Normal map generator? Optimise FilterForge?

Hello, this is the "general discussion" forum right? If not, sorry for posting at the wrong place.

I am looking for a nice way to create normal maps. I have fallen in love with FilterForge, but it is really terrible at normal maps. I have tried my best at editing "filters" to create better normal maps, but i simply cant get it right. So, do any1 know a better way of doing this?

What im trying to do is make "ores" stick out of walls etc. I am making a minecraft inspired game, in other words, a world made out of blocks. The blocks themself will be "flat", parralax specular shader, and i suppose i can do that with the ore too, but i want the ore to "physically" stick out, with the help of tessellation. But as i said, the normal maps FilterForge created are terrible, and the tessellation created from thoose are pointy and edgy.. really ugly and terrible basicly.

Got any ideas? Please tell me

 

use a greyscale heightmap image, and have unity convert it to normal map via the advanced tab for your texture. This helps for people with little or no real intention of generating proper normal maps from a high resolution 3D source.

 

"greyscale heightmap image", this is the same as bumpmap, right?

I did what you said, generated a bump map in FilterForge, imported it to unity and converted it into a normal map there.. worked PERFECTLY! Thank you!

 

You could also use Crazybump for normal map generation. It's free.

 

Glad to help

 

FYI - It's not actually free; the demo is free but you're not legally allowed to use it for a game unless you buy a license. CrazyBump is pretty cool though.

You can also use Bitmap2Material (on the Unity Asset store) to make normal maps and other maps from regular texture bitmaps, though it's a bit pricey.

 

Oh darn. You're right.
I have the Mac public beta which comes without any restrictions, like a trial. So I assumed it is free. Better I have a closer look next time.

 

I think that it is abandonware at this point. The Mac public beta was released over 2 years ago and pretty much all information on their site is offline. I use it on occasion for quick textures and such. I would most likely buy it if they ever decide to release.

 

nDO version 1 was also free, though i'm not sure if it still can be found anywhere online or if it's 100% legal to use it.

 

I believe that too.

But it still does a good job for quick normal map generation, like you said.

 

This one for photoshop https://developer.nvidia.com/nvidia-texture-tools-adobe-photoshop

There are plugins for gimp to make normal maps from textures..

There are also a few decent applications that will do normal maps as well as others.

http://shadermap.com/home/ - think its aronud $40

http://frozenflamecorp.com/site/pages.php?page=entryview&category=products&entryid=2 - $14

http://quixel.se/ndo/ is a bit more expensive - $99

I am sure there are other free tools around as well i guess.

 

Okay, this one is online and totally free:

http://www.smart-page.net/smartnormal/