sketchucation logo sketchucation
    • Login
    ℹ️ Licensed Extensions | FredoBatch, ElevationProfile, FredoSketch, LayOps, MatSim and Pic2Shape will require license from Sept 1st More Info

    [Plugin] Normal Map Maker

    Scheduled Pinned Locked Moved Plugins
    43 Posts 21 Posters 57.0k Views 21 Watching
    Loading More Posts
    • Oldest to Newest
    • Newest to Oldest
    • Most Votes
    Reply
    • Reply as topic
    Log in to reply
    This topic has been deleted. Only users with topic management privileges can see it.
    • thomthomT Offline
      thomthom
      last edited by

      ah... 😳

      But a skewed texture only needs three co-ordinates - why are these troublesome for triangles?

      Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
      List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
      • TIGT Offline
        TIG Moderator
        last edited by

        @thomthom said:

        ah... 😳
        But a skewed texture only needs tree co-ordinates - why are these troublesome for triangles?

        Maybe I use the wrong wording... it's textures that are somehow rotated/skewed/sheared that need four UVs ?

        TIG

        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
        • thomthomT Offline
          thomthom
          last edited by

          Only distorted textures needs four points.

          Normal size (based on material width and height): 1 point
          Uniformly scaled: 2 points
          Non-uniformly scaled: 3 points
          Skewed - sheared: 3 points
          Distorted: 4 points

          Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
          List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
          • TIGT Offline
            TIG Moderator
            last edited by

            It's distorted then - do you mean that we CAN export these already using a TW and the material's actual face front-material?
            If so, how do we 'know' a face has a 'distorted' texture as opposed to a 'skewed' or 'rotated' one ?
            Let's say I have a face with a material that has its texture distorted and some other faces use that material 'undistorted'.
            The material is exported 'undistorted' and used with most faces with the simple 3-point UV-mapping...
            I need to know how to find which face has which type of texture, then if it's distorted then export that texture as a 'variant' using the TW with the very face, and then use that image-file for that face in the exported data.
            Is this what the built-in OBJ-Exporter does when it makes distorted texture files for some faces...

            The main issue is how do I tell if a face's material's texture is 'distorted' and needs this extra step... πŸ˜•
            It would greatly improve my OBJexporter and some 3rd party tools I am involved with...

            TIG

            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
            • A Offline
              AcesHigh
              last edited by

              sorry for the stupid question but...

              1 - whats the advantage of normal map over bump and displacement maps (both of which can use the same grayscale bitmap)?

              2 - VRAY doesnt use normal maps, does it?

              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
              • thomthomT Offline
                thomthom
                last edited by

                @aceshigh said:

                1 - whats the advantage of normal map over bump and displacement maps (both of which can use the same grayscale bitmap)?

                http://www.spinquad.com/forums/showthread.php?4478-Normal-maps-vs.-Bump-maps&s=157424c55a8e268f44d84e57618a04cb&p=54371&viewfull=1#post54371

                http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z232/Z-trooper/Modelling/mappings.png

                a) is a bump map
                b) is a parallax/normal map
                c) is a relief map (normal map with self shadowing)

                @aceshigh said:

                2 - VRAY doesnt use normal maps, does it?

                Not sure what V-Ray 2 does - but the version V-Ray for SketchUp currently use doesn't.

                Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                • T Offline
                  tomasz
                  last edited by

                  @tig said:

                  The main issue is how do I tell if a face's material's texture is 'distorted' and needs this extra step... πŸ˜•
                  It would greatly improve my OBJexporter and some 3rd party tools I am involved with...

                  http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=23947&hilit=distorted&start=60#p204899

                  Author of [Thea Render for SketchUp](http://www.thearender.com/sketchup)

                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                  • PixeroP Offline
                    Pixero
                    last edited by

                    @aceshigh said:

                    1 - whats the advantage of normal map over bump and displacement maps (both of which can use the same grayscale bitmap)?

                    A bumpmap is like: Hey, change your normal (surface direction) by this grayscale amount!
                    A normal map is more like: Yo, use this normal instead of your old one!

                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                    • T Offline
                      tspco
                      last edited by

                      I just downloaded and installed this plugin, but it doesn't seem to work, I am sure I missed something, nothing shows up in the plugins menu. Anybody have a step by step?

                      SU make 2017, /Twilight Render Hobby
                      Windows 10,64 bit,16GB ram, quad core Athlon 3.6 gHz proc. Anything else you want to know, ask me.

