Comments on: Open Source Normal Map Generator

By: trrrrrrrrrrrrrg

trrrrrrrrrrrrrg — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:04:03 +0000

@mzungu

checkout the free nvidia plugin…

how to make your depthmap:
1) take photo
2) open in photoshop
3) use Photoshop Nvidia plugin to create normal map
4) save this normal map
5) open this normal map in photoshop
6) use Photoshop Nvidia plugin, but this time select the “depth map” option.
7) voila.

Best
Matt

By: ROUBAL

ROUBAL — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 17:59:36 +0000

Well, I purchased CrazyBump when it went commercial and I really like it.

For SSbump, I can’t even download it :o(( all download links seems to be dead on the site…

By: Astapov

Astapov — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 03:46:05 +0000

As mentioned by Sean,

Try X Normal as well.

Great solid production ready app. Lots of features. Works on even the lowest of systems(Just have to be patient :)). Also from my experience it works with denser meshes than max.

By: Sergio Frias

Sergio Frias — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:06:06 +0000

Please,have a try at pixplant plugin for photoshop, as good as crazybump ;)…please tell witch you find the best.

By: Rorkimaru

Rorkimaru — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 16:11:33 +0000

Why use this over Gimp’s plugin?

By: mzungu

mzungu — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 03:01:03 +0000

Does anyone know if a normal map can be converted to a depth map (greyscale gradient from white close up to black far away) easily?

I want to take pictures of a person’s face, make a normal map from them (using this method: http://zarria.net/nrmphoto/nrmphoto.html), then convert that to a depth map to feed into a photo-to-CNC (gcode) application that will allow me to machine that face into a block of wood (or something similar) with a CNC Mill.

I’ve done this with blender-generated depth maps (of a 3D CAD model) which came out rather nicely. Would love to be able to do this with people’s faces (or other real-world objects that can be photographed.)

Thots?

By: Papasmurf

Papasmurf — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 01:06:38 +0000

@sbn: Nice tip on the normal map shortcut. Blender calculates AO based on mesh geometry, so to get an AO map from Blender you need a physically deformed mesh to bake.
@Corsair, I use more tools than just Blender, I was just saying that Blender can also do at least these two maps as well. And, I mentored a very nice wiki author who rewrote that section because the feature was so popular but deserved better doco. However, if SSbump does it better or easier, by all means add it to your toolbox. If it doesn’t, then there’s really no sense in learning yet another specialized tool when the hammer you have does the job just fine.

By: The Happy Friar

The Happy Friar — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 19:26:28 +0000

i like the gimp plugin better (or crazybump), or insanebump for gimp. This app seems to work best for Source games, doesn’t work as well in other games I’ve tried. No clue why.

By: Stugys

Stugys — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 17:04:03 +0000

http://www.mapzoneeditor.com/ works fine in linux with wine emulator

By: sbn

sbn — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 12:22:24 +0000

Papasmurf, for “flat” grayscale > RGB normal, you don’t need to subdiv your mesh in Blender. Just put your grayscale displacement image on an unwrapped plane in the normal channel (W/O RGB normal enabled in texture buttons), adjust strength in material, make another image to bake to, and bake normal / tangent.

Won’t work for AO, I think, but for normals that’s quite a lot faster.

I’m on a Mac and have done it this way for some time since I dislike NMG.