problem with normal maps

[jayantbhatt07]

hi.. whats wrong with the normal map they are not blue...they are light blue....just because of NM I'm in trouble... I'm applying normal on the object it looks black when I change the viewport rotation.It's not visible in render but visible in viewport...please help me I don't know what's wrong with the NM...

thanks in advancde...  🙂

[kennyj]

Are you sure that is not just the shadow caused by the default lighting in Max?  When you rotate the view does the black portions become visible and other areas turn black?

I don't see any issue with what you are showing.

Good luck!

[PROH]

Hi. If they are made correct, normal maps shall be loaded with gamma 1. Max automatically loads jpg's with gamma 2,2 so you need to manually set the bitmap to load with gamma "override" 1.

Hope it helps

[jayantbhatt07]

i think you're talking about this gamma...

[PROH]

Hi. No I'm not talking about the Gamma & Lut, allthough I assumed you had it enabeled with gamma set to 2,2 (just as your screenshot shows). I'm talking about the bitmap loader. That is the "bitmap-map" that enables you to open/load at bitmap (jpg, png, tga, tif etc) into a material slot. When you open/load a bitmap you have the option to set gamma to "Automatic" or an adjustable "Override". See the attached picture.

When Gamma & Lut (your screenshot) is set to gamma 2,2, Max will automatically load all 8 bit bitmaps with gamma 2,2. But normalmaps must be loaded with gamma 1 to work correct. Therefore you have to manually set gamma to "Override 1" in the bitmaploader when you loading a 8 bit normalmap (meaning almost allways). In the attached picture you can see how it should be set when opening a normalmap.

Hope it helps.

[jayantbhatt07]

hi thanks for the info...there is 1 more problem...normal map it is not visible in renderer but visible in viewport... 

Spoiler

even the light map is also applied on it which is visible in render and viewport also... 

[PROH]

Well, since you only show the result and not your settings, one can only guess....

So here some guesses/things to check:

1) Is it turned on?

2) Is it loaded correct? Besides from being loaded with gamma 1, normal maps shall be placed in a special "Normal Map"-map. NOT just loaded into the ordinary bump map slot. This Normal Map should be placed in the bump map slot.

3) Is it set to the correct strength (Bump value)? You haven't told anything about what renderer and materials you're using, but in a Standard material the "start" value should be 100, in mr A&D materials it should be 1. Lower settings may render washed out, and higher setting may render black. Other materials may vary.

4) Is it set correct? In Max most normal maps (but not all) has to be set to "Flip Green". This depends amongst other things on the software that was used to make the normal map, and often there's no other way to tell if "Flip Green" shall be used or not than to try it out 😞

5) Did you setup a proper light? Normal maps are light dependent, so to validate a normal map you mostly needs to play a little with light settings and angles.

Hope it helps

[jayantbhatt07]

hi sir if you don't mind can i send you the files...but i don't know where to upload... 🙂