CGTalk - Normal Map - Why is my object now black?

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JaredTaylor

11-03-2009, 03:18 AM

Hi,

I applied a normal map to my object, half of it has gone black. Usually on some models I solve this problem by going normals->reverse normals, but on this particular model it just inverts the areas that have gone black.

Here is a picture.

http://i37.tinypic.com/11t74ft.jpg

Riperton

11-07-2009, 05:00 PM

You could try to align the normals to one direction. Perhaps it's a problem with smoothing groups.

Software?

Piflik

11-08-2009, 08:38 AM

Are you possibly using an Object Space Normal Map on an object with mirrored UVs?

JaredTaylor

11-08-2009, 08:51 AM

yeah, shouldn't i be?

i've rarely used normal maps before, know nothing about em

Piflik

11-08-2009, 08:58 AM

Object Space Normal Maps store absolute Normal Directions, so mirrored Faces will look in exactly the same direction as their counterpart. They cannot be mirrored.

Use Tangent Space Normal Maps instead. They store the Normals relative to the Lowpoly's Face Normal. They can be mirrored.

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11-08-2009, 08:58 AM

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