Hi, I read the tutorial linked on 3dbuzz. http://www.monitorstudios.com/bclowa...mal_maps1.html
This tutorial explains very clearly what a normal map is and why it is usefull. It's main purpose is that it can be rendered realtime on graphics cards. Bump and displacement have to be prerendered. Beside bump and displacement you can also bake higher poly details into a normal map to use on a low poly character. So mostly used in game industry. But it can be very usefull in rendering animations too of course. Arjo.