                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                      • R Offline
                        RepulsiveBoy
                        last edited by

                        @tspco said:

                        I just downloaded and installed this plugin, but it doesn't seem to work, I am sure I missed something, nothing shows up in the plugins menu. Anybody have a step by step?

                        It doesn't work for me either 😒

                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                        • D Offline
                          driven
                          last edited by

                          hi, did you look in the right place?
                          UI.menu("File").add_item("Export normal map")
                          john

                          learn from the mistakes of others, you may not live long enough to make them all yourself...

                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                          • TIGT Offline
                            TIG Moderator
                            last edited by

                            Didier's version says this quite clearly
                            @unknownuser said:

                            You'll find the command under the **File** menu -> Export normal map
                            πŸ˜’

                            TIG

                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                            • T Offline
                              Tuttlet
                              last edited by

                              Great to find this Normal Map script. Thanks.

                              I found that slows down if you have the Materials Windows open to "In Model" textures. So remember to have that closed.

                              Was there any way to get a bump map from this ruby? I found some threads relating to bump mapping in Sketchup, but nothing conclusive, unless I missed it
                              http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=18024&start=15
                              http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=180&t=16660&hilit=plugin

                              1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                              • GaieusG Offline
                                Gaieus
                                last edited by

                                You can quite easily create bump maps from (raw) geometry if you project a greyscale image from one side and then export an image from the other side.

                                Gai...

                                1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                • Bob JamesB Offline
                                  Bob James
                                  last edited by

                                  Just browsing through, got interested, and don't understand your reply.

                                  @gaieus said:

                                  You can quite easily create bump maps from (raw) geometry if you project a greyscale image from one side and then export an image from the other side.

                                  project (from what onto to what?) a greyscale image from one side (of what?)

                                  export an image from the other side (of what?)

                                  i7-4930K 3.4Ghz, 2x GTX780 6GB, 32GB DDR3-1600 ECC, OCZ Vertex 4 500GB, WD Black 3TB, 32TB NAS, 4x 27" Monitors, SpaceMouse Pro, X-keys XK-60

                                  1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                  • T Offline
                                    Tuttlet
                                    last edited by

                                    I believe this is the procedure:

                                    1. Make a rectangle with a greyscale texture in the z direction, scale it to 1.001 to ensure the top face is white

                                    2. Make the texture a projection
                                      Bump12.jpg

                                    3. Select and apply the texture to the model
                                      Bump3.jpg

                                    4. Set the time to noon, date to 3/21, location to near the equator (in File, Geo-location). Set light & dark to 100

                                    5. With a parallel projection and no edges, the top view is your bump map
                                      Bump45.jpg

                                    1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                    • thomthomT Offline
                                      thomthom
                                      last edited by

                                      You can do the same without a texture, use white Fog on black geometry.

                                      Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                                      List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

                                      1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                      • T Offline
                                        Tuttlet
                                        last edited by

                                        @thomthom said:

                                        You can do the same without a texture, use white Fog on black geometry.

                                        Hey, that's even easier. Thanks.

                                        But aren't white areas usually interpreted as higher than black. I seem to get the right result with black fog on white geometry.

                                        1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                        • thomthomT Offline
                                          thomthom
                                          last edited by

                                          @tuttlet said:

                                          @thomthom said:

                                          You can do the same without a texture, use white Fog on black geometry.

                                          Hey, that's even easier. Thanks.

                                          But aren't white areas usually interpreted as higher than black. I seem to get the right result with black fog on white geometry.

                                          Ah, yea - my logic is inverted this morning! πŸ˜„ 😳

                                          Thomas Thomassen β€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
                                          List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

                                          1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                          • sicksickisckS Offline
                                            sicksickisck
                                            last edited by

                                            great plugin and real deserves to update :]

                                            ideas ;]
                                            -read well smoothing groups!
                                            -Z-grab [without the need of the selection of the polygons; works with components and groups]

                                            • AO version hehe [dream:p]
                                            1 Reply Last reply Reply Quote 0
                                            • 1
                                            • 2
                                            • 3
                                            • 2 / 3
                                            • First post
                                              Last post
                                            Buy SketchPlus
                                            Buy SUbD
                                            Buy WrapR
                                            Buy eBook
                                            Buy Modelur
                                            Buy Vertex Tools
                                            Buy SketchCuisine
                                            Buy FormFonts

                                            Advertisement