Normal Mapping

Normal mapping is a texture map you use after creating a diffuse map.  It is able to fake the bumps and dents within a model to help bring the diffuse map out and give it more of a 3D feel.  There is another name for this technique called bump mapping, but as Maya upgraded, Bump maps where replaced with Normal maps.

Bump Maps:

A greyscale image where the perceived height is defined by black to white per pixel, Black being pushed in, while white comes forward.  

Normal Maps:

An RGB image where the channel represents a XYZ lighting angle per pixel.

Uploading the Map:

For this project, we used a software called CRAZYBUMP.  The technique was to desaturate the finished diffuse texture, then upload it as a Targa file to crazybump, where it would create a 3D style map off the diffuse map.  Once the Normal Map is saved it is ready to be uploaded to Maya, be going on the Lambert page to bump, then switching the 2D bump attributes to Tangent Space Normals, after that select the file and upload it.  This will not work unless the renderer setting is in Viewport 2.0.