There used to be a cool tutorial here about using Photoshop to create normal maps, purely by painting heightmaps and converting them. Too bad the images are gone though…
Texture creation tutorial - Part 2
http://www.doom3world.org/phpbb2/viewtopic.php?t=483
I’ve got a couple of very high res normal maps posted on my web site that you can use. You can find them here:
I was playing around with the ATI’s 2D normal map converter and got this result… now do I have to actually invert the file before I run the plugin? I like it, it is really fast and I cannot imagine having to model geometry like this… 
What did you feed it?
Might help to read Whargoul’s posts in this thread…
http://boards.polycount.net/showflat.php?Cat=0&Number=28873&an=0&page=0
Hey EricChadwick,
How are things?
If you are referring to my normal map, I had an existing bump map (and saved hundreds of dollars by NOT buying zbrush) and converted it using ATi TGA to DOT3 plugin. Looks funky doesn’t it.
I’m doing well, thanks!
The quality of the normal map is only as good as the quality of the height map you feed it. It looks like your height map is only some flat shades of gray. The reason people use ZBrush is because you can model high-resolution geometry with a high degree of control, then convert that to a very accurate height map (or normal map). Painting a really good height map by hand is not so easy.
HaloAnimator,
Your normal map looks just fine. That’s exactly what normal maps are supposed to look like. You don’t need to invert. Just apply the normal map to your model now and you’re done!
Creating normal maps from black and white bump maps is one method of doing it. It’s a lot easier than modeling a high res version of the model - that’s true. But there are some types of detail that you might want in a normal map that are impossible to paint in a bump map. That’s why some people use the “high res/low res model” method.
I like to use both methods together. I create a high res model for the large details in the normal map and also a bump map for the very high frequency details. Then I combine the normal map and the bump map into one normal map.
You can see some examples of this here:
I actually inverted it so that certain features stick out…I was thinking about model all of those little indentations. I am painting the Normal Maps because my models are already smooth anyway and I do not have the energy to model every little detail.
And the good thing about ATi’s 2D Converter, is that is it QUICK. I usually invert the green channel to get certain details to stick up. But my questions are will the detail stick out like Virtual Displacement? I have not tested this yet…
Let me show you my other normal map for a character…it looks quite insane…it is also hand painted…however, when I painted the bump map I use a black BG.
Hi all!
I’ve just recently gotten access to Max7 and just recently heard of the whole Normal map “thing”, but what I’m wondering is; what IS it?
Is it just an additional bump map that you can put on top of the original bumpmap?
Am I right to say that it’s a bump that is set from the model’s normals, where the original bumpmap is just set out from the mapping?
And what uses does it have? I understand that it’s mostly used in games, so I’m guessing this is a faster bumpmap then?
Maybe it’s an extra bump for the closeups in an LOD model?
Any clarity on these topics is MUCH appreciated
Right, I just now looked through this. So I get what it is and why it’s so great, but I still need a MAX tutorial for making one…
Normal-Mapping in 3dsmax 7 - It’s easy!
http://www.cgchat.com/forum/showthread.php?s=&threadid=20424
This thread has been automatically closed as it remained inactive for 12 months. If you wish to continue the discussion, please create a new thread in the appropriate forum.
