New video blog - Basic normal map projecting - Lesson 1

Check out the video for the basic introduction to the baking process for normal maps.  I cover the entire process from start to finish for baking high poly geometry normal map information down to a low poly.

http://vimeo.com/7305572

Getting started with UDK - Bringing your mesh into the Engine

First and foremost, make sure you have downloaded the latest version of UDK.  It is free of charge, and can be found here:

http://www.udk.com

Next, our good friends at 3dmotive.com have provided an in-depth tutorial for the basics of importing content into UDK.  You can find the (free) video tutorial by following this link:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iXoG2kNe5Ok

If you have questions, don't hesitate to ask!

-Don

Using and installing the Normal Map filters for Photoshop

For those of you using Photoshop, click here for the link to download and install the nVidia Normal Map filter.

Once installed, you should be able to run the filter in Photoshop as needed.  Here are the basic settings that I use to get started with normal map settings.  Feel free to adjust them as needed.

You can also download the xNormal filter here - http://www.xnormal.net/Downloads.aspx

Once you are inside of Photoshop, you will find the xNormal filter under Filter > xNormal > Height2Normals.  Here are some of my basic settings for "average" hand painted normal map stuff.  When playing with the amounts in xNormal, don't forget to keep clicking the "Update" button to see a preview of your changes.