(The documentation is very… light)
But so how does the w or alpha component of an input to the “Unpack normal” node affect the output?
I am storing extra data in the a channel and have to mess around with channels to set it to 1, before passing to unpack normal node
On many platforms, unity stores normal maps in the G and A channels instead of RGB, and reconstructs the Z of the normal map with math. So passing one means if your on those platforms, your totally breaking the Y vector of the normal.