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Up Topic Development / Art Workshop / [Tutorial] Howto create Normalmaps
- - By Nachtfalter [de] Date 2009-06-04 13:01
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Parent - By Piranha [de] Date 2009-06-04 14:18
Very nice! But there is a little mistake... you wrote: " ... Nvidea xnormal tool ... " . I'm sure you mean "Nvidia". But this is of small importance :)
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Parent - - By henry [de] Date 2009-06-04 15:34
Great! :D
But this technique don't works for more complex models. -> front camera

Recently I found another neat tool by Nvidia: Melody
You import your high and lowpoly models and let it calculate all the stuff.

Melody can also create AO maps.

But afaik Blender can also render AO Maps.
Parent - - By Nachtfalter [de] Date 2009-06-04 16:43
Theres a good function in cinema to bake AO maps, but the normal baker is very crazy to me. I spend lots of hours to fix the problem...
This tutorial is a quick-n-dirty method. I also try to install melody and thats the result. I'm googling on it, but there are only dead-links in some threads.
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Parent - - By henry [de] Date 2009-06-04 21:31

>Theres a good function in cinema to bake AO maps...


Where?
I'm usung R10 and never saw such a function.

@Melody:
D=
Maybe it works when someone simply gives you the installed directory?
I can't imagine that Melody modifies the registry or something like that.
Parent - - By Nachtfalter [de] Date 2009-06-04 21:45
Now I have installed the programm (some vista hack, dunno), but it crashes if a make some normal maps. Crap :/
Baking was allowed up to R9 I think. Maybe you'll try "Render --> Baking texture" or search in the internal help.
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Parent - By henry [de] Date 2009-06-05 12:42
Kay, i'll try it.  : )

@Melody:
Hum... yeah, sometimes it crashes on my computer too.
But afaik depends this on the advanced configuration thingy.
Parent - By Newton [es] Date 2009-06-04 17:18 Edited 2009-06-04 17:21
Can somebody supply some example renderings? I want to play around with Melody.

E.g Nachtfalters mining hut
Parent - - By Newton [es] Date 2009-06-04 16:16
Nice. But uff, whats up with your English?

Care to put that into the wiki? http://wiki.openclonk.org/w/ArtistsGuide#Modelling
I´d like to add some more info about creating the normal map (and correct some spelling mistakes).

You see that the Nvidea tool does not do a good job here. The final door looks somewhat dirty and rough - compared to the original high poly model.
E.g. the nails taken from the bump map appear in the normal map in a wrong shape: Not as round bumps, but as pits (with round bumps in it). I have a bit of experience on how to make a normal map look better.

However, already the "bump map" you show here is not really a bump map how it should look. A correct bump map would normally show the height of the pixels (height map: the lighter the higher) which yours does not - exactly where it comes to the nails: Even the borders of the nails would have to be lighter.

You rendered it with front light. But I think there must be something like a "render heightmap option" oder even "render normalmap" option in a modern modelling program, no?
Edit: k, see henry
Parent - - By Nachtfalter [de] Date 2009-06-04 16:41
I explain only the basics of this method. For further details you can make some photoshop tricks that wont be the problem. I dont tell the user to make a real bump map from the rendered picture, because this step goes without saying. It's not a beginner tutorial.
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Parent - By Newton [es] Date 2009-06-04 17:14

>I dont tell the user to make a real bump map from the rendered picture, because this step goes without saying.


But your example bumpmap isn't a correct bumpmap either!
Parent - By Dragonclonk [de] Date 2009-06-05 12:24
Looks good. It's well-fitting for my idea @normal/bump maps for materials. ;)
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Parent - By Nachtfalter [de] Date 2009-06-06 10:15
Hm, never checked out evermotion and deviantart...d'oh. Thanks, I'll make some tests these days...
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Parent - By Newton [es] Date 2009-06-29 00:56 Edited 2009-06-29 00:59
This weekend, I researched and tried a lot about normalmaps. I'll summarize:

When modelling real time models, the mesh should consist of only one face - I mean the surfaces which are inside objects as well as surfaces that are hidden should be deleted. Also, it is easier for normal map creation if there are no overlapping faces. Small details can always be drawn in the texture map - unlike in the rendering for models, many small (geometric) details should be drawn into the texture map. The quality of the texture plays a big role of the quality of the final model. Additionally, it is possible to render details of the high-poly-model not to the normal map but to the texture of the low-poly model, this might be a good method for models that are not egible for normal maps:
In general, normal maps are not really egible for blocky buildings. In my tests with a few buildings, the outcome was never very pretty. Normal maps can be used for organic, smooth things like the clonk and animals to hide the blocky geometry. Additionally, normal maps could (eventually) be used for the landscape and the textures of buildings (like a rocky wall).

The facecount of 200-300 is a good guide value for a low-poly ingame-building which still looks good in 3x the size of Clonk Rage models.

If you render a model, always do the low-poly model first. It saves a lot of work. Also, if you plan to bake a normal map by making a high-poly model, always keep in mind that the geometry has to stay the same. Basically, you can only add details between the vertices of the low-poly model.

In any case, with or without normal map, you always need to make a very good UV-layout for easy texturing.

So, the conclusion: You can start making low-poly models with a good UV-layout and don't bother about textures yet. These can be added by the 2D-artists here.

Best blender-tutorial - http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=138194
Up Topic Development / Art Workshop / [Tutorial] Howto create Normalmaps

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