Perraine Posted January 19, 2012 Share Posted January 19, 2012 The "Normal Map" can have a big effect on the final finish of the mesh. The Normal Map is like laying a large dollop of 'putty' or 'filler' onto the mesh It's a way of smoothing out rough or sharp edges and also adding the appearance of depth by creating a 3D shadow/lighting effect ... Have a look at the "femalebody_1_msn.dds" file in the "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data\textures\actors\character\female" folder, it gives you a really graphic idea of just what a Normal Map adds to a mesh Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nopopup Posted January 19, 2012 Author Share Posted January 19, 2012 (edited) The "Normal Map" can have a big effect on the final finish of the mesh. The Normal Map is like laying a large dollop of 'putty' or 'filler' onto the mesh It's a way of smoothing out rough or sharp edges and also adding the appearance of depth by creating a 3D shadow/lighting effect ... Have a look at the "femalebody_1_msn.dds" file in the "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data\textures\actors\character\female" folder, it gives you a really graphic idea of just what a Normal Map adds to a mesh To create a good normal map for Skyrim, which of these two should i use? Photoshop or 3ds max ? I have found two videos on Youtube here: === photoshop ===3ds max Edited January 19, 2012 by nopopup Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Perraine Posted January 21, 2012 Share Posted January 21, 2012 The "Normal Map" can have a big effect on the final finish of the mesh. The Normal Map is like laying a large dollop of 'putty' or 'filler' onto the mesh It's a way of smoothing out rough or sharp edges and also adding the appearance of depth by creating a 3D shadow/lighting effect ... Have a look at the "femalebody_1_msn.dds" file in the "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data\textures\actors\character\female" folder, it gives you a really graphic idea of just what a Normal Map adds to a mesh To create a good normal map for Skyrim, which of these two should i use? Photoshop or 3ds max ? I have found two videos on Youtube here: === photoshop ===3ds max Hmmm ... I don't have 3DS (or any real experience in 3D modelling) But from what I saw in the second video, you could get some pretty reasonable Normal Maps by "Rendering" them from your body mesh ... Mostly I use a "Normal Mapping" tool in Gimp (similar to the one in Photoshop) And convert the diffuse texture into a normal map as in the Photoshop Tutorial, Gimp however has a really good Layer Blending Option, and I'm not sure if there is a similar on for Photoshop. They probably won't have quite the same level of "depth" as the fully rendered one, but it allows for much easier manipulation of the end result ... There are 2 tutorials that I recommend to people, they are very 'noobish' and not specific for Skyrim, but the DO provide invaluable insight into "Normal Mapping"My link I've Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nopopup Posted January 22, 2012 Author Share Posted January 22, 2012 The "Normal Map" can have a big effect on the final finish of the mesh. The Normal Map is like laying a large dollop of 'putty' or 'filler' onto the mesh It's a way of smoothing out rough or sharp edges and also adding the appearance of depth by creating a 3D shadow/lighting effect ... Have a look at the "femalebody_1_msn.dds" file in the "C:\Program Files\Steam\steamapps\common\skyrim\data\textures\actors\character\female" folder, it gives you a really graphic idea of just what a Normal Map adds to a mesh To create a good normal map for Skyrim, which of these two should i use? Photoshop or 3ds max ? I have found two videos on Youtube here: === photoshop ===3ds max Hmmm ... I don't have 3DS (or any real experience in 3D modelling) But from what I saw in the second video, you could get some pretty reasonable Normal Maps by "Rendering" them from your body mesh ... Mostly I use a "Normal Mapping" tool in Gimp (similar to the one in Photoshop) And convert the diffuse texture into a normal map as in the Photoshop Tutorial, Gimp however has a really good Layer Blending Option, and I'm not sure if there is a similar on for Photoshop. They probably won't have quite the same level of "depth" as the fully rendered one, but it allows for much easier manipulation of the end result ... There are 2 tutorials that I recommend to people, they are very 'noobish' and not specific for Skyrim, but the DO provide invaluable insight into "Normal Mapping"My link I've Thank you, appreciate your help Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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