normal_map_shade — GFX2D light op

Data kinds: normalmaprgb

Call: import gfx2d; gfx2d.normal_map_shade(normals, light_dir=(0.0, 0.0, 1.0), ambient=0.1, diffuse='reference', specular=0.0, shininess=32.0, view_dir=(0.0, 0.0, 1.0), scheme='okabe_ito') (or opsgfx2d.get("normal_map_shade"))

Usage

Shade a 2-D normal map with one directional light (Lambert + Blinn 1977).

`normals is a normalmap: (H, W, 3)` unit vectors, as

:func:normal_map_decode returns. Non-unit input raises rather than being

normalised for you — a normal map that is not normalised is usually a map

that was never decoded, and quietly fixing it hides the mistake.

`out = diffuse * (ambient + max(n·l, 0)) + specular * max(n·h, 0)^shininess`

with `h` the normalised halfway vector between light and view.

Directions are `(x, y, z)` with **+x right, +y down, +z out of the

screen** — the same handedness as the pixel grid, so a light at

`(0, -1, 1)` comes from above the screen. Getting the sign of y wrong

flips the perceived relief (bumps become dents) without raising anything;

that is the one thing to check on first render.

References (sample data, literature)

• Sample-data catalog (download URLs / licences) — 2-D uses skimage.data (BSD/public domain) plus synthetic images; 3-D lists download URLs for real data sources (Stanford, PDS, …).

• Operator provenance and references — the sources of the research/methods this op family came from.

• The canonical algorithm (author, year) and its uses are named in the family usage guide above.

Runnable examples (verified samples that actually call this op)

gfx2d_scenepy -3.11 examples/gfx2d_scene.py

Ops the type connects to (they accept rgb as input)

srgb_to_linear · linear_to_srgb · blend_mode · light_mask · normal_map_decode · bloom · vignette · chromatic_aberration

Same category (light)

radial_light · light_mask · normal_map_decode · shadow_cast_2d


*Provenance: gfx2d.py — GFX2D operator registry. This per-op note is generated by tools/opdocs.py md (do not hand-edit).*

© 2026 Kazufumi Furuse — Fullseye operator documentation. Licensed under Apache-2.0.