Texture for Materials

[bravo 6 0]

These are BI's Original textures of palmtree01

palma_kmen_01_co.jpg                                          palma_kmen_01_no.jpg

<span style='color:blue'>Question:</span> What do you need to do in order to transform the left pic into the right?

To create your own own textures and materials.

Thanks for all your help.

EDIT:

<span style='color:blue'>Option 1:</span>

Using Photoshop: (Plug-in NVIDIA Normal Map filter)

1- Make sure any layers are merged.

2- Desaturate the picture (make it black/white with a filter or adjustment layer).

3- Turn it into a normal map using the NVIDIA Normal Map filter and play with the settings to better fit your wishes.

<span style='color:blue'>Option 2:</span>

Using ATINormalMaker / NormalMapGenerator

1- Click on the .EXE and choose the desired .TGA file, the program generates a new .TGA file with the effect we were looking for.

2- Open the new .TGA file with Textview2 and save it as .PAA.

<span style='color:blue'>Option 3:</span>

Quote[/b] ]"Also, academic CrazyBump is available for students and teachers. If you bought a personal license but you're eligible for the academic, lemme know and you'll get a refund of the difference."

CrazyBump

[soul_assassin 1723]

desaturate the picture (make it black/white with a filter or adjustment layer) and then turn it into a normal map using the nVidia normal map filter (for photoshop) which u can get from the nvidia website.

Make sure the layers are merged though

[DaSquade 0]

There is a very good alternative, no plugin but software:crazybump. Sadly it is no longer freeware, but the trail of 30 days could brings you somewhere. Imho it gives you much more controle over the detail etc.

PS: Jenny once posted some advices regarding texture converted normal maps on the forums. Can't find it atm, but it had to do with sharpen and work in stages. But in most cases Soul_Assassin suggestion covers it perfectly (then it is just a mather of doing some tests and adjust settings of the convertion).

Good luck.

EDIT: in some case it is better to adjust the desaturated image before converting it. Meaning, like in the palmtree example you might want to edit out the white marks (fungues?) as this isn't a 'height' controle colour or can give wrong results. In the end you need to work with a 'bumptexture' so black and white shades. Those colours controle the converted normal map, so you don't want unneeded or wrong colours in the bumptexture.

[MehMan 0]

No no, nothing is sharpened. You use photoshop and create the basic normal map, then you duplicate the layer and apply a Gaussian Blur filter with a 1 pixel setting. Then you set the blurred layer to overlay. Then you duplicate the blurred layer and blur it again with a 1 px setting and set it to overlay. Repeat until you get satisfactory results. Voila, crazybump obsolete.

[bravo 6 0]

Ok guys, thank you for all the feedback.

I'm going to gather all needed information and edit the 1st post for future organization.

Please let me know if i do/write any step wrong or miss something.

@DaSquade: yeah, im doing Palmtrees and i think i know what you mean, im still testing some results using the plugin for Photoshop mentioned above. It has alot settings and options while using the NVIDIA Normal Map filter.

[[aps]gnat 28]

Also could use ATINormalMaker / NormalMapGenerator

http://ati.amd.com/develop....ns.html

[bravo 6 0]

Gnat @ Oct. 30 2008,14:01)]Also could use ATINormalMaker / NormalMapGenerator

http://ati.amd.com/develop....ns.html

Gnat it converts the file in png but it creates the new file im can not open with any program. How should we use this ATINormalMaker / NormalMapGenerator, as an alternative?

edit1: typo

edit2: Thanks again for all the input.

Heres the result of my 1st try out:

[DaSquade 0]

Static pics aren't a good way to show your true effect of the normal map. Just saying.

I often test my normal simply by removing the colour texture out of the model, so you have your normal and/or spec map only. That way you can truely see what it does compair to static lightning/shadow in a colour texture.

@MehMan: Ah yeah indeed. Gaussian Blur filter it was. My bad. Still i prefure Crazybump over edting and play with layers. As long you get the job done...

