Normal maps have not worked correctly in Softimage for some time now. I think they are a basic enough tool, needed by artists everyday. In the case of my experience with Softimage, I find a lot of people move away to Maya for shade and light, precisely because right out of the box normal maps do not work as expected.
I have filed as a bug report many times, but really think it time to clean up the tool. Maybe even add the ability to increase normal map intensity. Not too much to ask ;-) Please, Please, Please. Adam
