Quote from: j meyer on April 03, 2015, 01:16:56 PM
PabloMack - some apps don't export normals to keep the file size reasonable...
I guess there are two benefits from having the normals specified in a separate
data structure. One is so that the program receiving the object doesn't have to
deal with computing them. The other is so that they could actually be computed
to point in a direction other than what the geometry would imply. But the practice
of having to precompute values that are already implied in the data structure is
not very efficient. As you say, some applications don't include it to save file space.
Since this information is implied in the geometry then it is already there but must
be computed to make it available. I guess the ultimate goal here is that a displacement
map needs to relate how much displacement there is going to be using a UV map
to scale the displacement in the normal direction by an amount in a UV mapped
image. We are talking about a data structure now that needs a lot more information
than just normals. But I guess you are telling me that, even if you specify a UV
displacement map, if the normals that are referenced in the UV displacement map
are not provided as a separate data structure (internally in the object) that TG
does not compute them from the geometry so that the UV displacement map
will be ignored?