Normal map

#1

Hi,

A newbie question. I’ve gotten far enough to know what a normal map basically is and what it does. I want to be able to create one so I can use it on wings created model in Motionbuilder. Is there any way to be able to do this in wings or with a plugin of some kind?
Thanks in advance

#2

Try this one, it accepts two .obj models…

http://subd.4t.com/normalmapper/

#3

I dunno about a plugin for Wings, but here is another external program from ATI that extracts normal and displacement maps from models.

http://www.ati.com/developer/tools.html

#4

Hi,

Thanks for the links. From what I can understand these are both based on ATI’s normalmapper. This seems to be only a pc based software. Anybody know of a mac based software for doing the same thing?

It’s my understanding that I will need to create a high res and low res version of the model in Wings, unwrap the texture on the high res in wings, and then import the two versions of the model into the appropriate normal map creation software. Is this the general idea and has anybody done this using wings? If so, is the low res and high res idea the same as a smoothed and unsmoothed version of the model?

Thanks

John

#5

  1. You unwrap ( layout uvs) of the low res object, not the high res.

  2. Visit these links for more information, Also the address above i gave you contains the source code so it should be possible to compile for mac ( I dno never used a mac before).

http://cube.phlatt.net/forums/spiraloid/viewtopic.php?TopicID=9

and

http://www.drone.org/

  1. You ask has anyone done this with wings, but it isnt really software dependand like that, you can do with with any two models where one model is a more detailed version of the other and the basic shape is the same. At present, im working like this. Create basic model in wings - > zbrush for higher detail -> use normal maps to incorperate zbrush detail into my model.

It isnt the same as using a low poly object to drive a higher polly smoothed object, becase the latter is explicitly derived from the surface of the former. You get much better results by using this standard method then useing a normal map to include refinements your mesh.

This is unless ofcourse you were a games developer where you might just use the realtime low poly mesh and combine that with the shading you get from a normal map. This still produces really nice results in realtime.

#6

Hi,

Thanks for the detailed response. I think I’m biting off more than I can handle at this point, given I’m basically just starting out with modelling. I’m going to continue to work on this with the links that have been provided as a starting point and hope I can get up to speed fairly quickly.

Thanks again
JRH

#7

I’m not quite sure what a “Normal Mapper” is. I’m getting from the post that it has something to do with textures?

Or is this a stricktly Displacement map method?

BTW I understand Displacement Maps. I learn terms as they come up.

//negative9//

#8

Hi,

I’m not the one to give you any sort of detailed response–very new at this but given no one else has… There are a variety of threads if you do a general search on this site for “normal maps”. Specifically though, in MotionBuilder you need a normal map image of a texture rather than an RGB image to use the bump map shader that’s included in version 5. The normal map you need can be generated from photoshop or gimp and is a greyscale transformation of the RGB image that uses lightness/darkness in some way to give input to the bumpmap shader, which in turn gives the appearance of geometry to a texture without it actually being there.

It appears this is a simplified version, and not as good as the other type of normal map application (ATI’s normalmapper, ORB) These take in a low poly and a high poly version of a model and are able to provide the low poly with the appearance of much greater detail without actually increasing the polycount.

I apologize for any errors and simplifications.

JRH

#9

I found this post that linked a bunch of normal mappers

Thanks for replying…it looks like something I’ll have to spend more time on! Great stuff!

//negative9//

#10

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