Uploaded December 2012 | Updated September 2026, 3 minutes ago
Normals are the essence of shading inside programs like maya, softimage, max, etc. A lot of times people don't really know what their purpose is. So this is meant for beginners learning about 3D and how it works. I talk about normal maps, how they work, what to look out for, and what the big difference is between normal, bump, displacement, and vector displacement. I also show how to bake normals inside maya. What I haven't mentioned here is that programs such as NDo and crazybump can be used to turn 2D images into normal maps, though the results are not always perfect.
Normals are the essence of shading inside programs like maya, softimage, max, etc. A lot of times people don't really know what their purpose is. So this is meant for beginners learning about 3D and how it works. I talk about normal maps, how they work, what to look out for, and what the big difference is between normal, bump, displacement, and vector displacement. I also show how to bake normals inside maya. What I haven't mentioned here is that programs such as NDo and crazybump can be used to turn 2D images into normal maps, though the results are not always perfect.
