Normal texturing help

[DaniOcampo1992]

Hello again mates..

I'm starting a retexturing job for a known mod..
I'm trying to create normal maps for them for a better 3Dish look, but I have a problem..

This is one of the textures:


I use CrazyBump for creating the normal maps:


But seems that I'm doing something wrong, when I try to export them to the game there's almost no difference:

Without normal maps:


WITH normal maps:


If you look compare them well the only change is the terrain that looks higher, but there's no 3Dish look..

What I'm doing wrong? I know that there are a lot of texturing masters on this site..

Thank you
Dani

[LambentHammerBurst]

Ensure your are naming them:
(texture-name)_norm
Crazybump defaults to _normal

so if the texture is sand
you'd need sand.tga and sand_norm.tga

[smoketetsu]

Also if you want geometric detail you need a height\displacement map which is inserted into the normal map as an alpha channel. Crazybump doesn't seem to do this on its own and you have to save the displacement\height as a seperate file and then add it as an alpha mask with your graphics program it seems to me. Otherwise it'll mostly just affect lighting on the surface and not the shape.

[DaniOcampo1992]

Ensure your are naming them:
(texture-name)_norm
Crazybump defaults to _normal

so if the texture is sand
you'd need sand.tga and sand_norm.tga

I have all of them correct..

Also if you want geometric detail you need a height\displacement map which is inserted into the normal map as an alpha channel. Crazybump doesn't seem to do this on its own and you have to save the displacement\height as a seperate file and then add it as an alpha mask with your graphics program it seems to me. Otherwise it'll mostly just affect lighting on the surface and not the shape

How do I make that height\displacement map? I just converted the texture and saved it..
The preview really amazed me but doesn't work ingame:

[smoketetsu]

That's because the preview applies all the different things you see on the tab on the bottom like displacement. I don't know if darkplaces can take a seperate displacement map like id tech 4 does as all the textures I have seen that have displacement in darkplaces like the quake retexturing project have it included in the normal map as its alpha channel.

What you have to do is go into the displacement tab and save it like you did your normal map and then open the normal map in a graphics program and add an alpha mask and copy and paste the displacement into it... then save it as a 32-bit PNG or TGA. When you do that some parts of your normal map will be more transparent than the other parts... the transparency determines the amount of displacement and give the bumpy appearance you see in the preview in crazybump. It's unfortunate crazybump doesn't seem to do this automatically like with an export option.

If you want the shinyness you see there you have to save the specularity tab as well.... but in the case of specularity that one is put into its own file.

In other words just saving the "normals" tab wont give you all those effects.

[DaniOcampo1992]

Thank you for your help smoketetsu!
But I'm a newbie and I'm not sure what an alpha mask is..

I use photoshop CS5, I tried pasting the displacement map over the normal map, with a 30% oppacity and saving then, but it's all the same..

[smoketetsu]

No that's not how alpha masking works... but nice try anyway. you need to look up an alpha mask tutorial.. here's a start: Photoshop CS3 It says CS3 there but I'm sure it works the same in CS5... I use The GIMP here...

[seanstar]

hi

adding an alpha channel is easy...i made this texture just now with the alpha layer from crazy bump .disp texture.


whats the map texture name?


pm your email and ill send you the alpha norm.

[DaniOcampo1992]

Hi Sean, just PMd you.. The texture name is "ne_snow"

I tried adding the displacement texture as an alpha channel (ty smoke!)..

Then I saved it but still no luck..

If someday I get the textures working, I'll post a tuto.. -.-'

[seanstar]

looks like your on the right track dan...your disp texture is brown?


the disp texture should be greyscaled like this one.



just try to add the blue layer from the disp as the alpha for the norm.

[DaniOcampo1992]

yes it is grayscaled Sean, it just look brownish in the screenshot..

Do you mean to add the blue channel of the disp map as the alpha for the norm?
I'll try it..