Hi,
I was wondering what the preferred setup is for creating materials with layered bump/normal textures. I am still new to the V-Ray ecosystem and am unfamiliar with the concept of adding a separate material for blending bumps, so I do not know the advantages and disadvantages of each approach.
I experimented a bit and found a way to chain multiple Normal Bump nodes together to create a layered bump/normal map without using the V-Ray Bump Mtl shown in the screenshot.
I am also curious about how a V-Ray Bump Mtl works in terms of its order of operations. If I have a clear coat on my V-Ray material, would the V-Ray Bump Mtl be layered on top of it?
Are there any performance advantages or disadvantages to either approach? I know that the Normal Bump node has varying GPU support, so in that scenario, is it better to use the V-Ray Bump Mtl?
Thank you!
In Cycles it’s the same, I suppose.
One gives you the ability to add bump on a specific material node, but when you build things by combining material nodes just like in Cycles, the bump strength gets divided if your material 1 has the bump connected and material 2 does not.
An easy way to control bump is with a node at the end. But they do the same thing.
Someone correct me.
Cheers!
Thanks for responding. From my testing, it appears they do not behave the same way. For example, if you have a clearcoat on a V-Ray material and add a Bump material, it essentially overrides the clearcoat and places the bump effect above it. In some use cases, this results in different behavior.
It also seems to make the specular reflections respond oddly when a Bump material is used.
Use a V-Ray Blend material instead of a switch, or alternatively connect a texture.
Thank you again for responding.
That one was my fault. I forgot to check off roughness for the top one and used glossiness instead.
