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Color2bump vs plain bitmap in bump slot

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  • Color2bump vs plain bitmap in bump slot

    What's the difference in using color2bump vs directly plugging a bitmap into the bump slot? When should this special map be used and what are the benefits compared to doing it the old-fashioned way? Both ways seem to work the same and up until now I've just plugged the bitmap directly into the bump slot without using color2bump. Should I start using it?
    Aleksandar Mitov
    www.renarvisuals.com
    office@renarvisuals.com

    3ds Max 2023.2.2 + Vray 7
    AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16-core
    64GB DDR5
    GeForce RTX 3090 24GB + GPU Driver 565.90

  • #2
    You should only use color2bump if you have some texture network that does not support bump mapping (f.e. a bump map going through color correction). color2bump is slower, as it needs to evaluate the texture at multiple points, but it works with any texture shading network. Directly plugging the map is faster and you should stick to that as often as possible. However some maps in 3ds Max do not support bump mapping (the color correction one being an example) and other maps have slightly different implementations for color vs bump output (the Cellular one comes to mind).

    Best regards,
    Vlado
    I only act like I know everything, Rogers.

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    • #3
      Thanks, Vlado, much more clear now! Now I know why my Output and CC maps didn't change anything when I used them to modify my bump maps!

      A concise version of this explanation should be on the help page IMHO as now nothing explains what this special map does except that "it converts any RGB texture into a bump map" which for the average non-technical user sounds pretty ambiguous. I would have never thought to use it when I needed to alter my bump textures with Output, CC or others.
      Last edited by Alex_M; 13-10-2016, 06:36 AM.
      Aleksandar Mitov
      www.renarvisuals.com
      office@renarvisuals.com

      3ds Max 2023.2.2 + Vray 7
      AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16-core
      64GB DDR5
      GeForce RTX 3090 24GB + GPU Driver 565.90

      Comment


      • #4
        This information has been added to the Tech Docs at https://docs.chaosgroup.com/display/...VRayColor2Bump for future reference.

        Best,
        Mark Allen
        Tech. Docs Manager
        Chaos Group

        Comment


        • #5
          Awesome, thanks!
          Aleksandar Mitov
          www.renarvisuals.com
          office@renarvisuals.com

          3ds Max 2023.2.2 + Vray 7
          AMD Ryzen 9 9950X 16-core
          64GB DDR5
          GeForce RTX 3090 24GB + GPU Driver 565.90

          Comment

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