Normal Mapping

[EricChadwick]

I posted this awhile back on Discreet's forum... hope this helps.

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I've been creating normal maps for a few months now, and have been testing every tool I can get my hands on.

Polybump can be found here.
http://www.crytek.de/polybump/index.php?sx=polybump

Nvidia has a Photoshop plugin to convert a grayscale bitmap to a normal map. Works OK, but geometry gives much better results, which it doesn't handle. The plugin has a helpful previewer, and many options.
http://developer.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=ps_normalmapfilter

ATI has a command-line normal mapper that works from geometry and bump maps, works OK, is free, and is also open source. Comes with a handy previewer too. Lots of options.
http://www.ati.com/developer/tools.html

ORB is another similar tool, less options than ATI's, although it is really early in its development.
http://www.soclab.bth.se/practices/orb.html

Discreet's utility plugin Normal Render works OK, but requires a similar UV layout between the low-res and high-res objects. This can be quite limiting. Not many options in the tool either.
http://sparks.discreet.com/downloads/downloadshome.cfm?f=2&wf_id=83

The best so far IMO is Mankua's Texture Kiln. Lots of control over how the normals are generated. Comes with a handy normal map texture plugin, for using normal maps in the bump channel with the scanline renderer (also works in Brazil a friend tells me). It is nearing the end of its public beta, but you still might be able to test it for free. Also creates height maps for displacement, which has been my holy grail for awhile.
http://www.mankua.com/texkiln.cfm

Many others are developing programs or plugins, including reportedly Discreet, and there is a lot of demand now since Doom III was leaked, so there will probably be more tools in the near future.

An interesting discussion about Doom III and normal maps on Polycount.
http://dynamic.gamespy.com/~polycount/ubb/Forum8/HTML/000441.html

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[TheShade]

cool...thanks alot man

[DoLeeP]

very useful thx

[negative9]

Much need...well apreciated!

//negative9//

[EricChadwick]

I just posted a bunch of normal mapping info in the Tutorials/Tips section. Might help you guys.

"Normal Mapping in 3ds max"
http://www.cgtalk.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=87991

[Bilbo_Baggins]

Thanks Posm. I was really interested in this. :)

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