A post on zSpline with a novel approach towards the goal of sharpening normal maps by the use of better image filtering by quantizing the elevation of the normal (Z component) and have the filtering providing less blocky contours. Read the article on Sharpening Normal Maps Through Better Image Filtering here.
“I’ve never liked how bilinear filtering makes normal maps resemble molten plastic when the camera gets too close. On certain types of surfaces like rock or rusty metal, this effect can be counteracted for some degree by applying a micro normal map. However when it comes to machine like assets with well defined, geometric features, that method doesn’t help much so I tried a different approach.”
