Graphics Reference
In-Depth Information
Figure 3-69 The baked normal map
9. You now have a normal map texture to apply to the material on the retopoed mesh. Create an Image
texture on the material, load the normal map in the Image tab of the Texture buttons, and select Normal
Map and Tangent on the Map Image tab. The texture should be set to UV on the Map Input tab of the
MaterialpropertiesandtoNormalontheInfluencetab,withaNormalvalueof1.000,asshownin Figure
3-70 .
10. Render the image to see the results. As you will see, the normal map creates the illusion of detail on
the surface of the lower-poly mesh. In the final render, the retopoed eyeballs have also been replaced by
the original spheres. You can see all three renders side by side in Figure 3-71 , which is repeated in the
color insert of this topic.
Save Your Baked Images!
It bears repeating that you must save baked images (such as normal maps) as image files or risk losing them
when you close and reopen Blender. The same goes for images that are painted within Blender by using the Tex-
ture Paint feature. Simply packing external data into the .blend file will not persist the images, because they do
not exist as external data until they have been saved as such!
You now have one more powerful tool at your disposal for mesh modeling. As you've seen throughout this
chapter, materials and textures are crucially linked to the modeling process. In the Bake panel, you can find a
variety of other useful texture types to bake, such as Ambient Occlusion or Full Render. In Chapter 4, “Render-
ing and Render Engines,” you will learn much more about working with materials and textures to get exactly
the effects you are after.
 
 
 
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