Quote Originally Posted by Imoen View Post
Pretty much this, that and people labeling us as "blind fanboys" or defending "SE" or "attacking their opinions" was more irritating. Especially as a person just trying show people what normal maps are and what they do visually, due to the quote on the original blog. "(This is normal map sculpt data created using ZBrush for those of you keeping track)"

So I wanted to contribute to anyone not knowing what this meant in a visual way. (Not to brag, not to be condescending just to inform that was my goal.).

Re-linking again for anyone interested...


https://dl.dropbox.com/u/18215724/normal_example.jpg

I do mechanical modeling so I don't have extensive knowledge of zbrush -- but I do use it. I use normal mapping all the time and often "color" my more complex models for a few reasons.

-visually separate material types (Wood, metals, glass etc... )

-to help mentally separate and simplify more complex models. (400 objects in a scene can start to make you dizzy and get lost)

-It makes me excited to see colors starting to get put on, even if they are not accurate it starts to make me feel like my model is coming to "Life"

(I'm not here to debate colors or to justify what was shown on the blog. I'm only here to give you insight into what I do and I see some of my peers do as well. It doesn't really matter if it is the case here or not, you can take it or leave it.)

Related to the actual model its self, I also don't care for the facial proportions all too much, and am curious to see how the hair will be handled.
So that's how that works. I've made some models in Blender before but I had no idea how to keep the polycount low while retaining detail. Very cool.