max 7 normalmap prob (only greyscale)

rollin

ok call me stupid but i can´t get it:

i followed poop´s tut on creating a normal map in max7

and it does work BUT i get only a grey-shaded map lit from one white light

how can i generate world or tangent space maps??

do i have to set up my own lights?? but this would help me only for world-space maps.. hmm

what confuses me total is that i found a tut where they also get a grey normal map.. ?!?

so where´s the trick??

rollin

oh.. one moment.. i think i get it.. hmm letmetry

rollin

but anyway .. world-space maps can only be generated by external tools or if i place my own light in the scene?

btw: if i make a tga it generates a grey-worldspace but as tif its a tangent space ?!? h

Eric Chadwick

normal maps are not gray, you must be seeing a heightmap instead. can you post an example?

rollin

i know!!

but i´m not sure whats the idear behind the render-window of max.. maybe only a "preview" of the normalmap ?!

however if i set the outputfile to blabla.tif it works..

but anyway.. is there a way to generate a world-space map in max?

i want something like this you posted on cgtalk:

btw: here is the tutorial i found (you have to scroll down)

http://www.cgarchitect.com/upclose/article30_TB.asp

rooster

I dont know if this is the problem, but when I render normal maps it shows me the model as if it had been light baked in the preview window, but if I save the map and open it up it is indeed a normal map

Eric Chadwick

Ah yeah, good point rooster! The preview window you see while it's rendering is not accurate.

Also, in case it's not clear... don't save from that window, you must save via the RTT options.

MoP

There's a setting in the Render to Texture options to choose whether to generate a Tangent-space, or World-space map ... and also what Rooster said, while the preview window shows the default materials, the saved image will be the correct normal map.

rollin

ahhhhhhhh thx mop

unbelievable.. i´ve overlocked it like 4-5 times.. i´m so blind

thx