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gamedev:textureproperties:normal [2012/12/01 18:12] – dragonlord | gamedev:textureproperties:normal [2019/05/24 23:43] (current) – ↷ Links adapted because of a move operation dragonlord | ||
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+ | {{tag> | ||
<WRAP youarehere> | <WRAP youarehere> | ||
- | [[: | + | [[: |
</ | </ | ||
- | <WRAP boxheader> | + | ====== |
- | ====== | + | |
- | </ | + | Defines the surface |
- | <WRAP boxcontent> | + | |
- | |Texture Property Name|normal| | + | |
|Excepted Data Source|3 component image| | |Excepted Data Source|3 component image| | ||
|Data Range|0 to 1 for all image components| | |Data Range|0 to 1 for all image components| | ||
|Default Value|(0.5, 0.5, 1)| | |Default Value|(0.5, 0.5, 1)| | ||
- | |Graphic | + | |Affected Modules|Graphic, Physics| |
- | |Physics Module|No effect| | + | |Linked Properties|[[gamedev: |
- | |Audio Module|No effect| | + | |
- | </ | + | ====== Description ====== |
- | ====== Graphic Module ====== | ||
The **normal** texture property is used to add high resolution light rendering to objects that can not be represented with a low resolution game model. Normal based lighting is a standard in game development since a long time. The basic idea is to use textures to store high resolution surface normals not found on a low resolution model. Such normal map textures are no ordinary color textures. They store normal vectors packed into an 8-bit color. Such a normal map can be produced with various tools but typically two main ways exist. | The **normal** texture property is used to add high resolution light rendering to objects that can not be represented with a low resolution game model. Normal based lighting is a standard in game development since a long time. The basic idea is to use textures to store high resolution surface normals not found on a low resolution model. Such normal map textures are no ordinary color textures. They store normal vectors packed into an 8-bit color. Such a normal map can be produced with various tools but typically two main ways exist. | ||
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The default value for this texture property is (0.5, 0.5, 1) or (127, 127, 255) in RGB representing an unaltered normal. | The default value for this texture property is (0.5, 0.5, 1) or (127, 127, 255) in RGB representing an unaltered normal. | ||
- | ===== Modifications ===== | ||
Normals can be modified using other texture properties after reading them from this texture property. If you need faint normal map effects like for example for a slightly uneven window surface you can run into resolution problems with 8-bit images. In this case store the normals excagerated and use the **[[gamedev: | Normals can be modified using other texture properties after reading them from this texture property. If you need faint normal map effects like for example for a slightly uneven window surface you can run into resolution problems with 8-bit images. In this case store the normals excagerated and use the **[[gamedev: | ||
+ | |||
+ | ===== History ===== | ||
+ | |||
+ | Normal based lighting is a standard in game development and cinema since a long time. A game without normal mapping tends to look flat because objects lack the dynamic change of light and shadows as we know it from the real world. To deal with this problem some tricks had been created along the years. | ||
+ | |||
+ | It all started with Bump-Mapping. The idea is to encode the change in surface height across a texture mapped on the texture in the red and green channel. The red channel stores the difference in height for a pixel relative to the pixel right next to it. The green channel stores the difference in height for a pixel relative to the pixel right below. Hence the resulting texture can be interprated as a height gradient map for the object. With the gradients a normal can be reconstructed that is then used instead of the real surface normal for lighting calculations. Converting a height difference to a normal like this is not a perfect match and results in problems if the height difference is too large. For adding bumpy details to an object though this technique works well and is still used in production environments nowadays as it is a cheap and fast solution while still delivering good results. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Later on the next step had been the true normal mapping. Here the normal itself is stored in the texture and not the height gradients. This removes conversion and reconstruction calculations resulting in higher quality lighting results. Furthermore with this technique mapping a high resolution mesh to a low resolution mesh became interesting and efficient. Especially organic models suffered under the Bump-Mapping technique since autoring a gradient map is not easy for a complex organic model. Using the normal map though the high resolution model is stored directly resulting in higher quality. | ||
+ | |||
+ | Variations exist in how the normal maps are stored, what components are reconstructed or if even a high definition range image is used to store the normal map. In the end though all these techniques are the same in the end usage. Today normal mapping using these techniques is the defacto standard in game development. | ||
===== Normal Maps from Images ===== | ===== Normal Maps from Images ===== | ||
+ | |||
