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Quick bump map question

SteveM17SteveM17 Posts: 987
in New Users

I've been using DS for a while now, but only started messing about with shaders and bump maps recently. Quick question - can any jpeg image at all be used as a bump map as long as it's a greyscale image?

Comments

  • JimmyC_2009JimmyC_2009 Posts: 8,891
    SteveM17 said:

    I've been using DS for a while now, but only started messing about with shaders and bump maps recently. Quick question - can any jpeg image at all be used as a bump map as long as it's a greyscale image?

    You can use any JPEG image as a bump map, even a coloured one, but for the best results you should make a bump map in Photoshop or similar, but it will work in a pinch.

     

  • SteveM17SteveM17 Posts: 987

    So all I have to do is select the picture/bump map I want in the bump map part and mess with the strength bar?

  • KA1KA1 Posts: 1,012
    SteveM17 said:

    So all I have to do is select the picture/bump map I want in the bump map part and mess with the strength bar?

    Pretty much yes, I downloaded shader maps 2 about 2 years ago when I started looking at things like this, I actually only started using it last month after I wanted a displacement map for a tree bark texture I made for a render I was doing. Gimp & Ps etc can do the trick, I'm liking shader maps now though as it splits your picture out to bump/displacement etc in seconds of loading it, also you get a rough idea how the map will affect the image, worth a look if you plan on doing a lot of your own (I think it a version 3 now, it keeps asking me to upgrade!!)
  • SteveM17SteveM17 Posts: 987

    If I wanted to make a shader or bump map in GIMP, how would I do that?

  • jestmartjestmart Posts: 4,449

    A bump map serves a very specific purpose to give the illusion of small bumps and dips on a surface.and should always be a grey scale image.  You cannot make a good bump map by just desaturating the diffuse texture as so many people will try to tell you.

  • mjc1016mjc1016 Posts: 15,001
    jestmart said:

    A bump map serves a very specific purpose to give the illusion of small bumps and dips on a surface.and should always be a grey scale image.  You cannot make a good bump map by just desaturating the diffuse texture as so many people will try to tell you.

    You, can however, make an 'acceptible' one with starting with a colored image...it's just not a simple desaturate and it would be as good as one derived from geometry or purpose painted.  There are plugins for GIMP and Photoshop that will give passable results (it's more than just desaturating and tweaking the levels) or standalone items like AwesomeBump (http://awesomebump.besaba.com/) or CrazyBump (http://www.crazybump.com/)...

    And yes, while the software methods will, with varying amounts of effectivenes, provide something usable, the best maps (normal, bump, displacement) will be directly derived from the geometry of the figure...usually 'baked' out, in a modelling program from a high res version of the mesh.

  • SteveM17SteveM17 Posts: 987

    I shall look into this and probably have a mess around on GIMP. Cheers for the info guys.

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