Creating Normal maps for a High Poly Crate

30/10/2015
Charlotte Bethany Henderson
100359031

Normal Maps

We were given a high poly and low poly version of the same model of a crate, and were told to create a normal map for it. This help to give the low poly crate the same detail level as the high poly version, while still saving on the poly count to help the game engine run smoother.
There are several ways to create normal maps, but I create one for the crate using xNormals, which entails exporting both the low poly and high poly versions of the crate as OBJs as well as exporting an 'Envelope' for the low poly, a way of giving the programme the basic idea of where to create the Normal map from.
There are all imported to xNormals, and then set to create a Normal map which gave me this normal map.

Normal Map from HP crate

As a side note, when I imported the Normal map into Maya, it didn't work correctly for no apparent reason, so the final renders are from Marmoset because they worked fine through that.

I also created an Ambient Occlusion map for the crate, which is a map of where the crate would be in shadow at all times regardless of lighting (mostly) which helps with creating depth as well as helping with developing the diffusion map.

AO Map from HP crate

After this I used Photoshop to create a texture for the crate, using a scratched metal texture as the paint, then hand painting colour detail over this and adding text.

Final Renders