Normal Map : how to make it works

[Salokyn]

Hi, I've downloaded an 8M DDS Normal Map for the earth, but I don't know how to make Celestia use it. I wrote the texture name after "Bumpmap" on the solarsys.ssc file, but it don't work. Should I add a "Normalmap" line ? Does Celestia work with DDS Normal Maps ? (since it doesn't work with DDS Bumpmaps)

[John Van Vliet]

hear take a look at part of my solsys.ssc file
this is for earth

Code: Select all

"Earth" "Sol"
{
   Texture "Earth.png"
   NightTexture "EarthNight.png"
   NormalMap "EarthNormal.png"
   SpecularTexture "EarthSpec.png"
   Color [ 0.35 0.35 0.5 ]
   SpecularColor [ 0.3 0.3 0.35 ]
   SpecularPower 15.0
   HazeColor [ 0.7 0.7 0.7 ]
   HazeDensity 0.3
   Radius 6378.140  # equatorial
   Oblateness 0.0034


also make shure that the normal map name is the same

a file in medres must have this name--- EarthNormal.png
for this example to work

[Salokyn]

Allright, that's what I thaught (add a NormalMap line), thank you. And it works with DDS Normal Maps. Maybe DDS Bumpmaps works too with Celestia 1.40 !

[John Van Vliet]

you can use a .dds normal map BUT they will look very very bad because of the losy compresion
i recomend that you use a .png for the normal map and then ( if you want) a .dds for the texture

[Guest]

Hi there John! I downloaded your .png textures for earth (level 0-5) as well as the NormalMap equivalent (Fantastic job you've done)

I have the regular textures working and I was just wondering as well how to get the NormalMap to work...I've added the live to the solarsys.ssc file like you have above.

just wondering...where do I stick the .ctx file? do I place the EarthNormal folder (containing normalmaps) in the hires folder? is there anything else I need to add or rename? sorry for all the questions. I just need to know al the steps for the first time i do something like this.

Thanks!

[John Van Vliet]

first make shure that your solarsys.ssc for earth looks somthing like this ( yours will be a bit diff.)

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"Earth" "Sol"
{
   Texture "Earth.ctx"
   NightTexture "EarthNight.ctx"
   NormalMap "EarthNormal.ctx"
   SpecularTexture "EarthSpec.png"
   Color [ 0.35 0.35 0.5 ]
   SpecularColor [ 0.3 0.3 0.35 ]
   SpecularPower 15.0
   HazeColor [ 0.7 0.7 0.7 ]
   HazeDensity 0.3
   Radius 6378.140  # equatorial
   Oblateness 0.0034

   Atmosphere {
      Height 60
      Lower [ 0.43 0.52 0.65 ]
      Upper [ 0.26 0.47 0.84 ]
      Sky [ 0.40 0.6 1.0 ]
      Sunset [ 1.0 0.6 0.2 ]
      # Sunset [ 0.3 1.0 0.5 ]
      CloudHeight 7
      CloudSpeed 0
      CloudMap "4kEarthClouds.png"
   }

   CustomOrbit "vsop87-earth"
   EllipticalOrbit {   
      Period            1.0000
      SemiMajorAxis     1.0000
      Eccentricity      0.0167
      Inclination       0.0001
      AscendingNode   348.739
      LongOfPericenter 102.947
           MeanLongitude   100.464
   }

   RotationPeriod   23.9344694 # 23.93419
   Obliquity        -23.45
   RotationOffset   280.5    # offset at default epoch J2000

   Albedo            0.30
}

hear is a dir listing for the hires folder that i use ( you do not have to fallow it)

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|
earth.ctx
|
-- ./Earth
|   |-- ./Earth/level0
|   |-- ./Earth/level1
|   |-- ./Earth/level2
|   |-- ./Earth/level3
|   |-- ./Earth/level4
|   `-- ./Earth/level5
earthnight.ctx
|-- ./EarthNight
|   |-- ./EarthNight/level0
|   |-- ./EarthNight/level1
|   |-- ./EarthNight/level2
|   |-- ./EarthNight/level3
|   `-- ./EarthNight/level4
earthnormal.ctx
|-- ./EarthNormal
|   |-- ./EarthNormal/level0
|   |-- ./EarthNormal/level1
|   |-- ./EarthNormal/level2
|   |-- ./EarthNormal/level3
|   |-- ./EarthNormal/level4
|   `-- ./EarthNormal/level5
mars.ctx
|-- ./Mars
|   |-- ./Mars/level0
|   |-- ./Mars/level1
|   |-- ./Mars/level2
|   |-- ./Mars/level3
|   `-- ./Mars/level4
marsnormal.ctx
|-- ./MarsNormal
|   |-- ./MarsNormal/level0
|   |-- ./MarsNormal/level1
|   |-- ./MarsNormal/level2
|   |-- ./MarsNormal/level3
|   |-- ./MarsNormal/level4
|   `-- ./MarsNormal/level5


and place the .ctx in hires