Asset Creation

Just as an update for my wall panel I'm making here are a few pictures of its progression.

The above pictures show the high and low poly models (in solid and also in wire frame) I used to create the normal map. From here I unwrapped the low poly model, moved the high poly model inside the low poly, applied the projection mod, and then used the render to texture.

This gave me quite a nice normal map result as shown by the texture applied to the low poly version below. Due to the normal map being projected onto the low poly mesh from the high poly there is no need for messy unwrapping on the high poly models.This is a good method for getting detailed models without working overboard to get them.

To easily edit the normal maps I used crazy bump to give me extra definition, as well as quick spectral, occlusion and diffuse maps. The maps created by Crazy Bump can be used as a base for building the main diffuse texture. Images below show the effectiveness of the normal map on the main model; firstly in 3ds Max without editing in Crazy Bump, then with edits in Crazy Bump.

3ds Max Image

Edited using Crazy Bump.