Bump2Normal?

[spiralof5]

It's not working for me.

The node just shows pink when I plug anything into it.

Can someone show me an example of how you use it if it's even possible to use?

[Alex_M]

This shouldn't really bother you. Just plug the Bump2Normal into VrayNormalMap and then plug the VrayNormalMap into the Bump slot like in my screenshot. Hope this helps.

[Syclone1]

Thanks for the post Alex!!

[vlado]

What's the point of doing bump mapping this way? Rather than plug the bitmap directly into the bump slot of the material?

Best regards,
Vlado

[Alex_M]

I was under the impression that normal maps are rendered better than regular bump maps (especially in areas not lit directly by light). Is there really no point in converting regular grey bump maps into normal maps with this node? Or are there other uses for this node?

What's the point of doing bump mapping this way? Rather than plug the bitmap directly into the bump slot of the material?

Best regards,
Vlado

[vlado]

I was under the impression that normal maps are rendered better than regular bump maps (especially in areas not lit directly by light).

Yes, but only when the original bitmap is a normal map already. Otherwise it's just more calculations for a similar effect.

Is there really no point in converting regular grey bump maps into normal maps with this node?

The only minor difference is that with this approach the bump strength is specified as absolute "height" (i.e the normal that a displaced surface with the same displacement amount would have) whereas with regular bump maps, it varies with the local UV space stretching (i.e. the object size vs the UV space size), but that's a minor point I think.

Or are there other uses for this node?

The node was originally intended to allow users to derive normal maps for texture baking, or sometimes when you need to do something with the bump normal.

Best regards,
Vlado

[Alex_M]

A really comprehensive reply, thanks. Makes things a whole lot more clear.

[Alan Iglesias]

Thanks for the detailed explanation, Vlado.

-Alan

[super gnu]

this is a similar discussion to one i had in another thread.. i found converting a bump into a normal map using the nvidia tool, then using the resulting normal map in vray produced a much nicer bump effect, than just using the original bump map.

i was advised that this is the same as using the bump2normal to convert the bump into a normal map?

if this is the case then it -does- produce a nicer result than just plugging the bump map into the vray mtl.