LogoBEN CLOWARD - Technical Artist
  RESOURCES - TUTORIALS - CREATING NORMAL MAPS - page 3

What You Will Need

There are a few things that you’ll need in order to complete the tutorial. Make sure that you have all of the following items before beginning the tutorial. If you don’t have some of them, you’ll still be able to learn the principles involved, but you won’t be able to complete the tutorial steps. So, here’s what you need:

If you have trouble setting up or installing any of these programs, just ask and I'll see if I can help you.

Tools for Creating Your Models

Tools for Generating Your Normal Maps Tools for Viewing Your Model With the Normal Map Applied
  • Nvidia’s Cg plug-in for Max or Maya
    Max version: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/IO_3dsmaxCgFXPlugin.html
    Maya version: http://developer.nvidia.com/object/MayaCgPlugin.html

    Before installing either of these plug-ins, you’ll need to install the Cg compiler, which can be found here:
    http://developer.nvidia.com/object/cg_toolkit_1_1.html
    These plug-ins allow you to display real-time Cg shaders in the view port of Max or Maya. This tutorial uses the Cg plug-in for displaying the end results of your normal map applied to the surface of your model. If you have another program that supports normal map per-pixel lighting, you can use that instead.

  • A Normal Map Shader
    https://www.bencloward.com/bcloward/simple_normal_map_shader.fx
    This is a shader that I wrote that you'll need to use together with Nvidia's Cg plugin in order to view your model with the normal map applied to it.

  • An Nvidia GeForce3 or greater graphics card
    You could also probably use a Radeon 8500 or greater ATi card, but some of the features of the Cg plug-in for Max or Maya may not work correctly with ATi hardware. If you’re using another program to display your normal mapped models, then ATi cards will work fine.

At the end of the tutorial there is a list of additional links. If you use software other than Maya, 3DS Max, and/or Photoshop you can find information there about using other software to create normal maps.

Back     Next

Page 1: Introduction
Page 2: Enter the Normal Map
Page 3: What You'll Need
Page 4: Using Normal Maps for Bump Maps
Page 5: Normal Maps for High Poly Detail
Page 6: Applying Normal Maps to Your Model
Page 7: Additional Tips and Tricks
Page 8: Links to Additional Information


HOME BLOG PORTFOLIO RESUME RESOURCES CONTACT
 

Free Content Sponsors: