Home› ShaderMap 4

Invert Part of a Normal Map?

MistroMistro
in ShaderMap 4
Sometimes when I create a normal map, one or 2 elements are not facing the way I want them to. For example I make a lot of tree models. In the map, the leaves are looking good but I want the bark inverted so I end up saving out 2 normal maps where one is inverted and edit them together in Photoshop. Can this be done right inside Shadermap via the editor? If so How?

Comments

  • RockohRockoh
    edited November 2018
    You can invert the normal map, there is an invert toggle to activate when you click on the normal map in the material visualizer.
  • RockohRockoh
    Mistro wrote:
    Sometimes when I create a normal map, one or 2 elements are not facing the way I want them to. For example I make a lot of tree models. In the map, the leaves are looking good but I want the bark inverted so I end up saving out 2 normal maps where one is inverted and edit them together in Photoshop. Can this be done right inside Shadermap via the editor? If so How?

    If you click the normal map node in the material visualizer and then look in the node properties there is an INVERT (normal map) option.

    You also have an option Normal > coord (coordinate) system XYZ that you can change if you click the XYZ button it will bring up the options.

    You can also combine normal maps, using the +(add) map node, Normal Map (blend map A+B), which gives you a list of blend options for your outputs.

    I have noted in the version 4, when the TIF image file is large (40MB) that the INVERT didn't appear to work, not sure why, but it worked fine for a smaller jpeg image that I tested. Maybe it's the render wait time for a large image. I will test it further on large images.
  • RSIRSI
    Mistro wrote:
    Sometimes when I create a normal map, one or 2 elements are not facing the way I want them to. For example I make a lot of tree models. In the map, the leaves are looking good but I want the bark inverted so I end up saving out 2 normal maps where one is inverted and edit them together in Photoshop. Can this be done right inside Shadermap via the editor? If so How?

    Bring the Normal Map into the Normal Editor.
    1. Select the pixels you want to invert
    2. Copy and paste the pixels (Ctrl-C, Ctrl-V)
    3. Select the new layer
    4. Double click the new layer (in the Layer Control) to bring up the Layer Profile
    5. In the Normals section, check Invert.
    Hope that helps
Sign In or Register to comment.