Best Normal Map Generators - Our 6 Favorite Tools

Normal Maps are easily created through free Generators. ... free and open-source, so there's no reason not to download it and try it out. »RyzenMemoryGuide »5900Xreview »Z590Motherboards »X570Motherboards »CinebenchR23Scores TABLEOFCONTENTS WhatAreNormalMaps?HowDoYouCreateNormalMaps?ManualNormalMapCreationMethodGIMPAutomaticNormalMapGeneratorsShaderMapMaterializexNormalNormalMapOnlineAwesomeBumpCrazyBumpInSummaryComments/HelpSectionIfyou’renewtothe3Dworld,youmight’veheardthewords“NormalMap”oranyotherassortmentofwonderfulmapswithwackynamesbeingthrownaround.Inthisarticle,I’mgoingtoexplainaveryimportantsubsetofthosemapsthathelpgiveyour3Dmodelsmoredepthandall-aroundcanmakethemlookmuchbetter&moredetailed.WhatAreNormalMaps?Normalmapsaretexturesthatcanmakeasurfaceappearbumpy,reflectinglightdifferentlyonpartsoftheobjectbasedontheangleofthesurface,creatingtheillusionofdepth.Theyaretypicallyusedforbumpmapping,atechniquemeanttocreatemorerealistic3Dmodelsandhigherqualitydetailsonthosemodelswithoutincurringtheperformancecostsofusingactualgeometry.Normalmapsarecreatedbygatheringdatafroma3Dmodel—orsimplyatexture—andprojectingitontoa2Dimage.Seehowyoucanalmostintuitivelyunderstandthecurvatureandthegeneraloutlineofthecoin?That’sexactlywhatanormalmaphelpscomputersdo.Image-Credit:Dan’sInteractiveMediaPagesThepurplecoloristhe“base”ofthenormalmap.Andalltheotherfancycolorsarewhattellsyour3Dprogramhowtointerpretthenormalmap.E.g.howlightshouldreflectoffofthesurface,howbumpyitshouldlook,etc.Andyoucanadjustallofthisdatatocreatetheillusionofbumpinessandtheperceptionofathree-dimensionalsurface.Thatallsoundsgreat,right?Butwhat’sthecatch?Normalmapsdon’taddanyactualgeometry.Andtherearebenefitsanddisadvantagesthatcomewiththat.Takealookatthesilhouetteofthesphereontheleftvstheright.Takealookattheshadowsaswell.Image-Credit:WikipediaNormalmapsaddfakedepth.Itonlymakesitseemlikethesurfaceoftheobjecthasdepth,soinasituationliketheabovepicture,normalmapsbreakdownandarenotasuitablewaytoaddsurfacedeformations.Orattheveryleast,themainsurfacedeformations.Ifyouusenormalmapsinasubtleway,theirfakenessisnotnoticeableandcanaddalottothe3Dobject.Butwhyusenormalmapsanywayiftheydon’tactuallychangegeometry?Becausethey’recheap,performance-wise.Themoregeometricallyaccuratesphereontherightneedstohaveextremelydensegeometry(waymorepolygons)thanthesphereontheleft.Youneedallofthosepolygonstoshowallthosetiny,tinydetails.It’lljustlooklikeablockyorlow-polymessotherwise.Butthatcomeswithaprettyheftyperformancecostcomparedtonormalmaps.Normalmapsbarelyconsumeanyresources.So,likemostthingsinart,normalmapsarejustatoolinyourarsenalthatyouneedtouseyourcreativewitswithtofigureoutifyour3Dobjectneedsitornot.…Buthowdoyouevencreatenormalmaps?HowDoYouCreateNormalMaps?Therearemanydifferentwaysofcreatingnormalmaps.Andoneofthosewaysiscreatingnormalmapsfromtexturesinsteadofgeometry.Thesenormalmapsaregenerallyalittlelessaccurateandneedmorefiddlingthanwithanormalmapcreatedwithactual3Ddata,butthey’restillveryuseful.I’llcoverwhattoolstousetocreatenormalmapsfromtexturesinthisarticle.Thoughsomeoftheprogramsmentionedinthisarticlecanalsocreatenormalsfromactualmodelsaswell.Someofthesenormalmapcreatorsalsorequiremoremanualinput,andyouneedtotuneandtweakparameterstogetitjustright.Buttherearenormalmapgeneratorsthatjustrequireyoutoinputyourbasetextureandit’lloutputyouanormalmap.I’mgoingtocoverbothinthisarticle.ManualNormalMapCreationMethodGIMPGIMP,orthe“GNUImageManipulationProgram”isoneofthechiefcompetitorstoAdobePhotoshop.It’spossiblythebestcompletelyfreeprogramavailableonthemarketthatisabletotakeonPhotoshop’simagemanipulationabilities.Evensurpassingitinsomeaspects.Nottomentionitisalsoaverycapablegraphicsdesignanddrawingapplicationaswell.Asyou’veprobablyguessed,itcanalsocreatenormalmaps!Here’sablazingfastvideoshowcasingjusthoweasyitistocreatenormalmapsinGIMP.YoumightbeaskingifAdobePhotoshopcanalsodothis,thegoodnewsisthatitcan!ThebadnewsisthatthatfunctionalityisbeingdeprecatedinthenextPhotoshopversion.Souseitwhileyoucan!AutomaticNormalMapGeneratorsShaderMapShadermapisamappingapplicationfortextureartists,3Dmodelers,gamedevelopers,andmore.Itisusedtocreatedetailedtexturesforgamecharactersand3Denvironmentsandallowsuserstocreateandapplytexturesto3Dobjectsinavarietyofways.YoucancreateandvisualizefullPBRmapsallwithintheapplication.Youcanevenbake3Dmodelsintotexturemaps!Nottomentionpaintingandeditingnormalsallinreal-time.Shadermapisveryeasytouse,it’suser-friendlyandsimpletonavigate,andit’sahigh-performanceSwissarmyknifeofanapplicationwhenitcomestothecreationoftexturemaps.It’sagreattoolforartistswhowanttocreatedetailedtexturesforany3Dobject.Ithasafreeversionwithfewerfeaturesand3differentcommercialversions.Buteventhecommercialversionsareveryfairlypricedandwellworththefullaskingprice.Youcantakealookattheirprovidedtutorialstoquicklygetstarted.MaterializeMaterializeisarelativelynewapplicationinthetexturecreationspace.MadebyBoundingBoxSoftware,Materializeisanopen-sourcetexturemapcreationtoolthatyoucanusetocreateeverythingfromnormalmapstoheight,metallic,AO,etcmapsandevenautomatethecreationofmapssothatyoucanbatchcreatemapsforalotofimagesatonce.It’sarelativelysimpleandintuitiveprogramthatallowsyoutocreatemapswithoutmuchhassle.Justloadupanimage,tweaksomesettings,andyou’reofftotheraces.It’scompletelyfreeandopen-source,sothere’snoreasonnottodownloaditandtryitout.Here’saverynicevideothat’llgetyougoingwithMaterializein6minutes.xNormalxNormalisoneoftheOG3Dmodelnormalmapgenerators.It’sbeenaroundforeverandisagreatfreetoolthatallowsyoutocreatetexturemapsfromyour3Dmodels.Andifyoujustwanttocreatetexturemapsfromimages,ithasthatfunctionalityaswell.Comparedtosomeoftheotherapplicationsonthislist,itmightseemabitoutdatedwithitsclunky-lookinginterface,butit’sjustaspowerfulifyouputintheeffort.Forsomethingthatiscompletelyfree,itisaverypowerfultoolHere’sagoodtutorialtogetyoustarted.NormalMapOnlineNormalMapOnlineisprobablythebesttoolavailableifyouneedanormalmap,andyouneeditnow.It’sabrowser-basednormalmapgeneratorandcancreatenormalmaps,displacementmaps,specularmaps,andocclusionmapsfromatexture.It’sentirelyfreeandrunsonyourbrowser,soyoucanuseitanywhere,regardlessofwhatkindofhardware/softwareyou’rerunning.TheoptionsyougetwithNormalMapOnlinearequiteabitmorelimitedwhencomparedtoafully-fledgedtexturemapcreationsoftware,butforwhatitis,it’saveryhandytoolthatcancometotherescueinapinch.AwesomeBumpAwesomeBumpisawonderfullittleapplicationthatwascreatedasafreealternativetoCrazyBump.IthasmoreoptionsthanCrazyBumpandallowsforallofyouraveragetexturemapsfromnormalmapstoocclusionmapsandmore.Italsoallowsmoreuniquemapslikegrungemapcreationaswell!It’sacompactandspeedyprogramthat’llgetyouanytexturemapsthatyoumightwantquicklywithoutanyhassle.TheUIandgeneralusabilityoftheapplicationcouldusesomework,butwithalittlefiddlingaround,you’llbeabletofigureouthowtouseitinnotime.CrazyBumpCrazyBumpisanothernormalmapgenerator.Itwasprettymuchthenormalmapcreationapplicationawhilebackforalotofpeople.Ithassincebeenoutshinedbyalotofotherapplicationsandfreealternatives,butit’sstillaverysimpleandcompetentprogram.Ifyouwantsomesimplemapswithoutalotoffussingabout,CrazyBumpisgreat.InSummaryTherearealotofnormalmapgeneratorsandwaystocreatedifferenttexturemaps.Ifoneprogramdoesn’tvibewithyou,youcanalwaystryadifferentonetoseeifit’sgotwhatyouneed.Andhopefully,we’vecoveredenoughdifferentoptionshereforyoutofindexactlywhatyouwant!IgenerallyuseShaderMapformostofmynormalmapandothertexturemapcreationneeds,butI’vetriedalltheotherapplicationshereandthey’reverycompetentaswell.Didthatexplaineverythingyouneedtoknowaboutnormalmapgenerators?Gotanyotherunansweredquestionsaboutthem?Askusinthecommentsorourforum!Sharethisarticle: 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