Topic: nDo - Normal Map Plugin For Photoshop

[silicone_milk]

Hey, I've started work with the UDK recently and have been going over some modeling articles to figure out the proper way to build a world from static meshes. During this time I stumbled across a very interesting plugin that's compatible with Photoshop CS2-CS5 on Windows and Mac.

It's called nDo.

This is a powerful normal map creation plugin that lets you quickly and easily generate and modify normal maps through the use of existing images, vector shapes, paths, and through the selection tool. It also allows for a "sculpting" mode that lets you sculpt in detail to your normal map freehand style.

You can grab it from http://quixel.se/

Here's the article that mentioned this http://www.philipk.net/tutorials/ndo/ndo.html

[EDIT] corrected cgted link. kat

[ratty redemption]

cool, that's a powerful tool indeed from what's shown in the tutorial. i wonder how it compares to crazybump nowadays?

i've just started getting back into working with normals (currently just using blender) and am considering buying crazybump, how much would it cost to get photoshop and this plugin instead?

[silicone_milk]

Well, a legal version of Photoshop is pretty expensive (few hundred bucks USD at least iirc).

The plugin is free though. So you're looking at the cost of CrazyBump vs the cost of Photoshop. BTW, a small registry edit makes the trial version of CrazyBump in to the full version with no time limit. So, CrazyBump is essentially free. But I feel it's more limited in that it generates normal maps based on supplied image data but it doesn't seem to provide any detailed control like the nDo plugin gives over the image.

(I wrote to the creator of CrazyBump to bring the registry edit workaround to his attention so that he could get it fixed. He never responded. And it was never fixed. I'm wondering, a couple years later, if perhaps I just got filtered in to the spam folder )

[ratty redemption]

interesting and a few years ago i was one of the main beta testers for crazybump, i still have ryan's email address somewhere. i'll try contacting him to see if he ever got your message. he's a cool guy so i doubt he would of just ignored you, then again i don't know how much mail he gets nowadays since cb is out of beta.

[kat]

The one downside to not using PS is missing out on these useful plug-ins 

[ratty redemption]

kat, remind us which image editing app your using? also does gimp has a normal map plugin, do any of you guys know?

[kat]

I've always used Corel graphics suite (CorelDraw). Gimp does have a plug-in that was the better of the 2D 'converters' (better than the one PhotoShop used to have). It's still nowhere near what CrazyBump can do or this nDo appears to be able to do. If you search for "gimp normal map converter" or something along those lines you'll be able to find it. Corel used to be able to use PS plug-ins but deosn't appear to be able to anymore - blocked by Adobe I guess.

[ratty redemption]

kat, understood to all that, and do you use cb much nowadays? i haven't used it since the beta, but that's mainly because i used blender when i was working with normals, but i could do with a quality 2d to normal converter.

edit: i'm still getting that forum bug where it takes me back to the topic list after posting, did you find time to look into that, and if so do you think your be able to fix it?

[kat]

If you don't have Photoshop the only decent 2D converter that you don't have to buy is the one that plugs in to GIMP - there are some links in the resources section of the normal mapping tutorial. Although nothing really compares to CrazyBump, I haven't been doing much normal mapping lately and buying a non-commercial edition of something isn't cost effective.

Re: returning to post... not found a solution to that yet.

[EDIT]I've added nDo to the normal mapping tute and added an alternative link to download the GIMP plug-in as the original times out/appears to be dead now.

[kat]

silicone, do you have a copy of the nDo zip file of whatever package it came in? As of writing the site is down and showing a Sedo ad page; if the site is down permanently I'll see about sticking the plug-in on the tools page here. Alt download and site can be found here - http://quixel.se/ (courtest of polycount)

[EDIT]nDo is now a commercial plugin/app

[silicone_milk]

unfortunately I dont believe I do. I reinstalled Windows 7 recently and only archived a few programs (somehow I missed Photoshop) when I popped in the new hard drive.