Detail oriented normal map blending

[m.sperling]

Hi guys,

I was wondering how I would achieve this kind of blending in Substance Designer 2.5: http://blog.selfshadow.com/publications/blending-in-detail/

At first I though: easy, just set up 3 Bitmap nodes (base normal, detail normal, blend mask) and do some magic inside a custom Blend node function.
But I've hit a dead end - I simply do not know how to send the pixe data into the blend function. And this stuff is rather poorly explained in your documentation. Well, a lot of stuff is.

The formula is in plain sight (see the link) - but I just don't know how to setup the graph so it sends the bitmap inputs over to the custom blend node. Or if that's even possible.

Any help setting me off in a promising direction is highly appreciated!

[Jeremie Noguer]

You can't create "custom blends" in SD but you can chain multiple blends and levels nodes to achieve what you want or a similar result even if not using the exact same function.
Substance Designer 3.5 has a few normal map manipulation filters to blend easily multiple normal maps.

[Nicolas Wirrmann]

Hi,
It's actually possible to process images using an fx-map. But this technique is absolutely not optimized and should be reserved for offline use only.

I implemented the "detail oriented" technique, other techniques could be added.

When the Divide blending mode will be added to the Substance engine, we'll be able to make this filter using traditional compositing nodes.

Nicolas

[nickquackenbush]

Hi,
It's actually possible to process images using an fx-map. But this technique is absolutely not optimized and should be reserved for offline use only.

I implemented the "detail oriented" technique, other techniques could be added.

When the Divide blending mode will be added to the Substance engine, we'll be able to make this filter using traditional compositing nodes.

Nicolas

/necro

So is the detail oriented method now the default normal map blending method in SD ?

Is it used in Normal Blend or Normal Combine?

What is the difference between the two?

[Gaetan Lassagne]

Hi,

The detail oriented method isn't implemented in the current version of SD.

The "Normal Blend" allows you to blend your normal maps using a simple blend and a normalization of the result.
The "Normal Combine" corresponds to the "Whiteout Blending" method: normalize(float3(n1.xy + n2.xy, n1.z*n2.z));

[nickquackenbush]

Hi,

The detail oriented method isn't implemented in the current version of SD.

The "Normal Blend" allows you to blend your normal maps using a simple blend and a normalization of the result.
The "Normal Combine" corresponds to the "Whiteout Blending" method: normalize(float3(n1.xy + n2.xy, n1.z*n2.z));

Thanks for the response!  Are there plans to implement the detail oriented version into Stock Substance Designer?  As far as I see it, that is the best acceptable way to combine normal maps at the moment.

[Bit Barrel Media]

Realizing the Necro, but isn't this node now added, called "Height Normal Blender"?