I’ve long thought this as well. Putting an equivalent of “online normal map generator” right inside unreal itself.
should be simple enough no ? maybe alongside quixel bridge and mixer, but done using any image right inside unreal.
import image, or take any image and apply effect…
the app would take the sample image, be it from a cell phone or camera…
process it using deep learning , and increase its resolution to 16k, sharpening it etc etc, removing artifacts…
noise…
then it would generate normals, POM displacement, specular, occlusion,
allowing you to change lighting direction and displacement,/normals stength in realtime…
seeing a preview in a mixer like app…
then output the image directly to the content browser…
or directly into a new material based on the master material…
the idea, to save you the time of going outside unreal to do it. not to save memory etc.
just to save you the hassle of even leaving Unreal to do it all.
ie,
I have this polar bear texture map…
only a jpeg at 8192…
so I right click, and generate normals/displacement maps…
and an app similar to online normal map generator opens up, within unreal itself.
and I save out a material instance based off the master material.