Hi there 
Another Normalmap question. How do you guys create your normalmaps?
I know there’s various aproaches -
… baking in Blender, ZBrush or whatever your preferred application is.
… creating a grayscale texture and let Unity do the conversion
… use the Wndows version of the NVidia Normalmap Tools or Crazybump
Yet - did any of you encounter the problem that you wanted to enhance an existing normalmap with details, yourself? I mean something like having an existing (relatively smooth) normalmap and merging it with another detailed map with scratches and bumps and such.
Since the Windows version of Unity isn’t out yet I asume most of you are using the Mac version of Photoshop (or GIMP) - for which there still is no couterpart for the NVidia tools.
I’m kinda interested in this topic becaus I switched to Mac recently. I was used to work with the NVidia plugin - but that option apparently is no more.
Searching the web only led me to the normalmap generator - NMG - which has it’s problems and isn’t very detailed. Using the option from within Unity is very good for quick results but becomes a little complicaed if you want to modify your maps, IMO (It would be cool, if there was a way to export normals from within Unity).
So I’m curious: What tools do you use - what techniques did you come up with?
This thread might interest you:
http://blenderartists.org/forum/showthread.php?t=137830
There’s a link to an OS X build (Leopard and Python 2.5 required) in the thread somewhere…
Although it’s not a normal mapping tool per se, there’s also 3D-Coat (http://www.3d-coat.com/index.html) and I believe you can create normal maps with Carrara Pro (using a plugin called “Baker”).
The thing I’m also rather interested ATM in is editing normals manually. Fortunately baking is available from within many 3D tools and not even only the expensive ones. Blender does a pretty god job, I think. And if I need a few better results - I can boot into Windows and use xNormal - the results are very good after you get used to not seeing your meshes. 
I tried that normalmap Plugin for GIMP, but for some reason i don’t really get into gimp. I’m spoiled by Photoshop
The far worse reason is that it’s win only again. Other than baking - enhancing normals is something you need to tweak and tweak over and over again. Checking in unity then booting in windows to edit in gimp then booting in uity again seems like a pretty bad workflow. Parallels could be an option…
It’s weird. For windows thre’s tons and tons of normalmapping tools - no matter 2D or 3D. For Mac there seem to be very few. Especially good ones. 
I’ve run into the same situation when working with artists who are using Windows. I’ve been thinking about creating a simple “player” in Unity that would import a mesh, textures and then let you select a shader and adjust its settings. Some day when I have the time I’ll give it a go. Would be helpful in a situation like this…
The mac options suck for normal map generating programs. But I use this app with Parallels and it works great. http://shadermap.renderingsystems.com/sm_pro.php For these little apps, Parallels is unavoidable. Windows just has more options for these kinds of things. It’s alot cheaper than Crazybump too 
Looks very interesting. Thanks for the tipp.
As an unknowing artist I wonder what’s so difficult for NVidia to port the Photoshop Plugins to MacOS. I remember that they stated they’d do it but there were technical problems.
Hey BenH,
Very cool app. Are you using the Pro or CL version with Parallels? The Pro version requires DirectX 9, I wasn’t aware that Parallels handled DirectX well enough for this sort of thing.
@bigkahuna
I use the Pro version. It requires Directx 9, but that just means you cant use the big realtime preview window. I just look at the changes to the swatches and its fine for me.
I’m gonna give the pro version a try in vmWare Fusion. Hopefully it works a bit better, a 3D preview would be nice.
My normal map workflow:
A) Create the model either in 3ds max or Zbrush
B) Unwrap the model make sure there are no inverted of overlapping faces.
C) Import the model into Zbrush (again) and paint both the diffuse map and high-res normal map.
D) Export everything into 3ds max again make sure everything looks good
E) Minor tweaks in photoshop. Mostly getting rid of unwanted “stretches” etc. in the normal map.
F) Export to FBX and voila… into Unity
If i just want to create some random good looking normal maps for use on stones, terrains etc., I tend to use Crazybump + google. A perfect couple IMO
I tried shaderlap and the nvidia normal map generator for photoshop as well, but they dont seem to output the same amount of depth info as crazybump + theyre not as funny to play around with!
I just wanted to let you know that I asked Simone from Lisanet to trying to compile the Normalmap Plugin for gimp in her next OSX release and she actually did.
http://gimp.lisanet.de/Website/Overview.html
Teh normalmap plugin has about the same features as the NVidia Plugin for the Windows version of Photoshop. It works perfectly (I tested it).
So if you are still looking for a way to create normals outside unity - go get it.
Awesome stuff, thanks very much! I use GIMP all the time and often wished this plugin worked on the Mac version, now it does!