nDo - Proper normal maps in Photoshop!

[maty]

Any 3D artists - RenX artists included, need to look at this .

nDo plugin allows proper creation and painting of normal maps within Photoshop - and its free!

http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/ndo/ndo.html

I simply use the Make Sculpt Layer option and the layer will be converted to an editable shape. Now I can go in using ANY brushes I have with any settings I want and paint and manipulate my shape.

All options regulary usable in Photoshop are available here. So you can add filters, erase, use opacity on your brushes etc.

However, remember to work with totally white colors on your brush for it to be converted to proper normal map information.

[maty]

[NodCommander]

Wait, what?

[DrummerX]

The textures you see in game are not all 3 dimensional, in fact most of them are plain 2d textures, what makes them look like they are 3d is this process of normal mapping, basically they create artificial shadows as you walk by them.

say you look at an image with full lighting (ominous lighting, non-directional lighting) you'll see a flat image, now if you look at the same image with say a you shine your flashlight at the image, it'll create shadows as you walk by, making it look 3d.

This process is a cheap way of making realistic environments.

[maty]

Clever trick used in games for a while now .

[159456]

is bumpmapping and normalmapping the same?

[PermaGrin]

Yes in general, No in specifics.

Bump Maps are just a grayscale image that basically is a heightmap. White areas are higher and black areas are lower. On the other hand, Normal maps are Red, Green, Blue colors/mixtures (see the above images for examples). Rather than just raising and lower (fake-wise), the normal map interacts with the pixels, the lights, and model to fake the overall all effect of more detail by playing with the lighting information.

[NodCommander]

Now that is some really nice hax right there.