Contents
Produces a bumped normal from a normal map (a color map encoding the normal). Bumps are applied in object space. The change in scale between object space and current space is automatically applied by the node.
Like the other texture nodes, this node takes a manifold which describes either a 2D or 3D domain to apply a the texture to. The default behavior if no manifold is attached, is to apply over the s,t domain defined on the geometry.
Texture atlas format files can be read in either UDIM (Mari) format or Mudbox format.
Input Parameters
Bump Scale
Scale the bump effect. Typical range is from 0.0 to 2.0.
Input Normal
Specifies normal map color (this parameter is ignored if Filename is provided).
Filename
Normal map filename. The shader reads only one channel of the file from the Mapping Controls' Channel specified below. Note that this will be read in as the Mudbox normal map format in tangent space.
Bump Overlay
Connect a PxrBump or PxrNormalMap node here if you need to combine multiple patterns.
Bump Orientation
Invert Bump
Invert the bump orientation. Concave becomes convex and vice versa.
Orientation
Some texturing applications offer different orientations, like OpenGL or DirectX. You can also go manual (choose "Custom") to try to fix your normal map's appearance.
Flip X
Flips the x axis (red channel) of the normal map. There isn't any standard to encode normal maps and every application will encode them differently. This switch, combined with Flip Y and Invert Bump will allow you to set the correct orientation.
This switch is only visible when Orientation is set to "Custom
".
Flip Y
Flips the y axis (green channel) of the normal map. There isn't any standard to encode normal maps and every application will encode them differently. This switch, combined with Flip X and Invert Bump will allow you to set the correct orientation.
This switch is only visible when Orientation is set to "Custom
".
Mapping Controls
Manifold
Provides the range over which to apply the texture. Defaults to s,t.
Advanced
Reverse Normal
Reverse the resulting normal.
Adjust Amount
Amount to adjust the normals when they are facing away from the camera
Surface Normal Mix
The amount to mix the resulting normals with the surface normals
Disabled
Use the geometric normal
Output Parameters
resultN
The bumped normal.
Normal Maps Orientation
Sometimes you might apply a normal map to your geometry and it will look wrong. Generally, it's an orientation problem and you will have to find the correct combination of Invert Bump, Flip X, and Flip Y. The best method is to start an IPR/LiveRender session and try various combinations. Once you have found the correct combination for your authoring application (ZBrush, Mudbox, 3DCoat, etc), it should be good for all maps exported from that application with the same settings.