{"slug": "gemini-can-generate-normal-maps", "title": "Gemini can generate normal maps", "summary": "Google Gemini can generate normal maps for 2D artwork, enabling cheap and easy 3D effects, as demonstrated by a developer using the AI to create depth for trading card game art. The developer used Gemini to generate normal maps from source images, then applied them in a 3D scene with Claude Code, achieving a holographic foil effect without manual 3D modeling.", "body_md": "# Gemini can generate normal maps\n\nGemini can generate normal maps for your 2D artwork, so it’s a cheap and easy way to generate 3D effects with AI.\n\nThis was for an overly ambitious project that I probably won’t finish, so now it lives on as a blog post.\n\nI was using Google Gemini to generate art for a trading card game mobile app. I’m always thinking about how to get more “bang for my buck” out of generative AI. It’s great at generating 2D art Yes, I know there are people who absolutely hate AI-generated art, but I mean it in the sense that I definitely am not able to draw this. , which is what led me to the trading card game concept in the first place - no complex 3D models needed, but we can put the 2D assets in 3D scenes with shaders and effects, etc.\n\nAfter making the 3D viewer for the cards, I was experimenting with typical trading card effects, like holographic foil. Then I thought: what would really make the cards come to life? What if they had depth in 3D?\n\nI don’t have the time, talent or inclination to make accurate 3D renders of these hyper-realistic portraits. So I attached the source artwork in my Google Gemini prompt, asking for a normal map, and sure enough, out it comes My metric for how accurate these normal maps are is whether they look cool to me or not. In that sense, I am essentially the first vibe normal mapper. . It was just a case of asking Claude Code to apply normal maps in the 3D scene after that.", "url": "https://wpnews.pro/news/gemini-can-generate-normal-maps", "canonical_source": "https://geosona.com/software/2026/08/09/gemini-normal-maps/", "published_at": "2026-08-09 00:00:00+00:00", "updated_at": "2026-08-09 11:42:57.543019+00:00", "lang": "en", "topics": ["generative-ai", "artificial-intelligence", "ai-tools"], "entities": ["Google Gemini", "Claude Code"], "alternates": {"html": "https://wpnews.pro/news/gemini-can-generate-normal-maps", "markdown": "https://wpnews.pro/news/gemini-can-generate-normal-maps.md", "text": "https://wpnews.pro/news/gemini-can-generate-normal-maps.txt", "jsonld": "https://wpnews.pro/news/gemini-can-generate-normal-maps.jsonld"}}