What is this map, and how would I use it?

Question

This is another Splatoon Blender question that I have. It's regarding this texture that came along in a model. It's called "m_star_mfk"

My Splatoon Blender teacher told me that it's a "normal map that is supposed to disturb the shading normals of the object to lead them in random directions." I'm having some trouble understanding this, and even applying it. Can someone help with this?

Like Bump map, Normal map is made to fake 3D, with no additional faces on your object, so it keeps your object light. GhostOwl explains how to use it in the Shader Editor. — moonboots, May 31 '20 at 07:06

score 2 · Accepted Answer · answered May 31 '20 at 03:06

2

It looks like a regular normal map to me, which is used to add texture to a surface without changing the actual geometry. A normal map contains surface angle information, and a bump map contains surface height information.

Here is a good article on normal maps: https://cgcookie.com/articles/normal-vs-displacement-mapping-why-games-use-normals

And here is a screenshot of a simple node setup for a normal map and what it looks like rendered on a simple plane with a point light in Eevee. I hope this helps!

answered May 31 '20 at 03:06

GhostOwl

301
1
2

So, sRGB, right? – Velepexon May 31 '20 at 12:14
1

@Velepexon Normal maps should be set to Non-Color. This answer is a useful overview. – jachym michal May 31 '20 at 20:14

What is this map, and how would I use it?

1 Answers1