Creating Normal Maps

I just came across this 3DS Max topic and I was wondering if there was a way to do this in 3DC?
http://www.mapcore.org/viewtopic.php?t=6806&sid=24b8d1cc5fbc59f3f2b59012e1d5b5e8

Not with 3DC. However, you can make normal maps with Photoshop using the free Nvidia plug-in. I understand that Normal Map plug-ins are also available for Gimp and Paint.Net (both free). Normal Maps can then be used in 3DC by slotting them into the Bump Map slot and using the appropriate shader (normally a shader with the words BumpMap included).

BFM

Yes, I have done normal maps using CS3 and the Nvidia plug-in, but this method looked much more complete. Its tedious to have to draw the highs and lows of an object when the 3D program already understands this.

Hi,

I just made a quit look at the 3DS Max tutorial but my understanding is that the normal maps file is built from the rendering of 3D objects.

When normal maps are needed, it’s to replace 3D shapes. So creating 3D objects just for the normal maps creation seems a loss of time.

I use crazybump: it can create a normal maps image from the primary texture file. The trick is to find the proper setting among the many parameters available in crazybump… and this software is expensive…

• This reply was modified 11 years, 7 months ago by DOM107.

I agree that it looks like a waste of time, but I have seen the results and its quiet impressive.

Just looked at CrazyBump. That is interesting, but I don’t have $$ for it.