9.5.2

852 • CHAPTER 18
MATERIAL EDITOR • 853
Tangent: The most common method. The Normal orientation is dened with
respect to the underlying surface. This is the ideal method for self-deforming
objects, e.g. character animation. Such textures can be identied by their mostly
light blue or light green coloring; these are the areas in which the Normals are
oriented perpendicularly to the surface.
Object: Uses the object’s coordinate system to code Normal orientation. Such
textures emit, for the most part, in all colors of the rainbow.
World: Uses the world coordinate system to code Normal orientation. This is
only for use with non-animated, static objects. These textures emit in all colors
of the rainbow as well.
When selecting a method, you must know which method was used to create the Normal texture.
Exactly this method should be dened here. If you want to use a Normal texture that was created in
CINEMA 4D using the “Bake Texture...” option, exactly these settings must be used here as well.
Flip X (red) / Flip Y (green) / Flip Z (blue) / Swap Y & Z (Y up)
Since no standard method of creation of Normal textures exists, each application pretty much does it
as it wishes: Sometimes the color component for the Y-orientation is green, sometimes blue. In order
to assure maximum compatibility, these settings let you switch all color components.
The following rule of thumb applies to the most common method, “Tangent”:
 If the Normal texture is mostly light green, activate “Swap Y & X (Y up)”.
 If the Normal texture is mostly light blue, deactivate “Swap Y & X (Y up)”.