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Any textures sets with V4 Normal Maps ?

bohemian3bohemian3 Posts: 1,034
edited December 1969 in The Commons

Hi
Does anyone know of any Victoria 4 UV texture sets that include normal maps? I get my best results with normals in combination with bump maps - and any information regarding a texture set that includes them would be much appreciated. Thanks as always.

Comments

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    Good question. I have no idea sorry. But IMHO you are better off usng displacement maps instead. Normal maps like Bump maps are an illusion and don't deform the mesh at all. Good for games but not that good for static renders again IMHO.

  • bohemian3bohemian3 Posts: 1,034
    edited December 1969

    Thanks Szark for the quick response. Very kind of you.

    For 3Delight render engine I completely agree with you. However, I use Mental Ray so the Normal maps are key with sss. It is as as you say an illusion, but the light will bounce differently creating a more realistic skin scatter ... So I'm forever in search of decent V4 normal maps. (Should have mentioned that ;)

    V6 now has excellent normal maps which really help for getting the detail of ribs, etc.

    Again, thanks for the quick response.

    I may have to take a crack at creating my own in Mudbox.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    V6 has normal maps..very nice I didn't know that as I don't have her yet. Thanks for that info.

  • icprncssicprncss Posts: 3,694
    edited December 1969

    The SimOne products over at Rendo use normal maps. However they are specifically designed and use the Poser 9 and up material room. I'm not sure how you would translate them into DS if you are using DS.

  • bohemian3bohemian3 Posts: 1,034
    edited July 2013

    icprncss said:
    The SimOne products over at Rendo use normal maps. However they are specifically designed and use the Poser 9 and up material room. I'm not sure how you would translate them into DS if you are using DS.

    THANK YOU! Thank you, thank you. That was exactly what I was looking for. I'm actually using 3ds Max so I can plug those maps into the Mental Ray shader network perfectly (more like Poser's shader system!)

    Thanks so much. These forums are great, and people who take the time like yourself help make it that way.

    Post edited by bohemian3 on
  • icprncssicprncss Posts: 3,694
    edited December 1969

    You're weilcome.

  • SzarkSzark Posts: 10,634
    edited December 1969

    icprncss thanks for popping in and giving that info. Very nice I may have to invest and see how good there are.

  • linvanchenelinvanchene Posts: 1,382
    edited July 2013

    Thank you for this thread. The topic Normal maps could use some more awareness.


    GPU based render engines like Octane Render currently also do not support Displacment maps.

    I am always very happy to see products with normal maps options included.

    - - -

    The best case scenario would be to have both normal and displacement maps included.

    For example like there are normal and SSS presets for skin.

    Post edited by linvanchene on
  • icprncssicprncss Posts: 3,694
    edited December 1969

    While I have had good results with P9 and up, I have no idea how they would load into DS. The normal maps in are wired to Poser's gradient bump channel. While the product loads in P8, the lack of SSS settings in the render settings does change the results.

  • Takeo.KenseiTakeo.Kensei Posts: 1,303
    edited December 1969

    You can create a normal map and many others with xnormals or Nvidia texture tools. Don't know how much it's reliable but it's worth a try

  • cwichuracwichura Posts: 1,042
    edited July 2013

    bohemian3 said:
    V6 now has excellent normal maps which really help for getting the detail of ribs, etc.

    V6's normal maps should really have been displacement maps, given their contents. They do not include any fine detail, like skin pores. They only have macro-level details, such as muscle definition, ridges in the fingers, etc. You still need need the bump maps as well to get the fine detail.

    If they wanted to do normal maps, that's great. But they should have made the normals all-inclusive...

    Post edited by cwichura on
  • DavidGBDavidGB Posts: 565
    edited December 1969

    If the content in the V6 normal map textures is what someone wants but in V4 UV layout, if you have the Genesis 2 Female, V6 and the Victoria 4 for Genesis 2 Female products, DS will convert the texture maps from V6 to V4 UVs for you. For any figure you have with multiple UVs, DS has a function to convert the texture maps from any one UV set that figure has to any other UV set it has. This function has been there since DS3. though many people don't appear to have noticed it.

  • Testing6790Testing6790 Posts: 1,091
    edited December 1969

    Normal maps are also a much faster render than displacement maps

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,204
    edited December 1969

    Takeo.Kensei said:
    You can create a normal map and many others with xnormals or Nvidia texture tools. Don't know how much it's reliable but it's worth a try

    LOL. I even have an app on my android that creates normal maps!
    and yes I have loaded Daz textures in it (bluetooth is very handy)
  • BarubaryBarubary Posts: 1,211
    edited December 1969

    cwichura said:
    bohemian3 said:
    V6 now has excellent normal maps which really help for getting the detail of ribs, etc.

    V6's normal maps should really have been displacement maps, given their contents. They do not include any fine detail, like skin pores. They only have macro-level details, such as muscle definition, ridges in the fingers, etc. You still need need the bump maps as well to get the fine detail.

    If they wanted to do normal maps, that's great. But they should have made the normals all-inclusive...


    Which is why I find it kinda annoying that Reality currently makes you choose between either using bump or normal maps -.-

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