new nvidia normalmap filter & dds saver

Eric Chadwick

I noticed Nvidia hasn't put up the latest versions of these tools on their site. Well you can get them here if you want.
http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/files/2005.10.14_DDSformat_and_NormalMapFilter.zip

Some cool new features have been added, or at least things that really help me out.
* Normalmap preview didn't mip correctly, now you can toggle mipping vs. pointsampling.
* Normalmap preview can use a DDS for the decal texture, also alpha for transparency (great for tree branches).
* DDS 2D preview now uses pointsampling and zooms about the smallest mip, so you can really see what the filtering is doing.

There more I think. Some text files in the zip offer some details.

Also you might need the dll.

Eric Chadwick

Oh yeah, the DDS plugin now properly loads A8, A8L8, and L8 formats. Before it used to load junk.

Fordy

Cheers Eric!

Tulkamir

Any chance of an explanation of what all that is for and what it means? Heh, I'm somewhat uneducated in this kind of stuff, but would like to learn the technical side of things more, so anything can help.

Sorry to bother, and thanks.

poopinmymouth

Well this explains the filter, but not the DDS saver.

Tulkamir

Awesome, thank you very much for that Poop. THat tool will work with Maya right? Seems very useful. I'm about to attempt my first normal map soon here too, so good timing to see it.

Eric Chadwick

Good one Poop, your site is a great resource.

Tulkamir no bother, those are good questions.

It's a filter for Photoshop not Maya, so you'll need PS to use these tools. But once you make normal maps or DDS files with them, you can use those files just like any other texture, in any other app that supports those formats (like Maya, Max, XSI, your game, etc.).

Here's the older install for the two tools.
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/photoshop_dds_plugins.html
If you install this first, it'll give you some docs that explain some of the options in each tool. Though some of the features you'll just have to learn by playing with them. Then after installing that exe, get the latest versions of the tools from that link in my first post.

Here's a good article explaining what mips are and how to exploit them.
http://developer.nvidia.com/object/lets_get_small.html

Feel free to ask questions.

Eric Chadwick

Oh yeah, here are some screenshots of some of the features in each tool.

http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/images/nvidia_nrmlmap_filter.jpg

The Alpha Blending option is nice for things like this tree branch, so I can see how the normalmap is going to be cut off by my decal map's alpha.

The Filter option turns on texture filtering, smoothing out the pixels like it would in-game. But sometimes I want to see exactly what the real pixels are like, without the filtering, so then I turn this off.

In the 3D Preview the control for moving the light is incorrect... it's actually Ctrl + Left Mouse, not Ctrl + Right Mouse.

http://www.ericchadwick.com/examples/images/nvidia_dds_plugin.jpg

Tons of options in the DDS plugin. The changes include the switch to point-sampling in the 2D Preview, so you can see actual unfiltered pixels of the lower mips. Before I saw a blurry mess, I couldn't really tell what my settings were doing. Also the 2D Preview zoom (right mouse) is centered on the lowest mip (upper left corner), much better. Middle mouse resets the view. Left mouse pans the view.

Hope that helps.

Tulkamir

Awesome, thank you very much Eric, that was all very helpful, makes a hell of a lot more sense now.

And that Artical is explaining tonnes, though there is some stuff that I'm not fully getting, I'm thinking that once I put it into practice it'll click, usually does.

Thanks again.

Eric Chadwick

Cool, glad it helps.

The normalmap filter gets a lot of use, but the DDS mip options are a lot more esoteric. I doubt those are used much, since artists tend not to worry about how things fade out in the distance. Good to know about the special tricks though.

Here's a little forest demo I had fun with recently, using those tools. More to do, but it's a start.

Eric Chadwick

Ow, it hurts me eyes!

FYI, Nvidia probably isn't going to update these tools for awhile, if ever. They're pushing their new Cuda toolset instead, which basically compresses on the GPU (which is a lot faster if you have the latest Nvidia chipset). But... it's only command-line so far.