Normal Maps: On or Off?

brandonmhayward@gmail.com

What's the difference between normal maps on or off? For example, under Daisy 8's materials I can turn her normal maps on or off. Does one look nicer and the other renders faster? I really don't know.

Thanks.

Noah LGP

It should add some skin details when you render the scene.

brandonmhayward@gmail.com

Thanks. Would they be on by default?

NorthOf45

Normals On is best when she's ready for her close-up. Otherwise, the detail is not visible after a certain distance. Depends on the size of the render and your eyesight.

fred9803

You also have the option of adjusting the level in the surfaces menu. IMHO one-click normals come in too high and need toning down a bit. The same for one-click facial expressions.

nicstt

If having them on, doesn't look different, turn them off.

They tend to work better for closer shots, but always worth testing.

RobotHeadArt

Normal maps require RAM to load so it's a trade off between adding extra detail vs performance.  As others have mentioned, the details added might not be visible in far away shots so in those cases you can reduce the render time RAM useage of the scene by disabling them.

Sevrin

Isn't it: Close up: Normals on, Bump off; Distant: Normals off, Bump on?

Hylas

Piggybacking here, somewhat related question: some surfaces (not necessarily only skin) have both bump and normal maps.

Sometimes it's clear that each map is contributing something distinctive; but in some cases both maps kinda look the same, aside from bump being b/w and normal being purple-ish.

Why does it make sense to have both bump and normal at the same time? I thought they mostly did the same thing.

nicstt

They could be created to do different things. One micro details, the other mid-range. Not saying that is happening in any given situation, but it could be done. Of course, the normal map could have both micro and mid-level details.