I like the idea of packing the normal into R and G and then using the B and A for the 16 bit heightmap. Just one concern. Im not sure what calculations im going to have to do in my vertex shader if im using spherical coords for normals but wont it maybe be too slow? Il read up on how to do it I was just wondering what the performance impact is.

Alternitively cant i just store the normal in 15 bits using 5 bits for each axis and let one bit go to waiste? or is that a bad idea.

I like the idea of packing the normal into R and G and then using the B and A for the 16 bit heightmap. Just one concern. Im not sure what calculations im going to have to do in my vertex shader if im using spherical coords for normals but wont it maybe be too slow? Il read up on how to do it I was just wondering what the performance impact is.