When comparing Crazy Bump vs ShaderMap 4, the Slant community recommends Crazy Bump for most people. In the question“What are the best programs for making height maps, normal maps, and/or other maps?” Crazy Bump is ranked 2nd while ShaderMap 4 is ranked 10th. The most important reason people chose Crazy Bump is:
Almost anyone that has some knowledge on bump maps, can use this software, just dump in your image, adjust a few sliders, and export your maps.
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Pros
Pro Intuitive interface
Almost anyone that has some knowledge on bump maps, can use this software, just dump in your image, adjust a few sliders, and export your maps.
Pro Node-driven map generation
Shadermap specializes in generating multiple maps using nodes. Changes to one node can then be propagated to other nodes.
Pro Bake texture maps from 3d models
This program can bake texture maps from 3d models from a high poly to low poly. Not many similar software has this feature.
Cons
Con Pricey
It's a nice software, but you are going to have to dump 50 to 100$ dollars on it. However, you can give it a free go for thirty days.
Con It is not any better than free software on the market
Con Expensive compared to similar software
While the software is great at what it does, it comes at a higher cost than most software that does similar things when it comes to generating normal maps.