Normal Map Generator

[Hautemeal]

I just switched from Adobe products and this feature is desperately missed. There are workarounds, but the fidelity of these solutions are poor and not really useable. Are there any plans to implement this feature? I saw that there is a feature which allows one to change the rotation, flip axis, and adjust intensity. That's helpful, but I've seen a lot of people asking for this in V1, so I'm hoping it'll be added in V2 soon.

[Sonny Sonny]

@Hautemeal There is a superb useful add-on already

 

[Hautemeal]

10 minutes ago, Sonny Sonny said:

@Hautemeal There is a superb useful add-on already

 

This is one of the "workarounds" I mentioned in my post. The results I get from it are super janky.

[cgidesign]

5 hours ago, Hautemeal said:

This is one of the "workarounds" I mentioned in my post. The results I get from it are super janky.

Do you mind posting what you don't like about the tool? I have not used it so far but am interested to do so. I would appreciate to read about details in advance. Other users seem to like the tool.

[kirk23]

That workaround only  works nicely in 32 bit linear mode.   You can get more or less ok result with gamma  fix in 16 bit integer mode although.  It's still not 100% mathematically accurate and honestly I don't see why they can't do it .

 

sphere.afphoto

[cgidesign]

Is there a feature request about the topic?

[Hautemeal]

8 hours ago, kirk23 said:

That workaround only  works nicely in 32 bit linear mode.   You can get more or less ok result with gamma  fix in 16 bit integer mode although.  It's still not 100% mathematically accurate and honestly I don't see why they can't do it .

 

sphere.afphoto 558.98 kB · 2 downloads

@kirk23 Idk why, but I tried the same thing (using your file) with a radial gradient and my result is extremely noisy (your image looks reasonably smooth). It works if I apply a Gaussian blur set to 6 px. This is a totally unrelated is now. Why is the gradient so stepped in a 32-bit document?


Yeah, it's really weird that they've implemented a feature for adjusting normal maps, but don't have a feature that creates them.

Edit: I figured it out. I had to uncheck "Dither gradients" in my performance settings.

Edited December 13, 2022 by Hautemeal
Updated with solution

[Hautemeal]

3 hours ago, cgidesign said:

Is there a feature request about the topic?

I thought that's what I was making with this post 😅. If not, where do I find the requested feature list?

[Hautemeal]

10 hours ago, cgidesign said:

Do you mind posting what you don't like about the tool? I have not used it so far but am interested to do so. I would appreciate to read about details in advance. Other users seem to like the tool.

@cgidesign It's just not nearly as robust as you want for even the most basic normal map generator. The feature should include the ability to flip axes of individual directions, adjust depth, and probably a smoothness slider at the bare minimum. And probably also a warning when your file isn't 16 or 32-bit depth. Also, the file that kirk23 shared works a lot better than the popular solution because you don't need to upload a bump map for the live filter to work. Kirk's version just works over the top of any image (as you would expect). The other version requires you to save your image, then upload it as a bump map in the live filter.

[kirk23]

2 hours ago, Hautemeal said:

because you don't need to upload a bump map for the live filter to work

No, my version  is no different in that regard . You can load  separate depth too  but can work  with just what's  beneath  + "texture" slider that adjusts normal map intensity/contrast.     The only improvement  I offer is the gamma  fix  for  8 and 16 bit per channel images . in 32 bit linear mode you don't need the gamma fix.

[Hautemeal]

On 12/13/2022 at 2:06 PM, kirk23 said:

No, my version  is no different in that regard . You can load  separate depth too  but can work  with just what's  beneath  + "texture" slider that adjusts normal map intensity/contrast.     The only improvement  I offer is the gamma  fix  for  8 and 16 bit per channel images . in 32 bit linear mode you don't need the gamma fix.

Oh, really? The instructions in the other version said that you had to load the bump map you wanted to use. And, indeed, it seemed to only work when I did that. This is why I was so surprised when the version you sent didn't require that. Idk what I was doing wrong, but I'm just glad it's working now. And thanks for the explanation of the gamma fix. That makes a lot more sense now.