Ok so after a little discussion here, I delved back into the fray. Realising that I had generated my tangent maps using a photoshop plugin and not through Studio Max in the way that I was creating the world maps...

Clearly my frustration with tangent maps, (2D normal maps ), was rooted in the way I was creating my maps and not the way the shader engine handles the map. So a little lesson in, 'why not to try and teach your grandma to suck eggs..', later and I am once again excited about the power of normal mapping.

Thanks for your help guys I have taken the liberty of rating you guys highly for your help, for what thats worth.

For a limited time I have uploaded a demonstration of these findings and the comparison between world and tangent normal mapping... although it seems as usual I am the last to learn anything here... ...it might prove useful to someone...


Tangent / World Normal Mapping