what exactly do normals?

mireazma · Soldier **Joined**: 14 Feb 2007

Sorry to ask this but it's hard to comprehend.
I've read about normals and I know that they influence the light but I don't understand exactly how?
It's hard to experiment because I can't see the 3d view in VSE due to my video card (?) so I have to make a game to be able to see a small change.
I made a unit and I'm intrigued why it's so shiny - in a position it's dark almost black and in other it's completely white? The default units shine doesn't differ to much by their position. I presume it's the normals reason, ain't it?
So, should I conclude that the normals make a specific color contrast range smaller or bigger, when in light/shadow positions?

Orac · Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 5:54 am Post subject:

(I believe) Normals define which way the pixel is pointing, so that the light hits it in the right direction - Front Normals for the front, back for the back, then of course, sides, corners, top and bottom for their respective positions.
I'd ask one of the developers, or someone with more experience.

mireazma · Soldier **Joined**: 14 Feb 2007

You made it clearer, thanks. I think I must stick to solely auto normalizing.
EDIT:
Normals are a complex subject which needs documentation. If I got it correctly (don't flame me), not only matter the pixels we can see but the pixels beneath, too.
There's something I'm missing about reflection. In some cases the same pixel reflects as if it's metal and in others as if stone. So, it would be great if one could use normalizing for materials assignment Wink

Dupl3xxx · Posted: Wed Jan 14, 2009 1:32 pm Post subject:

a bright color would look like metal, shiny and nice, while a darker color would be more of a stone. Learn to use the Auto Normals (AN), it creats very good normals if you know how to use it.

BTW, what OS are you useing?

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mireazma · Soldier **Joined**: 14 Feb 2007

Thanks for replying.
I see now. So, I'm right about "materials", ain't I?

My OS - Win XP pro sp2. But I've heard that it's the video card which is responsible for address access violation, cause it's ATI based. Idk..