I have no doubt it would work great - if we had the original source photographs in a format that CrazyBump can look at and actually understand which parts need to be up and which parts need to be down.
Unfortunately, the absolute majority of the textures used by FS2_Open does not work this way. It's almost impossible to just take a random texture, put it into CrazyBump and assume that the output is an acceptable normal map compared to what custom hand-made normal maps (derived from custom elevation map of course - this is the part that actually takes the time, getting the elevations mapped properly!) can deliver, no matter how much controls CB offers...
It's obvious that making a custom elevation map based on the texture instead of just using the texture as the source for normal map takes a
lot more time than just using CB, but the results are absolutely worth it. I have tried CB with various settings, using original ship textures as sources for normal maps, and in no occasion were the results better than with hand-crafted elevation map.
Since the focus of this community pretty much values quality over quantity (which in working process translates almost directly to quality over speeding the process), handcrafted normal maps would be my preference.
And while it's established that a custom elevation map needs to be used, there should be no reason why CrazyBump would then deliver better results than any other normal map plugin... In fact I've tried that too, and I think CB's normal intensity controls are limited to too low levels; FS2_Open (or rather the current shader system) needs pretty hard contrasted normals for them to be noticeable in-game, and the intensity provided with CB has - at least for when I tried it last - been a tad bit on the low side, requiring me to increase contrast manually (in GIMP, where else) whereas with GIMP's normal map plugin I can set the scale to somewhere like 30 or 40 and the normal map will directly be on the levels that are noticeable, usable and look good in FS2_Open in-game (I just need to convert it to DDS normal map format, red to alpha and green to red, green and blue channels, and it'll usually look fine...)
For generating normal maps from photos/textures directly, CB definitely works better than any plugin, because it
does offer some control over the intensity of differently sized details and so on. But, in a hand crafted normal map these can be put into the source elevation map already, with basic understanding on slopes, gradients and sharp transitions from "low" to "high" (or dark to bright).
So what I'm saying is that the problem is not with CB - it's a fine tool for what it's designed to do - it's that we have no source maps that can be used directly as normal map sources. Largely because occlusion is usually baked into the textures at this point, which causes all kinds of brightness changes on the texture, which are interpreted as elevation changes (though with the size/intensity controls this problem can be
minimized, it still remains) but also because all the decals and non-elevation-related details on the texture are also used if a texture is put directly to CB.
Good example would be the Hercules Mark 2 texture which has a bright white number two on it's side. Or yellow-black warning stripes, or or even scorchmarks that are darker than the surrounding hull (but aren't actually meant to be dents).
That said, CB does produce surprisingly good normals for
some of the textures. I have used some of the more passable ones as placeholders while I'm waiting for someone to do the deed with handcrafted normal maps, and like I said, thus far all of the handcrafted ones are cleaner and more accurate.
Also, when I referred to sacrificing "control over convenience" I basically meant it in FS2_Open context for the reasons explained above... Hand-crafting the elevation map does offer unparalleled level of control - though for starters the nature of transitions from low to high, and it's effect on the final normal map can be a bit difficult to understand.
But hey, thanks for taking an interest in this community - and welcome to Hard Light Productions!
