Normal Mapping 2.0

Ale

This week we swtiched gears back into Rendering! A lot of work went into building Normal Mapping in the new Renderer. The following image shows the dramatic results:

Normal mapping in the new Deferred Renderer.
Normal mapping in the new Deferred Renderer.

Here, I switch back and forth between the regular Geometry Pass shader and a Normal Mapping-aware shader. Notice how Normal mapping dramatically changes the appearance of the bricks, making them feel less part of a flat surface and more like a real, coarse surface.

I initially discussed Normal Mapping back in 2014, so I definitely recommend you check out that post for more details on how the technique works. The biggest difference in building Normal Mapping in Vortex V3 compared to Vortex 2.0 was implementing it on top of the new Deferred Renderer.

There is more work to be done in terms of Normal Mapping, such as adding specular mapping, but I’m happy with the results so far. Next week we continue working on graphics! Stay tuned for more!