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normal_maps_knald_1.2

Normal Maps

The Normal maps within Knald are generated on the fly from the Height maps provided by The Integrator. They are adjustable in real time in terms of intensity via the Bump Scale slider.

You can also create Normal maps quickly and efficiently from photographs, via pre-rendered Height & Knald's Color To Normals functionality or our world class baker.

Please see the Color To Normals & The Baker pages for more information.

Normal/Derivative Settings

The Normal Maps Group's Settings


Flip Green: Here you can change the axis in the dropdown to match the Normal/Derivative maps for your engine or application as required. By default Knald is set to X+Y+Z+, so if you are using a Normal or Derivative map that differs from this configuration, you will need to change this setting. To change this setting check the Flip Green check box to save your choice.

View OS Normal: Enables the viewing of the Object Space Normal map in the Normal tab rather than the default Tangent Space Normal map.

Bump Scale: The global strength of the processed Normal and Derivative maps.

Normal Map

Normal Map Types


Knald can bake both Tangent Space and Object Space Normal map data, and does so simultaneously when baking is initiated. While both maps can be used for real-time rendering, Tangent Space is by far the most commonly used during runtime with Object Space maps tending to be used more for texturing purposes (channel data for selection masks etc.) than when they were first introduced.

Tangent Basis


Knald uses MikkTSpace by Morten S. Mikkelsen, which is available for free, from http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Dev:Shading/Tangent_Space_Normal_Maps & the xNormal SDK.

It also calculates the bitangent on the fly by default due to the fact that it is more efficient on modern hardware (sending data from vertex to pixel shader is more costly than executing a minor calculation in the pixel shader), which is consistent with Unreal Engine 41) & Blender.

If required, Knald can also use the embedded Tangent Space held within an imported FBX file by checking the Use FBX Tangent Space option found within The Preferences.

normal_maps_knald_1.2.txt · Last modified: 2017/05/23 03:49 (external edit)