Normal pass

[Zvi]

What is the use of the geometric normal pass? how do I composite it in Photoshop and After Effects?

[TpwUK]

Render passes are used to produce 2D bitmaps that can be layered in post production tools to improve upon the final rendered image produced. The Normals pass produces an output that can increase the perceived depth and improve the level of the details which can get lost in normal renders.

Martin

[Esben Oxholm]

I actually thought that it was only used for creating bump maps from geometry, but I just found a youtube video showing that you can do some serious lighting adjustments in post with it. Check this out, Zvi: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1eWb_Hqf5Y

Do any of you do that on a regular basis? (Sorry, not meaning to steal the topic).

[TpwUK]

That's a good example of what I said about pulling extra detail and depth in post Esben, so it's not stealing the thread buddy.

To create a Normals bump map the geometry needs to have had detail modelled into it, and then you can bake the detail into a bitmap for use as a texture with better bump detail to be then mapped onto a lower resolution model.

However a Normals map from a 2D image is used as you rightly say to adjust lighting, shadows, mid-tones etc etc to bring back detail that may have been lost by over-powered lighting to highlight some other detail but at the expense of loosing detail on other parts - I hope this makes sense - lol

Martin