle the override material on and off.
Blender 4.0 and later comes with different ways you can achieve a "Clay" like render result such as using the Ambient Occlusion pass, so the Material Override is helps make the built-in option more straightforward.
Render Visibility and Render Output Overview
The Render Visibility panel is another Blender built-in feature that has been added to the Ki addon for quick access. The difference with the Ki addon visibility control and the built-in features is automation. With the Ki addon, when you have one object selected, the visibility addon will affect the parameters of that one object, but if you have multiple objects selected, all those objects will automatically be affected simultaneously.
Render Output panel offers on the fly access to built-in Blender features where we can quickly setup our output settings. The UI for this panel also updates depending on your render mode toggled. If you are rendering a still image you will see image A. If you are rendering an animation, you will see the UI update as shown on image B. At the bottom of the panel you also have quick access to Blender's built-in Color Management features. See image C.
Kilelit Info Panel
Finally, last but not least, we have the Kilelit Info panel. This panel includes links to my platforms and services website. At the bottom of the panel you will also find a button that is linked to this documentation page on KB3D Services.