Normal Map Z Reconstruction

A small Windows program that rebuilds the blue (Z) channel of a normal map that only carries red and green.

Most game engines throw away the blue channel and derive it at runtime to save memory, so artists often pack other texture data into that slot. That's fine in the engine — but export the texture into a DCC and it won't shade correctly without a valid Z. This app reconstructs the blue channel from the existing red and green and saves the normal map with all three channels intact.

How it works

Browse to an image (JPEG, PNG, or TGA), hit Process to see the reconstructed result next to the original, then Save As in the format you want. Selecting multiple files switches the app into batch mode — every image is processed and saved with a _processed suffix in your chosen format.

Version 2.0 added the batch mode and an alternate algorithm for linear-sRGB sources such as vFace scans from texturing.xyz.