Reflections, and Bump mapping for Morrowind.

[Drakkmore]

I was recently asked how to make Bump maps for Morrowind. So being the guy that II am I made a new chat channel that was dedicated to making Bump maps for Morrowind. I did a short(ish) tutorial on how to add Bump maps, and Reflection maps in Nifskope.T he following is the same tutorial for those that might not have been around to see it

Nifskope Bump mapping:

In Nifskope I will be bump mapping an Iron Tanto. I have some things to unpack from the BSA though before I start.
I would like to point out that you can not do bump mapping with out first obtaining a program or scripts for Gimp/Photoshop to generate normal mapping. Or you can use crazy bump.
Before I start I also would like to also remind every one that a normal map name should follow the following format "Texture_name_N" this is not necessary but it helps to keep things straight and easy.
OK so the first thing you are going to want to do is generate a Bump map of the item you want to add a bump map too.
This can be done with the fore mentioned Bump map making program ( I use Crazy Bump), or scripts for what ever imaging program you use. There are scripts for Photoshop, and gimp, but I will not post the links here as I have never looked for them and have no links to post.

Next you are going to want to create a texture that sort of looks like an out of focus blurry picture of the side of a  black and white cow. it should look a little some thing like this :

Kiteflier61 says Gimp's cloud generator is a wonderful tool for those.

So if you have that you can use that to make your blurry cow image.
Something you should know is that the darker the reflection texture the less the shiny it will be (this is the exact opposite of the gloss map and how it works, but I am not covering that this time around).
OK so what we want to do is open Nifskope, and open the Iron Tanto mesh. you might want to unpack the three textures that go with the Tanto, but Morrowind will find them in the BSA any way even if you do not unpack them. All you need is the reflection texture, and the normal maps for this tutorial.

I will start by selecting the handle of the Tanto with my right mouse button this will open up a drop down menu.:


next I will select where it "node", and select where it says "Attach Parent Node"
on the next menu I will select where it says "Ninode":


This will add a new parent node to the handle of the Tanto. I will next right click on the new node of the tanto, and select again "node", and follow to attache effect:


This will open another smaller menu to choose effects from. Select where it says "NiTextureEffect" :


After you have followed the first steps it will add a new line under the Ninode you added that says "NiTextureEffect" with a little purple "rose" this is where you want to put your reflection texture:


If you have followed my instructions correctly then you have officially made the handle of the Tanto Shiny. The amount of shiny you get from the wall depends entirely upon how dark your reflection texture is (or your environment map if you use one of those.) and how bright your gloss map is (but I am not dealing with gloss maps because you do not need one to bump map)
Phase one complete.

Now on to phase two.
OK where was I, Oh yeah the actual Bump map. I will need some more time to get screen caps of that process.
To add the actual texture map. First we want to make sure that we are still on the same node that we have added our shiny cow texture.
Open the part where it says "NiTriShape",and right click on where it says "NiTextureProperty".
A new drop menu will pop up, select texture -> add bump map:


It will open a new texture property line with another little purple rose,and (nice thing I think) it will automatically open the browse window to the same folder as the one you used for your reflection texture folder. so you can select the bump map.
You will want to make sure that the texture you select will be named the same as the base texture with the "_n"on the end :


Notice: that this will make the handle of the Tanto very shiny in the CS, and in Morrowind due to the reflection texture. you may remove the shiny, and leave your tanto still bump mapped if you use a plain solid black texture instead of the blurry cow.
or you can darken up the blurry cow image to a point where it is almost solid black this will allow for some reflectivity.
I will tell you how.to get a bump map with zero shiny to it too.
I used a blank black texture for my reflection on part of the compass I though shouldn't be shiny, and it is still bump mapped.

normal maps create the reflective surface for the shiny so that the piece does not look like a shiny piece of glass.
The rosette in the compass is bump mapped, and has no reflection. I will grab the image with the lights low to illustrate.

make it a solid black texture instead of the environmental map, and the bump will still be there but the shiny will not.
Well the rosette in the compass is the only thing that I have used it on, but I think it will work with other projects.



Here are some questions I was asked after the Tutorial was over:

Q) Does the bump map need to be in TGA or DDS format?

A) I use DDS. But if normal texturing can work as a tga I see no reason why a bump map wouldn't. However as I have never tried it I can not say for certain.


Q) Heya Drakk, is the bump immediately visible in nifskope?

A) no it is not you can look at it in the CS though.

Q)Is step 1 required for step 2?

