Normal Mapping Character clothing Tips

[FA Dalai Lamar 0]

Hey guys,

I have recently begun our RACS pilot character mdel for the upcoming Project Racs mod....Textures done but when i went to create the Normal maps of the uniform for the new RVMATS the wrinkles are far to shallow. I am using photoshop and the NVidia plugin for normal mapping. Any tips on how to get the wrinkles more bis-like in depth. I have gone over the tutorial by linker Splitter but it doesn't go into depth about character models. any help on this would be appreciated.

Lamar

[Messiah 2]

you can just increase the 'depth' setting in the nvidia plug in menu.

[FA Dalai Lamar 0]

rger that Messiah,

Been tinkering around with that ....I assume I am doing that correctly but I am still not getting the wrinkles right. They seem to crisp and when I jack up the settings the the normal is too detailed. If you can clue me in on what the plugin settings for you guys are for optimal clothing textures. I really do appreciate this. I know my settings for vehicles are like 0-15 on the depth.

BEst Regards,

Lamar

[Messiah 2]

ah, apologies, I had completely missed/ignored that you had said clothing. When I jack the depth up too far in the plugin, I also get strange crispness issues for cloth.

Normal maps work quite simply (at least in the case of hand drawing them) off gradients of black whites and greys as I'm sure you're aware of. If you up the contrast of the black/white/grey image before converting it with the plugin, you should get more depth (to a point of course, as too much contrast between the gradients could cause some interesting effects)

cloth certainly isn't my forte, so you will have to excuse if I'm running out of ideas quite so soon. There's a rather good reason why I stick to vehicles

[da12thMonkey 1943]

rger that Messiah,

Been tinkering around with that ....I assume I am doing that correctly but I am still not getting the wrinkles right. They seem to crisp and when I jack up the settings the the normal is too detailed. If you can clue me in on what the plugin settings for you guys are for optimal clothing textures. I really do appreciate this. I know my settings for vehicles are like 0-15 on the depth.

BEst Regards,

Lamar

If the normal maps look too sharp/crisp try changing the filter type from '4 sample' to one of the other settings; 9*9 being the 'softest'.

[FA Dalai Lamar 0]

Thanks UKF Messiah and da12th, but i'm afraid it is just too crisp still (but better for sure than it was)....dangit! I think I have gone through every damn trick I know but just cannot simmulate te duller wrinkles...I can't thank you enough for trying to help me guys and I must say your WIP is making me drool. I am a HUGE fan of British kit and own a bunch myself. Looks like my ETENARD pilots will look like they need a good uniform steaming for now. There has to be a trick to this.

Best Regards,

Lamar

[da12thMonkey 1943]

Hmm, if things are still a bit too sharp looking my only advise would be to try to soften up the actual source image itself.

Try duplicating the layer you're making the normal map for, blurring it (probably gaussian is best), then blending it into the original layer (using overlay or a similar effect). Link the two layers then 'merge linked' before running the normal map filter. Play around with the extent of the blurring, the depth and the 'filter type' setting in the NVidia plugin until you get a result you're happy with.

Ed:- I remember reading a thread a while back where someone (nephilim I think) outlined the above technique but suggested only blurring the original image slightly, then creating a duplicate of the gaussian blurred layer and blurring that one a bit more, gradually building up the blur through the overlayed layers before merging them. Not tried that one myself since the only stuff I've made normal maps for so far have been metals rather than textiles or fluids.

[CameronMcDonald 146]

da12th is right on the money. Create a 4x4 sample with the plugin, then duplicate the layer, Gaussian blur it (1-2 pixels works best) and set the blend to "overlay." Repeat for as long as necessary to get your wrinkles looking spiffy. To ensure you don't wash out too much detail, before merging the layers, add one last layer - the original layer set to just overlay (i.e. no blurring). Then merge and normalise.

[FA Dalai Lamar 0]

@Da12th, Messiah and Cameron!

Thanks a million guys....I really do love this community. You guys have been tremendously helpful and generous. I really wish I could offer more than my thanks for your generosity. I do promise some worthy content for your hard drives though!! My experience thus far has been with non-fluid textures as well.

Best Regards,

Lamar

[max power 21]

With my dealings with him in the past, I believe Cameron accepts moneygrams and cashier's cheques, but not personal cheques.

[FA Dalai Lamar 0]

lol....I guess that did sound bad....I meant return the favor...i doubt they need my help based on their amzing work thus far...but if they ever should... all one has to do is ask me. btw...I still haven't perfected the wrinkles...but they are getting better!

Lamar