Normal vector
From Tech Artists Wiki
(Redirected from Normal)
- "Normal vector" redirects here. For a normalized vector, or vector of length one, see Unit vector.
A normal vector, surface normal, or simply normal, to a flat surface is a vector which is perpendicular to that surface. A normal to a non-flat surface at a point P on the surface is a vector perpendicular to the tangent plane to that surface at P. The word "normal" is also used as an adjective: a line normal to a plane, the normal component of a force, the normal vector, etc. The concept of normality generalizes to orthogonality.
Also related to the normal, are the binormal and tangent vectors. All three are used in per-pixel lighting and any one can be found as the cross product between the other two.
