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At this point it's relatively easy to put the bump map into the Bump slot in 3ds Max to see how this looks. It won't represent the normal map result that well, but it's a quick way to check how things are going.



Once you're satisfied, save a copy of your texture, and merge everything into one layer. We do this because the Normal Map Filter only operates on 1 layer at a time with any effectiveness. Also this way you have all your other layers in your bump map backed up in case you make a mistake.

Now to to Filters -> NVIDIA Tools -> Normal Map Filter. This box looks complex... Allow me to explain what does what, and what settings you should use.

• Add Height to Normal Map: Adds your bump map to the normal map. Do not tick.
  
• Use Multiple Layers: Supposed to allow you to us a multilayer document, doesn't really work that well... Do not tick.
  
• Swap RGB: Swaps everything. Do not tick.
  
• Filter Type: This is the size, in pixels, of the filter used to sample the normal map. 3x3 is usually sufficient; if you want it to look smoother try a higher sample size.
  
• Min Z: This is the minimum elevation of the resulting normal map. Set to 0.
  
• Scale: This controls normal map scale and is up to you! Higher values will increase relief. You probably shouldn't go above 3 for BFME
  
• Height Source: Though we didn't do it in this tutorial, you might create a bump map in the the alpha channel of the texture, this option lets you specify that. We want to set it to Average RGB though.
  
• Alternate Conversions: Bunch of different ways to filter the result. Do not tick any of them.
  
• Alpha Field: What to do with the alpha channel. You probably don't want to do anything with it, Unchanged
  
• 3D Preview: Opens up a nice preview window so you can see what the normal map will look like. Very fun to play with when checking the effects of Scale.
  

Once your settings are set up, click Ok...



Oh, it's so beautiful... to put it on your model, head on over to my other tutorial, Applying Normal Maps

Hope this was explanatory. There are other ways to make normals, but for models of BFME detail level, this is the simplest and the others would be overkill. The method shown here is similar for any kind of object - just assign a hierarchy of heights and draw a bump map based on it. Thanks for reading.