Week 11

Now that I had a fully textured vehicle and diorama I need to add an AO, spec and normal map to both models.

I started off by creating the normal map for the vehicle. I did this by using the XNormals function under filters in Photoshop. This basically took my diffuse and created a normal map based upon this. The normal map helps to give the diffuse a bit of ‘depth’ and allows some textures like the khaki paint to stand out.

The next process was for me to create an AO map for the vehicle. This was going to bring all the shades and highlights out of my model. Again I did this by using the XNormals function but changing the setting to AO map instead of normal map. This then produced an AO which I added on top of the diffuse and changed the opacity down. Lastly the specular map, I created this by using desaturation in Photoshop. This changed the diffuse from a coloured textured into a black and white texture. I then manually changed the amount of black or white using the hue/saturation function.

I then repeated these 3 processes for the diorama diffuse. The next step was for me to add my mesh into UDK and add these maps as well as creating a light map for my vehicle and diorama.