Normal Curve Highlights "tip/trick"[1 img].

iam717

If you find this img useful give it a go helped me with the tennis object if you need more explanation ask.

The normal folder and Krita are important the idea is to get more details out of the maps.

If somehow this is known it wasn't to me before this.

Enjoy...

iam717

Made link with 3 videos hope it helps:

https://www.artstation.com/artwork/EzVX2q

"Complaints, that its on A.S.S. everything's getting scraped anyway where should i put it, p.c. doesn't have a video uploader.?"

Thanez

I don't understand what I'm looking at here, but I am interested. 
What is it you're doing, exactly? It looks like you're either extracting height data from an AO generated from a normal map, or making an AO using three different height levels of a grain structure.
What is it you're starting out with and what is it you want to end up with? :]

okidoki

Thanez said:

I don't understand what I'm looking at here, but I am interested. 

You may have a look  at the thread  iam717 was adding this splendid work.. : 

https://polycount.com/discussion/comment/2793850#Comment_2793850

iam717

Thanez said:

I don't understand what I'm looking at here, but I am interested. 
What is it you're doing, exactly? It looks like you're either extracting height data from an AO generated from a normal map, or making an AO using three different height levels of a grain structure.
What is it you're starting out with and what is it you want to end up with? :]

TLDR; link.

Oh thanks guys and gals, i didn't think this would be of interest but i am creating a "faked" depth map using grayscale maps to fake the depth i wanted for the maps i used this "faked/depth/map" on so in this tennis example i put it on lightly to the Albedo, AO, Curve, Emissive, Spec, and i hear that game engines don't use the Height map , which was a pitty as this was the main focus for this attempt/test on a new method for more details.  

Depth map link here, i did not use but it shows the basic idea.

Glad it has some interest, i made videos on the artstation "portfolio", i tried to make it simple, if it is not i can try to recreate it step by step and make a much longer video of the entire process but, to try to prevent that i am using the Adobe layer split option (hold control/or/alt i forget) and move the little arrows on the first line and you can split the black from the white information on the (gray/grey) scale map.

I will edit this and add images to make it more clearer, p.c. currently ran into display issues so i have to find them on the net and post them to here, alt p.c.

btw, i had to manually make this map depth fake and not an app/tool/generator/render, so the map would be a top down depth map.

I wanted highlights at the center of the tennis fuzz and to have shadows at the corss sections of each fuzz strand, to fake the fuzz look, so i guess it a hacky way to not use alphas for fuzzy bits (where you can get away with it) i chose the tennis item because you won't really be that close nearly ever to the object to see the loose strands so i can get away with it here, idk about all situations.

The normal map edit i figured would work out well here and it did, but again idk about all situations.  The only reason i attempted a non alpha fuzz solutions was because of how taxing people have been stating here and there that the alpha transparency node was on engines.  (i attempted a solution, even if impossible).

I made the fuzz in zbrush using the array "fuzz" precreated "hair" sim options available and just made the cage bigger than the distance and just baked a map and created all the maps i needed in subd,subp and any other application and tested the appearances of each.

Very involved as i test what was best, the maps are 4k and yes this maybe ridiculous for this item but it was a test.  If i knew how to work in subdesigner (i use it for when i run into baking issues in subp) i could probably drop it down to 1k or 2k with a seamless tile with the same HQ results but i wasn't going to do all that for this but wanted to mention it so people can utilize the idea and see what they could do with it if they wanted to try this.

Update

saw this late but i would've done this i was going to add this when i saw it but eh:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=80YPCzSSLEQ

The idea that started my "depth" attempt came from looking at zbrush's depth map.