A) yes you must follow all steps involved.


Also I will read any questions you guys might have if you post them here. I will try to answer them for you.



I will try to find the time to make a Blender Tutorial some time tomorrow.

[Drakkmore]

OK so here is how I add reflections, and Bump maps in Blender.
So as with the Nifskope tutorial, You should have already made your bump maps, and have your Reflection texture ready.
For this one I am going to do a Steel Sword blade. I will be using a darker reflection texture so it will not shine as much as the Tanto Handel in the Nifskope Tutorial. So the first thing you want to do is select your object you would like to add the reflection, and bump mapping to. to keep distractions to a minimum I have hidden the rest of the weapon.
Reflection:

After you have selected the object you will want set the open the Material tab in the editor window (that is what I call the bottom window in the screen shot, because I do not like the name Blender gave to it [Button window]). :

Under the texture tab click on the the "Add New" button this will create a new layer for the texture. :

Now you will want to click on the button that says "refl". :

Next under the Map To tab set the Blend mode to "add". :

After setting the the Map input, and the map to, you will want to click on the texture tab to select your texture type. Since this is in blender there are a couple of options.
Option one you can use an image to create your reflections (the same one I used in Nifskope would work, but I used a darker version of it).
Option two you can select Envmap. This will cause Blender to write to the mesh telling Morrowind to use its own Environment map for reflective purposes.

Note: if you use the Envmap setting skip the following step. :

After you decide if you want to use an image or if you want to use to generate the reflection. :

Here you have successfully added a reflection to your object. The rest of this Tutorial will cover adding the normal map to the object.

Bump Map:

So now you will want to open the material tab, and click the texture tab and click on the "add new" button again. :

select the Map Input tab, and set it to "UV".:

Then under the Map to tab select only the "Nor" button.

From here you will want to click on the texture tab again, and then select "image" for the texture type, and then load your Normal map image.

Export your Nif under Morrowind settings, and there you have a bump mapped object using Blender.

Feel free to post any questions you may have or point out an alternate method that might result with a better outcome please feel free to post it.
Thanks for reading, and have fun making Morrowind a more eye candy-ish place to be.  

[Mordicus]

Very informative tutorial! Just one question: what about the red-blue (normal map?) textures often included in recent mods? They look very different from your bump map and reflection map. Are they something different?

[Drakkmore]

I'm sorry it looks like I forgot to place an image of that Normal map I used for the Dagger or the Sword. Normal maps are usually mostly blue images with the more drastic the change between high ranging from purplish, to redish.
Here is an example of a normal map:

This is a normal mp for a Sign project I am working on to place shiny "porcelain signs" through out Vvardenfell.

EDIT: These can be made with a program that is specifically designed to make them, or with Nvidia Scripts for Photoshop, or the Normal map scripts for Fraps (which is free).
This particular one was made with Photoshop 7


EDIT II: I am  surprised, nobody else has pointed out my glaring mistake.
Thanks for pointing that out.


EDIT III: I must remember to edit out the Compass across the top of the image before I finish this sign.

[SpiritedTreasure]

Wow super good helps! Thank you so very much!          

-edit-
Suddenly not authorized to view the images after logging in..?

[Mordicus]

@Drakkmore: Don't be sorry, it's a great tutorial!

I have one question though: I've been told that normal maps do not work properly with Morrowind (even with MGE), they cannot be rendered very well, except if they are included as bump maps. Others say that it's better to add a gloss map (so 2 maps used to create a normal map ?)... I am getting a bit confused!

Here is a thread I started recently on the official forum, to try to clarify all those mysteries about mapping:
http://forums.bethsoft.com/topic/1442491-normal-maps-and-file-extensions/

[Spirithawke]

@Spirited Treasure...I too get the not authorized to view those 2 images in your post.

[Drakkmore]

let me try to get this in one post:
@ Spirited Treasure, and Spirithawke: There are known issues with the gallery which is where I put the pictures to be attached to the tutorial. It happens there is nothing I can do about it. Fliggerty mentioned something a while back about working on a new gallery system, but he is very busy with his real life stuffs. Please be patient with him. hopefully when he gets it fixed there will be no more issues with authorization. I have all of my pictures in my gallery set to public view for every one to see them. Sorry for the inconvenience, but I can not do any thing about it right now.

