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Normal mapping


The CopperCube editor supports normal maps, which is a special form of bump map applied to a 3D model. It makes simple geometry look more interesting:




This page gives a short overview on how to use this feature.


Applying a normal map


Using normal maps in your 3D scenes is not more complicated than just selecting 'Normal mapped' as material type for any 3D mesh. The first texture then is the diffuse color map, and the second needs to be a normal map:


The normal mapped material


Note that you won't see anything in your scene if you don't have a light in there somewhere. Normal maps are usually blue, and can be generated by a number of (even free) programs or downloaded from the internet. There are even plugins for 2D image editors like Photoshop, TheGimp or Paint.NET for generating normal maps from bump maps.


Fixing "wrong looking" normal mapping


CopperCube internally uses tangent space normal maps for rendering the normal maps. If you are recalculating the texture mapping of the 3D mesh, or modifying the mesh using the low poly editor in CopperCube, the binormals and tangents aren't updated, and the normal mapping might start looking wrong. Also, if you imported a 3D mesh with some special, unusual layout, CopperCube might not be able to calculate a correct looking set of binormals and tangents for this mesh. In both cases, a simple solution for this is to let CopperCube recalculate the binormals and tangents according to your preferences.

Select the mesh you want to correct, right-click, then select "Modify Selection -> Recalculate Tangents and Binormals":




After hitting OK in this dialog, the binormals and tangents should have been corrected.

Limitations


Normal maps in CopperCube work with up to four light sources at the same time, plus ambient light, with the following limitations: