This is the best i can get out of this image for example. Its on its own layer and i press the shape ---> normal button on Ndo's main menu and then adjust the settings i see.
Thanks for the example. Looks like you have transparency AND a color gradient to make the final result? My understanding of normal maps have been turned upside down so many times now i laugh like a crazed drunk person each time i learn something new.
You'll want to make your taper with that same rounded gradient, and then multiply another gradient on top of that which goes from white to maybe?)mid gray bases on the height of your pipe. Next,take sure you have a black background and used nDo photo-normal Height to Normal setting and it should come out alright. I'll see…