So, in an effort to help a friend of mine show the true detail of her paintings for application to a Masters Degree program, I googled Normal Map Photography, and shazam!
http://www.zarria.net/nrmphoto/nrmphoto.html
So, I made a little project box and used a small painting done by another one of my friends, and these are my results:
Color map:
Normal map:
Video:
This method could be applied to any real world texture you would like to use as a normal map. I can see, though, how it would be an issue if you wanted seamless textures. I’m sure there’s a workaround for that somewhere on the Internet.
Well, thanks for reading, and I’d like to hear your comments!
