[Techi]

does the normal map model (the detailed one) have to be larger than the original model?

can a normal map only bump and not reduce?

[ranhell]

Id like to help but i have no idea what you are asking?

[bullet_evader]

i also don't really understand your question!! sorry!!

[Zeeman]

uh... Techi, maybe u wanna rephrase that for us...

[Techi]

ill try..

you have your low poly model
and a model you plan to use as the normal map template

does the template model have to be bigger than the low poly model. like the inside of an egg boils its shape because the outer shell is its template.

will a nowmal map indent as well as bump out.

thats the best i can do fo now..

[Mark]

Hmm... I know what you're asking now, but unfortunately can't give you an answer.

However, you might want to take a look at this page: http://amber.rc.arizona.edu/lw/normalmaps.html
It contains not only details on some normal map plugins for Lightwave, but also contains links to other Normal map resources. You might find the answer you need in one of those.

[rich_is_bored]

I've been toying with Doom 3 modeling quite a bit lately so I've got quite a bit of experience with normal mapping now.

Don't aim to fit the low poly model inside the high poly or vice versa. Instead, aim to make the low poly model match as closely as possible.

When you view both meshes at once they should appear to share the same space because they should be close to the same size. In this case, Z-Fighting is a good thing because it means that your low poly model is a very close match.

When the normal map is rendered it will trace both inwards and outwards a specific distance. You may be able to adjust this but provided your low poly model is a very close match to the high poly model you shouldn't need to.

The closer the low poly model is to occupying the same space, the less distance the renderer will have to raytrace to create your normalmap.

This is kinda hard to explain so I hope you can make sense of that.

[mtmckinley]

when we were doing normal mapped walls and such, the low poly mesh could not cut through the high poly. So, yes, your higher res object would need to encapsulate the low poly for it to work properly.

[rich_is_bored]

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.

http://www.monitorstudios.com/bclowa...mal_maps7.html

I guess it depends on what application you use to render the normalmap with.

[Techi]

thanks guys..

i did toy with normal mapping from the tutorial done by philip, but this was back when i was .. well .. crapper than i am now :p

just wanted it cleared by someone with practice.

thx again to all.