I am having trouble getting the normal map to work.
When I create a material by connecting from [object] of the [TextureCoordinate] node
the unevenness of the material is not correct.
The figure shows a simple scene where a material using only a normal map is assigned to a box object and lit from the top.
Shadows are generated on the left side of all tiles.
Rotating the origin will produce different shadows.
I would like to know how to start from [object] in the [TextureCoordinate] node to get the normal map unevenness correctly.
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$\begingroup$ can u pls provide blend file? thx $\endgroup$– ChrisCommented Apr 26, 2023 at 11:35
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$\begingroup$ Normal Map strength of 1 means that it's trying to give the appearance of bricks that jut out one meter from the wall. It's practically impossible to generate this appearance from flat geometry and that may be one reason this looks so strange to you. The shadows may not be coming from where you'd expect $\endgroup$– Allen SimpsonCommented Apr 26, 2023 at 14:28
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$\begingroup$ Try a strength of .0254 (one inch) $\endgroup$– Allen SimpsonCommented Apr 26, 2023 at 14:29
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$\begingroup$ Does your object have a UV Map? $\endgroup$– Robin Betts ♦Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 18:56
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$\begingroup$ At 0.254, the shadow is weakened, but the position of the shadow is the same. $\endgroup$– crearCommented Apr 27, 2023 at 1:52
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1 Answer
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Does your object have a UV Map? Despite being mapped in Object Space, a Tangent-Space normal map still needs a UV Map determine which directions the Tangent and Bitangent are in with respect to the surface:
On the left, the cube is mapped in UV space. Middle: a cube mapped in Object space, but with an active UV map, automatically used by the Normal Map node. On the right, a cube with its UV Map deleted.
Maybe it would be better to use a height-map, and let Bump calculate the normals.
answered Apr 26, 2023 at 20:36
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$\begingroup$ I just noticed their texture is set to box projection, how does that affect? $\endgroup$ Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 21:37
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$\begingroup$ Hi, @AllenSimpson ... Spotted! I'll have to try that out in the morning. My instinct is that Object mapping overrides... they're all pretty weird combinations ... $\endgroup$– Robin Betts ♦Commented Apr 26, 2023 at 21:44
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$\begingroup$ Thank you Robin for your response. By deleting the UVMap of the object, the sides of the box object were shaded correctly, but the shadows on the top and bottom surfaces were not correct. $\endgroup$– crearCommented Apr 27, 2023 at 6:59