I think he means Per-Pixel Lighting. Gets a bit confusing when he says "PPL lighting" ... it's a bit redundant Agreed with Daz on the "specialisation" of art/design tasks in the future.
umm... the reason to have normal maps IS to rely on them for surface details, the reason there isn't alot of "detail" or I'm guessing you mean shading (most diffuse maps I've seen for games like doom 3 ARE detailed they just have no shading in them) THE REASON they don't have shading is because all of that comes from the…