Alpha stamps vs Hard Surface normal stamps

bitinn

Hi,

This is something I never quite understand: why are there both Alpha stamps and Hard Surface "normal" stamps in SP?

Both can be procedural as far as I know, so besides the difference in channel, when would I want to use normal stamps over alpha stamps?

Thx!

Froyok

An alpha is used to mask something, sometimes a full material. The hard-surface stamp are individual normal map that can also be stamped on your mesh, often providing more information. You can imagine combining both : an alpha that will mask the hard surface when painting on your mesh.

We separated them because it makes them easier to sort/browse, but also because Alphas can be loaded in one click while Hard Surface stamps are only usable in a material.

bitinn

Froyok said:

An alpha is used to mask something, sometimes a full material. The hard-surface stamp are individual normal map that can also be stamped on your mesh, often providing more information. You can imagine combining both : an alpha that will mask the hard surface when painting on your mesh.

We separated them because it makes them easier to sort/browse, but also because Alphas can be loaded in one click while Hard Surface stamps are only usable in a material.

Thx, but it seems to me many people are creating "hard surface" stamp packs using alpha, which allow people to print on height channel, which would convert to normal in SP.

Isn't that pretty much the same as a "normal" stamp? And it seems to me Alpha can do more by printing multiple channel at once.

Froyok

bitinn said:

Thx, but it seems to me many people are creating "hard surface" stamp packs using alpha, which allow people to print on height channel, which would convert to normal in SP.

Isn't that pretty much the same as a "normal" stamp? And it seems to me Alpha can do more by printing multiple channel at once.

As said in my previous post, normal map stamp can provide more information. Height is only an elevation, which is then converted as a normal map. This conversion happens in the texture space of the mesh, so after it was painted resulting in quality loss if your resolution is not high enough. So with all of that, there are some shapes that cannot be created from a height map directly (or not with the same fidelity).