Normal mapping in 3D visual effects is a texture technique that simulates surface details like bumps or grooves by modifying surface normals, creating the illusion of depth without adding extra geometry.
- **How it works**: Encodes height information into a texture, where each pixel’s color represents the direction of the surface normal. This normal direction influences light reflection, mimicking the look of detailed geometry. - **Efficiency benefit**: More efficient than adding physical geometry, as it avoids increasing polygon counts—balancing visual detail and rendering performance. - **Typical application**: Widely used in 3D modeling/rendering to enhance realism when polygon counts must stay low, ensuring high visual fidelity without raising computational load.