Normal Mapping in Maya - Game Character Development with Maya - page 1002

A lower-resolution model, to which you will apply the normal map
1. Create the first of two polygon planes. Go to Create Polygon Primitives > Plane.
Set both Subdivisions Along Width and Subdivisions Along Height to 20 . This
will give you the high-resolution mesh to work with ( Figure A.2 , top).
FIGURE A.2 Create the first, high-resolution polygon plane and give it some detail.
2. Call this new plane HighRes. Then move it across in the X axis and edit it, raising
the vertices as shown in Figure A.2 , bottom, to give it some detail. You just need
something simple for this example; we are only using the geometry to demonstrate
how normal maps work.
3. Create a second polygon plane, setting Subdivisions Along Width and Subdivi-
sions Along Height to 1 . This will be the low-resolution plane, to which the nor-
mal map will be applied. Call this plane LowRes.
4. Delete the history on both planes.