Incorrect display in 3d view

Hello,

The height data is being passed directly to the Normal output. In this case, the resulting normal vectors will be incorrect and the model will be shaded incorrectly (learn more below). The height map needs to be processed to be converted into a usable normal map, using the Normal node as shown below.

A normal map represents a mesh's normals per pixel of the texture. Normals are vectors representing the direction a part of a mesh is facing, so it is shaded accordingly by the rendering engine.

Since it provides only a direction it always has a magnitude (or length) of 1.0, and its XYZ coordinates are mapped to the RGB channels of a color image, where coordinate 0 for the vector is mapped to the value of 0.5 in the image.

The purpose of the normal map is to replace the existing normals per vertex of the mesh into new ones per pixel of the texture in order to fake details. In tangent space - e.g. relatively to the local surface of the mesh, an unmodified normal points straight up, which is a vector of coordinates XYZ (0, 0, 1). Because of how these coordinates are mapped on a normal map, the result is RGB (0.5, 0.5, 1), hence the purplish hue that unmodified normals have on a normal map.

This is a very short primer on normal maps, but I hope it is still helpful and informative!

Best regards.