Best Practice:Bump Maps, Dip Maps

[stevejjd]

Hello,
My questions are:
- How to use Normal Bump Texture | VRayNormalMap properly?
- How to best apply bump maps to objects in V-Ray?
- In the Bitmap Node, what is Bump Amount doing?
- What information is being used to control the bump map? What is considered pushed in and what pushed out?
- How to compose multiple bump maps together?
- What is the full gamut in the bump map image? are they 32bit?
- How to get a perfect bump amount in cm or mm?
- What is the difference between bump and Normal maps?

Thanks heaps

[Svetlozar Draganov]

There aren't much difference when working with Bump/Normal maps in V-Ray or any other render engine, they do the same thing basically so knowing their function will explain pretty much everything about their usage in V-Ray. The same thing applies for the usage of those maps, there aren't really a hundred of ways to apply bump or normal mapping so their default usage is their best usage.

- How to use Normal Bump Texture | VRayNormalMap properly?
For proper work of VRayNormalMap it is necessary to load a normal map exported in tangent UV space. Make sure also that the image is in linear space and that no gamma-corrections are applied to it.

- How to best apply bump maps to objects in V-Ray?
You may apply the bump maps to a regular V-Ray materials trough Bump Map slot or using a V-Ray Bump material.

- In the Bitmap Node, what is Bump Amount doing?
I'm not sure if you meant Bitap Node here, I don't think that Bitmap Node has Bump Amount parameter.

- What information is being used to control the bump map? What is considered pushed in and what pushed out?
Black colors pushes in and white color pushes out.

- How to compose multiple bump maps together?
It is possible to use multiple Bump Materials by applying each map into a new Bump Material or to use V-Ray Composite map.

- What is the full gamut in the bump map image? are they 32bit?
No, they are 8-bit images.

- How to get a perfect bump amount in cm or mm?
I'm not sure Bump mapping uses system units.

- What is the difference between bump and Normal maps?
-Bump maps are predecessor of Normal maps, they are a little bit limited than Normal maps but still used a lot in the rendering.
Bump maps could only use 8-bit images while normal maps could use the full spectrum of RGB values.
Normal maps keeps much more information about the displacement in X/Y/Z axis while the Bump Map keeps only up and down values.

More information about Bump/Normal features could be found here:
https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...+VRayNormalMap
https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...7C+VRayBumpMtl

[^Lele^]

How about making this Sticky?

[stevejjd]

How about making this Sticky?

hahaha what the hell is that? what is a sticky? ~~~

[stevejjd]

Thank you so much for your help ~ Im really sorry I didnt reply earlier. I always wait for an email to tell me that a person replied to a post. I didn't get one - sorry. Thanks so much for being an incredibly responsive company!

I love suppositories of wisdom and this is yet another one ~ thank you for administering it. Its actually really good to ask questions that appear very simple. I'm so happy with the answers here.

[stevejjd]

Attached is a image of the Bitmap > Output > Bump amount

What does this do ?

[stevejjd]

How to create Normal Maps?

May I ask how to make the best Normal Maps?

- How do I make Normal Maps from Images? - what is the best software for that which produces the best results?
- I would like to make tillable texture of fabric weaves - if I make a model of a weave then How do I make Normal Maps from the geometry?

Thanks

[^Lele^]

hahaha what the hell is that? what is a sticky? ~~~

Sticky Post, as in it stays always at the forum section's top.
Why, what else? ^^

[stevejjd]

Oh cool, Im glad I made a useful topic. I dont know how to make it a sticky post. Thanks for your feedback Lele ^^

[^Lele^]

Oh, it was a request to the powers that be...

[stevejjd]

No worries ^Lele^.........actually I was wandering, is Chaos group in 1 part of the world in 1 building with all its workers located there? ~ Are you all in the same place?

[kosso_olli]

I think Lele is somewhere in Italy. Which makes me wondering, because I remember him hating that place quite a bit!

[^Lele^]

No worries ^Lele^.........actually I was wandering, is Chaos group in 1 part of the world in 1 building with all its workers located there? ~ Are you all in the same place?

Are you kidding?
I am allowed inside the Chaos Office only under adult supervision, and a short leash.
Those people have work to get done!

I think Lele is somewhere in Italy. Which makes me wondering, because I remember him hating that place quite a bit!

I said for a very long time that living here has great pluses, provided one doesn't need to work for it (locally, that is, eheh.).
I used to love being around some selected places when i could survive and work without too much trouble, but those experiences used to be few and very very far apart (hence the migrations.).
Working for Chaos makes living in Italy a LOT less of a worry: i am effectively being paid to do what i used to do in my free time before, when i had to spend the money accumulated during production times abroad to afford myself some thinking and studying time.
That's how my scripts and tutorials got done over the years: through bored unemployment. ^^
The peace of mind allows me to take the idiosyncrasies of the place with a smile...
Well, i manage that MOST times, i'll be honest. :P
Should -i shiver at the thought- I ever have to find employment in Italy again, however, i'd default on another migration, not to worry. ^^

[stevejjd]

hahaha

Yeah Chaos Group people work incredibly hard and still make time to get on the forums.

That's cool you get a job that you love to do. I'm still learning how to make beautiful characters and my dream is to know it so well I can make characters for living ^.^