Tangents, Bitangents and Binormals

I’m still updating the 3ds Max mesh file exporter that I use with the engine.  I already had a feature to export per-vertex diffuse colors, but now I also have a feature to export per-vertex shading and/or illumination colors.  Many shader effects require tangents and binormals to be calculated, i.e. to do normal mapping, a.k.a. bump mapping.  To be more correct, the word”bitangent” should be used in place of “binormal”.  Supposedly the wrong term was used and it just stuck.  Well, since 3ds Max, DirectX and my engine all use the word “binormal”, I’m just going to stick with it.  Anyway, I’m in the process of adding this support to the exporter right now.  It’s going to be cool to use these new features in the game!  It’s been a long time waiting.

About Eric DeBrosse

Lead developer of the Orion Engine.
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