8

Troubleshooting Normal Bump M aps 147
Viewing Normal Bump Maps
If your display driver uses DirectX 8, you can view
normal maps in view por ts by using the
Metal
Bump shader (page 2–1424)
.Ifyourgraphics
driver is DirectX 9, you can view normal maps in
any shaded viewport. See
Direct3D Driver Setup
Dialog (page 3–887)
.
If your display driver is Software or OpenGL, you
can’t view normal maps in viewports. However ,
you can still render them and use normal mapping
in renderings.
Nor ma l Pr oj ecti on wit h Sub -Obj ect
Selections
You can asso ciate different sub-object selections
with different high-resolution geometry. See
Reference Geometry Rollout (Projection Modifier)
(page 1–763)
.
Trou bleshooti ng Nor ma l B ump
Maps
Because of t he variety of geometry and different
situations that can arise, normal bump m aps
sometimes g ive unexpected results. Usually there
is a workaround for the problem, or more than
one. This topic describes some situations that can
arise, and ways to correct them.
Par a ll el Proj ection Loses Deta il
Iftheprojectioncageissetupsoprojectedraysrun
parallel to part of the high-resolution geometry ,
that portion of geometry can be lost in the normal
bump map.
Forexample,inthisscene,thenormalbumpmap
isbasedonahigh-resolutioncylinderthathas
indentations at the top and bottom.
Default cage around high-res cylind er
However, the normal bump map does not show
the end indentations.
Indentation is missing from top and bottom of the cylinder’s
normal bump map.