@Mordicus: Here is the deal the tutorial talks about normal maps, and environment maps (the texture used for the reflection( the blurry cow)).
This will make some thing look super shiny and wet looking if applied to rocks, or walls.
Normal maps work in Morrowind about as well as they can be expected to work on a game that was never intended to have them.
Yes adding a gloss map to a mesh with a normal map will make it look a LOT better, but then you can have a really metallic look to things. So in addition to a Base texture, and an environment map, and a Normal map, and a gloss map you would also use a detail map. Now you can use the base texture as a detail map, or you can increase the contrast or darken the detail map, it all depends upon the desired effect you want out of the end product. SO not just two or three textures on a mesh, but really five texture on most of the meshes I make. Six if I want to have Glow mapping, but that is neither here or there.

On a side note using five textures to bring out a high amount of detail is still less resource grabby then having a super high polygon mesh.
I will try to remember to do something with Gloss maps, and detail maps and the setting for those at a later date, but right now I have not the time.

[Wasabi Having A Good Day :D]

O_O You're having me itching to get back into 3d modeling xD Epic tutorial

[Illuminiel]

Drakkmore - do you know how to make pyjama's meshes work with MCP? When I use the pauldrons or chokers they just show up as black if I have reflection enabled in MCP - I know he tricked the engine into showing shiny textures but I would like to turn those tricks off so they can be seen when i or others use MCP

[Drakkmore]

Illuminiel the only way I get reflections, and normal mapping to work with MCP is by disabling the option that says "bump/reflect map local lighting" which is the second option from the top on my version of MCP (2.0)
Every time I enable the option I lose all shininess,and normal map effects on all of my items that use them.
If this does not work for Phyjama's stuff then I have no other ideas of how to get MCP to play nice with his work. Some times Phyjama did some odd stuff with his work, and I have no clue how he achieved some of the stuff he did.

[Mordicus]

let me try to get this in one post:
@Mordicus: Here is the deal the tutorial talks about normal maps, and environment maps (the texture used for the reflection( the blurry cow)).
This will make some thing look super shiny and wet looking if applied to rocks, or walls.
Normal maps work in Morrowind about as well as they can be expected to work on a game that was never intended to have them.
Yes adding a gloss map to a mesh with a normal map will make it look a LOT better, but then you can have a really metallic look to things. So in addition to a Base texture, and an environment map, and a Normal map, and a gloss map you would also use a detail map. Now you can use the base texture as a detail map, or you can increase the contrast or darken the detail map, it all depends upon the desired effect you want out of the end product. SO not just two or three textures on a mesh, but really five texture on most of the meshes I make. Six if I want to have Glow mapping, but that is neither here or there.

On a side note using five textures to bring out a high amount of detail is still less resource grabby then having a super high polygon mesh.
I will try to remember to do something with Gloss maps, and detail maps and the setting for those at a later date, but right now I have not the time.

Thank you Drakkmore for these details, it's helping a lot to clarify the use of texture mapping.

[Jac Making my way back]

Drak, upload your screenshots to your posts - that'll fix the not authorized issue.

[Drakkmore]

You really know how to make something a pain in the arse doncha Jac.




There finally uploaded the images to the posts so all can be seen by every one.
I hope.

[Daedric_Cat]

Just wanted to say this tutorial has been very helpful for me. I've also come across one of your posts in gimp or somewhere that really helped me understand mipmaps and how to make them. Your tuts are very clear and easy to understand.

[Drakkmore]

Thanks Daedric Cat, I try to just explain things the way that I understand them.
I STILL need to get off my arse and write a tut about gloss mapping.
and detail maps, but there are some differing opinions on what a detail map ought to be.

[Daedric_Cat]

Gloss mapping and detail maps! That would be awesome! I've wanted to learn how to make detail maps.

I'm taking a look at your normal map tut. Again you demystify something I've been trying to learn.  

Another tut I would love to see if anyone here is good at it, is making high resolution textures, enlarging originals and making them so detailed, what software is best for the job, especially if you don't have PS. (I hope to have it soon.) I have so many textures that I would love to make HD and release as mods, like some Telvanni textures I'm working on.

[Stuporstar]

Yeah, I'd love a tutorial about gloss and detail mapping as well. I mean, I kind of got it through fumbling around in Blender, but I'd love explanations so I better know what I'm doing.

[Drakkmore]

Yeah I'll get it done, I just don't like writing these things, and I wrote this one after much aggravation trying to find a good Tutorial for this my self.
I finally found a decent one some where while looking for a different tutorial, but by then I had wrote this one.
I was planning on tacking on to the end of this thread, but I'll start a new one since this one has had so many comments on it after the initial tuts.