[soul_assassin 1723]

from first look it looks like the normalmap on the palm is inverted. Or is it just me?

[bravo 6 0]

Yeah, i think your right, it was inverted. Me noob..

It was my 1st try out with that kinda 'technology' ^^

[soul_assassin 1723]

no worries man. For most of us this was ALOT of trial and error. mostly error to be honest

[[aps]gnat 28]

Gnat it converts the file in png but it creates the new file im can not open with any program. How should we use this ATINormalMaker / NormalMapGenerator, as an alternative?

?? .... I typically run the EXE file, point it to your TGA colour file, click OK.

You get another TGA file that is the normal map.

Convert that TGA to a NOHQ.paa and your done.

As suggest, you find that to get a reasonable normal map you have to make another tweaked version of you colour texture.

All sorts of tricks have to be tried, blurs, merges, colour count reduction etc to get something that then can be converted to a normal map.

Trial and error I'm sorry.

Crazybump was better (ie preview and settings) but the bloody thing is no longer free.

[.kju 3240]

Quote[/b] ]

Also, academic CrazyBump is available for students and teachers. If you bought a personal license but you're eligible for the academic, lemme know and you'll get a refund of the difference.

http://crazybump.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=530

[bravo 6 0]

ok Gnat, it works now.

I'm not sure why it didn't work before.

Clicking on the exe and choose the path to tga, the program generates a new file with the effect we were looking for.

About Q's link ill add it to the 1st post.

EDIT: Should be added the 'art' of using the rvmat's in this thread?

[.kju 3240]

Quote[/b] ]CrazyBump Educational $69 USD ( For students and teachers )

http://crazybump.com/buy.html

and

Quote[/b] ]At present there's no plan to change the pricing, but if there is a change in the future, you'll see it announced here.

CrazyBump 1.1 will release soon with a new demo, so you can give it a spin for 30 days even if you aren't registered. I would predict "tomorrow," but my predictions have a habit of not coming true, so I'll just leave it at "soon!"

http://crazybump.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=606

[bravo 6 0]

nice to have more info about it Q.

Though i think the second option is the easier & faster if your don't want to change the effects obtained.

And you don't even need to unZip the download file

[.kju 3240]

well not my area, however people say crazybump has some advantages.

thats why it might be worth the money.

[DaSquade 0]

In a modo tutorial someone was saying crazybump did a better job in the fine details compaired to the nvidia plugin. Been awhile since i played around with the nvidia plug, but imho crazybump is a bit flexible and you have more controle over it, imho.

In the end, crazybump is more then just a normal texture tool:

-Normal maps

-Displacement maps

-Occlusion maps

-Specularity maps

-Diffuse maps

Option to save settings etc. Good flexible 'render viewport' where you can individually show and hide your maps.

Anyway, it does the job, but so do other tools/plugins.

[MehMan 0]

You can all that in Photoshop with the plugin. It's all about using the right settings, and a bit of sharpen.

[bravo 6 0]

I agree with the sharpen thing.. expecially for palmtrees effects. hehe

[soul_assassin 1723]

crazybump has a big advantage in only the fact that u have instant feedback and that's a big plus. However I think it don't matter evn if you draw the normal maps by hand in those crazy colours from scratch, it ain't the tools that make the artist

[[aps]gnat 28]

... it ain't the tools that make the artist  

Sadly, yes

They just prove how much an artist I'm not ....

[bravo 6 0]

True, though im not worried about it because i know i don't have any good touch for this kinda art, just interested atm.

Anyways, if we add this kinda effect to the model will it be more laggy comparing if we not use any at all?

edit: What i mean is: If i start adding this kinda material texture to all my models including houses, vegetations, roads etc.. would the map lag beaucoup?

[opteryx 1562]

Yes, take VBS2 as an example where normal/specular maps have been dropped to increase performance, as did I.

[bravo 6 0]

oh ok, i didn't know it about VBS2.

Thank you.