Hi guys just want to ask what is normal mapping ? (please someone explain it in depth or point me to a website about it ?)
Ionized mentioned something about it can save time texturing when normal mapping is used ???? and also a different way of low poly modelling ?
Sorry im new to all these stuff just need to learn something new [:)]
cheers guys..... [:D]
To sum it up, it's surface data encoded into an image which is used for a models lighting.
The angle that a face points is called its normal. A normal map is taking a high res models normals, takes its XYZ, and encodes it into the three colour channels RGB - each pixel in a channel can represent a value of 0-255. This map is used with per pixel lighting to illuminate the low poly model with the surface detail of the original high poly model.
That, in a nutshell, is what it's about. Take a normal map into photoshop, and look at the RGB channels seperately. You'll see what I mean.
Its a complex thing to explain on one post, your best bet is to do a google search, tonnes of info on it.
Also visit www.polycount.com too they have a tonne of threads already answering this question.
Some normal mapping creation software for everyone to play with:
ATI normal mapper
http://www.ati.com/developer/tools.html
ORB
http://www.soclab.bth.se/practices/orb.html
Discreet normal render utility
http://sparks.discreet.com/downloads/downloadshome.cfm?f=2&wf_id=83
(registration required)
Mankua's Kaldera
http://www.mankua.com/kaldera.cfm
Mmmmm normal maps are our friends.