/3/ - 3DCG

>>650972
>>650963
Normal maps are something different, they "cheat" and make the object look like it has more polygons while it's still a simple mesh.

>>529820
It's a pretty standard practice, yes. You make something very detailed (albeit high poly) with imperfections etc then make a blank, low poly copy of the object. Then you "bake" the surface of the high poly model onto the low poly copy and you get your normal map.

If you're doing this in Blender, both objects have to occupy the exact same space and they also have to be selected in the proper order (active object receives the bake operation).