The quick and often dirty way is to use a normal map plugin for GIMP or other paint applications. These plugins take a color or grayscale image and convert it to a normal map. There exist different operators that can be used to calculate the resulting normal map. They vary in crispness, strength and broadness of pixels covered (in the sense of how much details of neighbors flows into the result). Results obtained with a normal map plugin can vary drastically. There exist tricks to improve the results for example using Photo Normal Reconstruction or using applications specialized in generating normal maps from images. This technique is well suited for Detail Normal Maps hence bumpy surface details of small scale and depth like scratches, leather patterns or embossed text. It is also often used to create normal maps from real world images. For the later though using Photo Normal Reconstruction is recommended but the results vary. For Geometry Normals as required for complex organic models this technique is not well suited at all. Here the second way to create normals maps is better used. | The quick and often dirty way is to use a normal map plugin for GIMP or other paint applications. These plugins take a color or grayscale image and convert it to a normal map. There exist different operators that can be used to calculate the resulting normal map. They vary in crispness, strength and broadness of pixels covered (in the sense of how much details of neighbors flows into the result). Results obtained with a normal map plugin can vary drastically. There exist tricks to improve the results for example using Photo Normal Reconstruction or using applications specialized in generating normal maps from images. This technique is well suited for Detail Normal Maps hence bumpy surface details of small scale and depth like scratches, leather patterns or embossed text. It is also often used to create normal maps from real world images. For the later though using Photo Normal Reconstruction is recommended but the results vary. For Geometry Normals as required for complex organic models this technique is not well suited at all. Here the second way to create normals maps is better used. | ||
===== Normal Maps from High Resolution Model ===== | ===== Normal Maps from High Resolution Model ===== | ||
+ | |||
The second way uses a normal map generation too and a set of models. With this technique a high resolution model is used as the source of normal information and mapped onto the texture of a low resolution model. This process is called " | The second way uses a normal map generation too and a set of models. With this technique a high resolution model is used as the source of normal information and mapped onto the texture of a low resolution model. This process is called " | ||
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===== Tangent Space Problem ===== | ===== Tangent Space Problem ===== | ||
+ | |||
A main problem is the splitting of normals and especially tangents along the low resolution model. The normals have to be transformed relative to a coordinate system located at the point of interest on the low resolution model. This coordinate system is typically called the " | A main problem is the splitting of normals and especially tangents along the low resolution model. The normals have to be transformed relative to a coordinate system located at the point of interest on the low resolution model. This coordinate system is typically called the " | ||
===== Normal Map Encoding ===== | ===== Normal Map Encoding ===== | ||
+ | |||
Another problem is the encoding of normal maps. The components of normals are in the range from -1 to 1 while those of colors are in the range from 0 to 1. The most common solution is to map all normal components directory from -1..1 to 0..1 using one color component for each normal component. For the choice of mapping between the components as well as flipping or not flipping the result there are tons of different ways normals can be mapped. The Drag[en]gine requires the normals to be encoded in the following way to work properly. | Another problem is the encoding of normal maps. The components of normals are in the range from -1 to 1 while those of colors are in the range from 0 to 1. The most common solution is to map all normal components directory from -1..1 to 0..1 using one color component for each normal component. For the choice of mapping between the components as well as flipping or not flipping the result there are tons of different ways normals can be mapped. The Drag[en]gine requires the normals to be encoded in the following way to work properly. | ||
|Normal Component|-1 Normal|0 Normal|1 Normal|Color Component| | |Normal Component|-1 Normal|0 Normal|1 Normal|Color Component| | ||
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If this holds true chances are good your normal map is usable from the encoding point of view. Make sure your watch the Tangent Space Problem too. | If this holds true chances are good your normal map is usable from the encoding point of view. Make sure your watch the Tangent Space Problem too. | ||
- | ====== | + | ===== Blender3D GBuffer NormGen Script |
- | Normal based lighting is a standard in game development and cinema since a long time. A game without normal mapping tends to look flat because objects lack the dynamic change of light and shadows as we know it from the real world. To deal with this problem some tricks had been created along the years. | + | |
- | It all started with Bump-Mapping. | + | The Blender3D export scripts contain |
- | Later on the next step had been the true normal mapping. Here the normal itself is stored in the texture and not the height gradients. This removes conversion and reconstruction calculations resulting in higher quality lighting results. Furthermore with this technique mapping | + | The export scripts contain |
- | + | <WRAP center 100%> | |
- | Variations exist in how the normal maps are stored, what components are reconstructed or if even a high definition range image is used to store the normal map. In the end though all these techniques are the same in the end usage. Today normal mapping using these techniques | + | <WRAP center box 550px> |
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | <WRAP centeralign> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
====== Physics Module ====== | ====== Physics Module ====== | ||
- | This texture property does not effect Physics Modules. | ||
- | ====== Audio Module ====== | + | The **normal** |
- | This texture property | + | |
+ | This kind of in depth simulation is usually | ||
====== Examples ====== | ====== Examples ====== | ||
- | ( TODO: example | + | |
+ | <WRAP column 45%> | ||
+ | <WRAP center box 450px> | ||
+ | {{ :gamedev: | ||
+ | <WRAP centeralign> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <WRAP column 45%> | ||
+ | <WRAP center box 550px> | ||
+ | {{ : | ||
+ | <WRAP centeralign> | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | </ | ||
+ | |||
+ | <WRAP clear></ |