Okay.
An even cooler use for a normal map is to make a low res model look almost exactly like a high res model. This type of normal map is generated by the computer instead of painted like a bump map. Here’s how it works: First you create two versions of the model – a high polygon version (which can contain as much detail as you want) and a low polygon version that will actually get used in the game. Then you align the two models so that they occupy the same space and overlap each other.
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http://www.monitorstudios.com/bclowa...mal_maps7.html
I guess it depends on what application you use to render the normalmap with.