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Subject: Normal channel?

speters1 opened this issue on Aug 21, 2009 · 8 posts
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speters1 ( ) posted Fri, 21 August 2009 at 9:01 PM · edited Thu, 26 March 2026 at 3:32 AM

What is the normal channel used for?

pjz99 ( ) posted Fri, 21 August 2009 at 11:33 PM

normal maps...

My Freebies

Becco_UK ( ) posted Sat, 22 August 2009 at 1:57 PM

In some circumstances, normal maps can give better results than bump maps in some circumstances - normal maps work best if they match the direction of scene lighting.

Modelled detail or good sub polygon displacement takes first prize though!

Becco_UK ( ) posted Sat, 22 August 2009 at 2:36 PM

file_437705.jpg

Here's a simple 8 bit greyscale image compared to a normal map.

The greyscale map could be used in the materials bump or displacement channels (displacement maps work best on meshes with fairly uniform polygon sizes).

We can see that the normal map is really light source dependant - the normal map will work with incorrect scene lighting but not so good as a normal map made with scene lighting taken into account.

Becco_UK ( ) posted Sun, 23 August 2009 at 12:53 AM

file_437735.jpg

A render using those maps I posted earlier. Scene consists of a ground object onto which 3 spheres where placed. Titanium material with 10% surface roughness used as the base material for each sphere. Late afternoon sunlight settings provide the lighting.

The bump and normal material values are set at 100%.

The displacement height is kept low to try and match the appearance of the other two spheres.

The normal mapped sphere looks to have a smoother surface than its bump mapped counterpart. The displaced (using smoothing) version is altering geometry and gives a realistic edge to the model. The edges of the bump and normal mapped spheres will always be circular.

The caustic patterns produced by  the normal and displacement mapped spheres look better defined to me.

Becco_UK ( ) posted Sun, 23 August 2009 at 10:17 AM

file_437761.jpg

Not really anything to do with the actual post but I was interested to see the greyscale image used as a greater value displacement. The object still uses the same titanium based material.

nurbster ( ) posted Sun, 23 August 2009 at 10:43 AM

If you have PhotoShop Nvidia do a free normal map plugin:
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html

There are others too,  xNormal, Crazy Bump etc.

Richy-Rich ( ) posted Sun, 23 August 2009 at 4:04 PM

file_437797.jpg

You also have the Height to normal plugin from Biomeck. This one was a free give away in a 3DAttack issue..

Peace,
Rich_Art. 👍

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