Hello, i’ve plugged a normal map exported from Mudbox into Maya and everything is working fine. However, when i change set the Bump2d node to “Tangent Space Normals”, the attribute Bump Depth seems to be switch off??? Therefore, i can’t figure out how the reduce the normal mapping effect?

does anyone have a clue how to change the depth effect of a normal map inside maya?

Thank you

Use the colorGain attribute on the file texture node to control the “strength” of the normal map.

Thank you for your anwser but it seems that the overall shading quality is affected when i tweak the color gain in the file texture node.

for example, when i set the color gain to black, it doesn’t turn off the bump2d node being used with a normal map. It affect the diffuse channel as well??? Very strange???

hello Adam
I got the same problem, have you find a solution?

Hey,

In normal maps Red is the distance along the X axis, Green is the distance along the Y axis, and Blue is the distance along the Z axis. If you need to target an axis for modification, such as Blue, you can try to adjust brightness/darkness in the color channel in Photoshop.

Your results will vary based on the complexity of the Normal Map. Generally speaking, normal maps are difficult to customize.

-Avotas

It depends on your normal map. If it is in tangent space, then facing forward would have the colour 128/128/255

You can create a blend node and simply blend your tangent normal map with this colour. Now your blend value controls the normal map strength.

Avotas 14 November 2011 06:36 AM

Your results will vary based on the complexity of the Normal Map. Generally speaking, normal maps are difficult to customize.

You are so right. Normal maps are not like some sort of colored bump maps. Just adjusting some color will not always create the expected alteration in shading because each pixel is a vector that is ‘normalized’… adjusted so that it has a length of 1.0. Arbitrarily changing a color component of a normal map without normalizing that pixel (as was done in photoshop or whatever made the original map) will likely not display what is desired.

One way to be able to tone down the effects from normal mapping by adjustment would be to create a shader from the texture with no normal mapping, another just like it with normal mapping, and make a blend colors shader from that and apply it to the object. What will get blended is the shading difference resulting from normal mapping, not the normal map itself.

<* Wes *>

it’s another way.forget the maya you should always set the value of normap effect by sculpt layer in mudbox.
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