MaPZone

[roquefort]

MaPZone is a freeware texture creator that can also produce true normal maps along with the textures you make. It comes with a load of useful ready-made textures that you can then edit yourself, and also analyse to figure out how they're built. 26Meg download.

 

Here are some tutorials that anyone new to MaPZone should read:

 

• MapZone Official Documentation (Tutorials, Tips, Tour)
  

Here are some game-related tutorials related to modding with this tool:

 

• None Yet
  

Here are some locations to find more tutorials related to this tool:

 

• TruancyFactory
  
• YouTube Channel - BelYo
  

[ub3rman123]

Something is capable of working better than CrazyBump? I thought it was pretty awesome when I tried it.

[roquefort]

Something is capable of working better than CrazyBump? I thought it was pretty awesome when I tried it.

I've not tried Crazybump, but if it generates normal maps from existing textures then they won't be true normal maps (although they can often be adequate for the purpose).

 

You can in fact create such fake normal maps with any 2D app that has an 'emboss' tool, given a suitable texture (strong, contrasting visual detail such as tiling or brickwork) although it's a long-winded process, and I'd imagine any prog that aims to create normal maps from textures just makes that process shorter.

 

A proper normal map has either to be generated from a high-poly 3D model (then applied to a low-poly version of the model), or created procedurally along with the texture, as in Mapzone.

 

Maybe Crazybump does do that though -- as I said, I haven't tried it. ;)

[ub3rman123]

Definitely not CrazyBump. I don't think I have the patience to make high-detail models like that.

[heavywaters]

Finally, someone else that has used MaPZone.

 

Just downloaded it a couple days ago and been playin' around with it.

I am amazed by the quality of textures that this program is capable of producing, but my main interest is in creating higher quality normal maps than I have in the past.

I appears that their forums are all but dead and there are a VERY limited number of tutorials for it.

 

I'm in the same boat as Uber, I cant model very well at all so making proper true normal maps is out of the question for me.

My main problem so far is trying to import a regular texture to work from, though it has a lot of presets, they just aren't suitable for ALL situations.

 

But enough of my problems and opinions, here are a couple of contributions:

 

This site has a nice tutorial that covers the very basics for those who (like me) have never used a program like MaPZone.

http://www.truancyfactory.com/tutorials/mapzone.html

 

Here is a link to Bela's Tutorial Channel on YouTube, it has a few for MaPZone and Photoshop.

http://www.youtube.com/user/BelYo

 

-heavywaters

[throttlekitty]

I wouldn't get too caught up with the notion of "true" normal maps using MapZone; it still uses the same techniques as any other 2d Image > Normal map application does. With the exception of CrazyBump, but that's specialized for the task. But it is easy to pick and choose which parts that contribute to an image go into the normal map creation. (ex: highlights on a metal piece would cause odd lumps in the normal map, and shouldn't be included) This practice isn't any different than managing layers in something like Photoshop or GIMP.

 

MapZones focus is creating procedural textures, which then can be baked into finalized images, or a game that uses this engine to generate the textures at runtime. I think gives people who think of themselves as "non-artistic" a leap into creating higher quality textures without actually "drawing" them. The approach is much the same as more traditional photoshop-like methods, say "draw a circle, bevel it inside, cut out a smaller circle inside this" becomes mathematical rather than dexterity-based.

 

@roquefort: Many of us also throw minor surface detail into the mix, so 2d>normal is a godsend without needing to go all Zbrush crazy when it's not needed.

[Ghogiel]

A proper normal map has either to be generated from a high-poly 3D model (then applied to a low-poly version of the model), or created procedurally along with the texture, as in Mapzone.

Whats a proper normal map for a flat plane mesh? it only has 1 normal direction.

 

I'd still probably bake it with geo though :laugh: it would allow for AO map as well. Well depending on the complexity of this hypothetical mesh.

[roquefort]

"Whats a proper normal map for a flat plane mesh? it only has 1 normal direction."

 

For anybody who might be confused, a normal map (or a bump map) can give the impression of surface lumps and bumps even on a perfectly flat surface during the rendering process; that's the whole idea.

 

It maps an impression of the surface normals of a high-poly mesh (such as a stone wall for e.g., which would have surface normals pointing in all directions) onto a simpler mesh, such as a flat plane. When the texture is rendered, the flat plane responds to light sources in the game space as if it has the original surface complexity, even though it doesn't really.

 

It would be superfluous to use a normal map just to represent a flat plane :biggrin:

[throttlekitty]

Ghogiel was pointing out that a flat plane has one normal direction, and that a normal map created from a 2d source is just as viable as from a 3d source.