Normal Map Plugin for Gimp 2.0

maxkop

maxkop

Well-known member
Hello designers,

today I experimented with a nice plugin for GIMP that is able to create Normal Maps out of raw texture data. It's a little bit old but working very well with the latest version of GIMP as long as you don't click on the wrong buttons ;) (Be prepared to start up GIMP sometimes again :) ) Here's a small image series what I've created today for my Grumman G-44 Widgeon. First screenshot is the diffuse map, second the Normal Map Template for the plugin, third the calculated Normal Map, and fourth the additional Specular Map I've created with GIMP too. The result represents the fifth screenshot directly out of the sim...really nice I think.

You can get the plugin here.

When you've downloaded the archive move libgtkglext-win32-1.0-0.dll and libgdkglext-win32-1.0-0.dll to:

C:\Program Files\Gimp-2.0\bin

and normalmap.exe and glew32.dll to:

C:\Program Files\Gimp-2.0\lib\gimp\2.0\plug-ins

Than you can find the plugin under Filters->Map->NormalMap

Greets,

Max
 

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Thanks Max, I found that last night when looking for tools to help a newbie with normal maps. Naturally the install instructions were out of date for Gimp 2.4.4 but thru a lot of trial & error I finally found the folder you mentioned to put the .dll's. It's encouraging that I actually found the right folder on my own ;)

Now all that remains is finding the time to learn how to do something productive with it. I'm ashamed to say it took me a month to learn the bare basics of UV mapping :( And I've not progressed beyond those basics. This will no doubt be much harder but I'm really looking forward to it...

DH
 
Excellent!

I had been trying to do this by hand in effect by using shadow layers blended to transparancy then applied to the normal tga file.

This makes things SOOO much nicer and easier.
 
I'm still having troubles figuring out normal maps (as I use a different paint program than most) I'm hoping I don't have to switch to gimp...only time will tell.

Glad others are figuring it out though!
 
WOW this makes it easy!!!!

You create a .TGA file from your original multi-layer image.

In my case I'm using Photoshop as a source...

The Bump & Normal Map images should have all coloration layers removed.

The only thing you want to leave behind are those things which should "lift" or "depress" into the scheme, e.g. screws, panel lines, skin imperfections, etc.

Leave any sort of solid background as a base for the tga file.

Take the file into GIMP and create the normal and bump maps from your original tga file.

Save the results back to the G4 colorscheme folder using the _s & _n nomenclature, and you are done.

Gimp makes it a breeze to see the effects of your changes, bump orientation, etc on a rendered "panel" screen.

The first time you see this screen you'll see what appears to be a blank white square...

tug one of the corners of the square and you'll see the bump mapping as if applied upon a sheet of plastic.

Very cool!

As you play with the parameters, you can adjust things like depth, diffusion and distance to enhance or deaden the effect.
 
Very impressive Maxkop. That bird looks more and more real each time I see it.

Thank you for sharing the links, that is certainly much easier than the Photoshop Plug-in. Time to learn The Gimp. :)
 
For users of Paint Shop Pro, the Nvidia plug-ins will work with PSP versions 8 and below.
 

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pplace said:
I'm still having troubles figuring out normal maps (as I use a different paint program than most) I'm hoping I don't have to switch to gimp...only time will tell.

Glad others are figuring it out though!
Click to expand...

Well I broke down and decided to download gimp and the plug-in max provided. That solved all (most) of my headaches. Having an "odd" program that others weren't using really didn't help my "learning" experience. I messed around for a short while and was able to get a nice "bump" map applied to one of my projects.

Now to fine tune the process and learn a bit more of the tricks to get better results.

Thanks, for the plug-in
 
dhk79 said:
For users of Paint Shop Pro, the Nvidia plug-ins will work with PSP versions 8 and below.
Click to expand...
Does anyone know of any Normal map plugins for Corel Paintshop Pro Photo XI? or do i have to change to GIMP.I have been looking for some but have had no luck finding any.
 
inky00 said:
Does anyone know of any Normal map plugins for Corel Paintshop Pro Photo XI? or do i have to change to GIMP.I have been looking for some but have had no luck finding any.
Click to expand...
I don't know if there are any plugins that work with the later versions of PSP. This is where I got my info on PSP & normal mapping not working with version 9 and above: http://developer.valvesoftware.com/wiki/Normal_Map_Creation_in_Photoshop_or_Paint_Shop_Pro

Since I still use version 8.10, I stopped looking after that.

Doug
 
inky00 said:
Does anyone know of any Normal map plugins for Corel Paintshop Pro Photo XI? or do i have to change to GIMP.I have been looking for some but have had no luck finding any.
Click to expand...

I normally use PSP too :) But like you, I was not able to find any normal map plugin like for GIMP or Photoshop for the latest version. There are tutorials to create Normal Maps "by hand" through altering different colour channels and applying other effects on the texture layers, but that will definetly cost you much more time than working with these plugins.

Greets,

Max
 
maxkop said:
I normally use PSP too :) But like you, I was not able to find any normal map plugin like for GIMP or Photoshop for the latest version. There are tutorials to create Normal Maps "by hand" through altering different colour channels and applying other effects on the texture layers, but that will definetly cost you much more time than working with these plugins.

Greets,

Max
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info Max,i have decided to bite the bullet and download GIMP and the plugin.Now i just have to work out how to use it.
 
Remember that you will be primarily using the plugin.

I'm using Photoshop for all of the heavy lifting...

I create a .tga file with ONLY those items that need bump mapping displayed.

This I run through GIMP to create the final bump map TGA file.

This works great and it makes it SOOO easy.
 
opjose said:
Remember that you will be primarily using the plugin.

I'm using Photoshop for all of the heavy lifting...

I create a .tga file with ONLY those items that need bump mapping displayed.

This I run through GIMP to create the final bump map TGA file.

This works great and it makes it SOOO easy.
Click to expand...
Yes,i will continue using PSP for all the major work and just use GIMP for the Normal map.From what i have seen it looks fairly straight forward to use so should be interesting to see the results.
 
I don't know if this is a bug, a limitation of the program, or a limitation of my video card so I thought I'd bring it up here for some hashing before possibly adding it to the bug list.

The issue is that N-mapping does not seem to work on objects that are behind transparent ones. For example on the cockpit interior, everything looks flat even if you normalize it.

I also had a similar issue with double transparency. I would get strange effects if I would try to make a helmet visor transparent, when viewed through the canopy.

Doug
 
I thought that this was a limitation of any Bump/Normal mapping process.

The video card in effect processes and applies the bump layer on the surface rendered closest to the viewer.
 
What if you apply a texture in max that is transparent? I am assuming that you are using the alpha channel in your TGA. Are you giving away what you have done in the contest;)
 
willsonman said:
What if you apply a texture in max that is transparent? I am assuming that you are using the alpha channel in your TGA.
Click to expand...

There be dragons here!

Dunno.

I haven't looked into this hard enough yet.

Bump/Normal mapping is applied in the hardware abstraction layer.

I'm unaware as to if it is even possible to have a bump/normal map applied on a layer under a transparent material with it's own bump/normal layer.

I know this is all done in hardware, but does the video hardware code deal with culling the underlying bump/normal layer or does it just disregard it.

I suspect it merely disregards underlying layers as normally it is very difficult to see the effects of an underlying bump/normal map.

Have you ever seen an example of this working in say a benchmark?

I do not recall seeing it.
 
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