Normal Maps help.

[Wolfen]

Ok, THAT makes sense to me. Thanks for the info. It's much appreciated. =)

[Isaac]

However, this data is not saved in OBJ format, so I need to generate this information for imported meshes in the GMT, which I simply haven't got around to yet. I'll be adding a button to the app to generate tangent/bi-tangent data for a mesh sometime soon .

A curious fact of Blender is that it offers the option to [what appears intended to] export the normals when exporting to OBJ. It does mention that these are ignored if you import the OBJ back into Blender.



When I exported a cube and selected high quality normals, I got an OBJ file.
I've no idea in what way it might differ from a regular OBJ, but this is what Blender exported.
*And here is the link if interested:
https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B2XjRU ... k9oekpZYUk

(I've included a diffuse, specular, and tangent normal map along with it. If nothing else, it would serve as a model to test with.)

[JohnWordsworth]

Ahh, sorry - I might not have been clear. OBJ files support vertex normals, but not tangents and bi-tangents. Normals are required for realistic lighting, tangents and bi-tangents are specifically required only for bump mapping / applying a normal map.

You will be glad to hear that the latest version of the app now has a button to generate tangent data for a mesh, so you can now apple normal maps to imported models .