Monsoon opened this issue on Mar 19, 2010 · 165 posts
ShawnDriscoll posted Fri, 26 March 2010 at 1:46 PM
Quote - Interesting how the normal mapping does not cover the edges like displacement mapping, i guess for that you would have to round the geometry of yourself. I suppose normal maps would be best used for animation as opposed to stills though as don't they contain all the lighting/specular/bump/occlusion information ?
Normal is just a bump with more depth information stored in it. Neither normal or bump alter the polygons. Models with normal maps applied still need spec, occlusion maps applied if you want even more surface detail.
The main problem with my texture is that I used a rock image that already had a highlight on it. The trick that Fallout 3 uses is their texture images all have neutral balanced shading (no shadows). That way the game engine can fake the correct surface bump and spec no matter what direction the light comes from. If I change the lighting direction on mine, the texture is exposed for what it really is. Just a sprayed on photo using 3D-Coat.