Normal Mapping

[Anonymous]

When you normal map, do you texture the high poly model and then normal map or do you normal map and then texture the model or do you texture the low poly model and then normal map?

[Anonymous]

If you just want a normal map there is no need to texture the high poly model, indeed in most cases the high poly model doesn’t even need UVs. If you plan to bake out more than the normal map (using Kaldera or projection in 3dsmax) then of course you would texture your high res model first. Typically the normal map is generated for the low poly model before any texturing is done, it proves to be a useful aid in creating diffuse, specular and other maps as the texture artist can clearly see the UV layout and how it maps to the model.

[Anonymous]

so if I were to do it myself, I would normal map, then texture, but how would the unwrapping look, like a low poly unwrap or a high poly unwrap?

[Anonymous]

Your low poly model needs UVs for a normal map to be created, so your workflow would be like this.

Model high poly
Model low Poly
Unwrap low poly
Generate normal map

and it should look like this if using tangeant space

[Anonymous]

Thanks alot man, that filled in a few gaps

[Author]

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