Update 2024 this article is really old please look at my newer articles on the subject too. Perhaps there are ways to do this in the Awesome Bump program or similar ones, but I’m not sure how to do that, so I cleaned up the height map that was calculated from the inputted normal map in Affinity Photo by making a transparency mask using the original artwork (any graphics editing software would do). I wanted it to have a black background around the sprite. generated height map from a normal map in Awesome Bump The height map that was generated in Awesome Bump needed some cleaning up. Cleaning up the height map or alpha image Update 2024, I like using PixPlant for this now. There are alternatives if you have a dig around though. I used a program called Awesome Bump to recalculate the height map from the normal map. If the normal map is not in a square aspect ratio add some space around the canvas in a graphics editing application making it square (optional but some 3D programs work better with square formats). Creating the height map from the normal map You need a height map (also known as a displacement map) in order to generate a 3D mesh from the 2D image. However you decide to create your normal map, make sure to export the normal map as an image file for the next stage. Laigter also has a normal map brush plug-in for further tweaking the generated normal map, and Krita has a normal map brush engine. It might be a useful method to know for refining things on auto generated normal maps. You could also create your normal map manually with software such as Photoshop and Krita. If you are interested in the auto generation method I wrote more about that in this article, and listed a few alternate software’s as well: Update 2024: the height map option has been in the program for a while now. The developer Azagaya is also working on the ability to generate the height map as well for future versions which would be very useful for the method I’m describing in this article. Laigter is ideal if you want a free Open Source solution. If you don’t have time, or your image is a simple one software that auto generates the normal map for you will probably be sufficient. The process of creating all the light views did take a lot of time but I was happy with the resulting normal map generated with Sprite Lamp. I wrote about the process of how I did that in the article referenced at the start if you are interested. I made the normal map for Jane the Elf in this article using Sprite Dlight and Sprite Lamp. I still think Sprite Dlight with its ability to export the light direction views and Sprite Lamp’s method of combining custom light directions (top, bottom, front, left and right) to generate the normal map have their merits if you want to create a more customised normal map for your image but still have the program work out the normal map stuff for you. I wrote about the process I used for making this normal map in this article. Top 6 Sites To Download Free Game Art, Sprites & Assets Create a Normal Map for your 2D Image There are images available for this on the internet if you are looking for 2D sprites, characters and icon type of images. If you don’t want to or are unable to make your own images, you could find a royalty free image to use instead. Vector art is very useful for creating suitable graphics for this, but you can use pixel art, digital painting or even traditional methods as long as the image is cleaned up and on a transparent background eventually. It must have some transparent space around it and the outline must be cleaned up to work well with the auto generation methods. If you are making your own sprites or images make sure to create the final image on a transparent background. There is a newer method here: 2D to 3D Laigter to Curvy 3D Dragon
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