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Free browser-based normal map generator with live controls
Normal Map Bench creates tangent-space normal maps from images directly in your browser. Tune strength, smoothing and edge dilation with live controls, preview under a movable light, switch between OpenGL and DirectX Y conventions, and export PNG at the original resolution. Free, no upload, no account — processing stays local.
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Normal Map Bench is a browser-based tool that turns ordinary images into tangent-space normal maps. Instead of storing visible color, a normal map stores a direction in every pixel, letting a material react to light as though fine ridges, dents, seams, and pores were modelled into the surface. Normal Map Bench derives those directions from image brightness and keeps the entire conversion on your own device.
You can start from a grayscale height map for the most predictable result, or feed in a photo or painted texture whose brightness already suggests surface relief. From there, live controls let you shape the result and inspect it under a movable light before exporting a PNG at the original resolution.
Bright areas are read as higher and dark areas as lower, producing a tangent-space normal map from your source image. A dedicated grayscale height map gives the most predictable outcome, though photos and painted textures can work when their brightness describes relief.
Sobel is familiar, efficient, and often suitable for graphic textures. Scharr weights each pixel's surroundings more evenly, which can produce steadier diagonal detail. Neither option invents geometry — both measure changes in the source height field.
The two formats mainly disagree about the green channel: OpenGL uses Y+, while many DirectX pipelines expect Y−. If grooves look raised or lighting moves the wrong way vertically, you switch the format rather than rebuild the texture, and the preview and downloaded PNG update together.
Clamp repeats the border pixel and suits isolated assets, while Wrap samples the opposite edge for tileable surfaces. A 2× or 4× tiled preview helps you spot border discontinuities before export, and the tile control affects inspection only.
Processing stays local — no upload, no account, no server round-trip.
That single constraint shapes how the tool feels to use. Image decoding, filtering, preview rendering, and PNG creation all happen in the browser, so there is no upload endpoint, analytics script, or third-party image processor involved. You can tune strength, smoothing, filter, orientation, height inversion, and edge behavior with live feedback, then download the full generated map.
You want a fast, private way to generate normal maps without installing software or handing your textures to a remote service. It's especially handy if you need to compare OpenGL and DirectX output, test tileable edges, or simply preview how a height image will catch light before committing it to a material.
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