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    [Plugin] Normal Map Maker

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    • TIGT Offline
      TIG Moderator
      last edited by

      @thomthom said:

      ah... ๐Ÿ˜ณ
      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

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      • 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 โ€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
        List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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        • 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... ๐Ÿ˜•
          It would greatly improve my OBJexporter and some 3rd party tools I am involved with...

          TIG

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          • 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?

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            • 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 โ€” SketchUp Monkey & Coding addict
              List of my plugins and link to the CookieWare fund

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              • 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... ๐Ÿ˜•
                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)

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                • 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!

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                  • 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.

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                    • 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 ๐Ÿ˜ข

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                      • 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...

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                        • 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
                          ๐Ÿ˜’

                          TIG

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                          • 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

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                            • 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...

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                              • 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

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                                • 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

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                                  • thomthomT Offline
                                    thomthom
                                    last edited by

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

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

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                                    • 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.

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                                      • 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! ๐Ÿ˜„ ๐Ÿ˜ณ

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

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                                        • 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]
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                                          • V Offline
                                            v66995
                                            last edited by

                                            May i ask if this works on Sketchup 2015(i am using window 10)?
                                            I'm a total noob to sketchup , I've tried putting the rb file into sketchup tool folder, and it shows some error when i start up my sketchup ,so i downloaded the rbz file at extension warehouse.

                                            I try to test the plugin with a simple cube. 1.jpg
                                            Then i select everything?->extension->Normal map maker-> export
                                            After its done , i went check the file , it only shows a purple square cube without the depths of other colors like the youtube tutorial shown.
                                            Normal.png

                                            I did everything i can , things like : changing to parallel view/ top view first before activiating the normal map maker or applying material and then try again.
                                            It didn't work. did i do anything wrong or ?

                                            Please help /_\ ....

                                            Thanks all..

                                            Vic.

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