What is the difference between a bump map and a normal map?
Bump maps and normal maps are essentially the same thing. The primary difference is that normal maps have more information in them(because they use an rgb input) to give a more accurate bump effect. The rgb information in the normal maps correspond to the x,y,z axis.
What is bump in rendering?
Bump mapping is a technique in computer graphics to make a rendered surface look more realistic by simulating small displacements of the surface. Instead only the surface normal is modified as if the surface had been displaced.
What do normal map colors mean?
One of the most valuable maps for a 3D artist is the normal map. Rather than having a color range of black to white, like a bump map uses, normal maps consist of red, green, and blue. These RGB values translates to x, y, and z coordinates, allowing a 2D image to represent depth.
How does parallax mapping work?
Parallax mapping is implemented by displacing the texture coordinates at a point on the rendered polygon by a function of the view angle in tangent space (the angle relative to the surface normal) and the value of the height map at that point.
How do you bump a map?
Bump maps are really easy to create using Photoshop’s 3D filters. Go to Filter > 3D > Generate Bump Map. This will bring up the Generate Bump Map dialog box which gives you an interactive 3D preview, with controls on how to generate the grayscale image that will make up your Bump map.
How do you do normal mapping?
Create the Normal Map
- Open texture in Photoshop as you would normally any image. Make sure the image mode is set to RGB.
- Choose Filter → 3D → Generate Normal Map…
- Adjust your map as necessary (I left my to default). Click OK.
- Save your file as PNG (not sure if it really matters). You’re done!
Is Parallax Mapping expensive?
Parallax mapping is fairly expensive to render, at least for the methods that work well, and shader complexity is probably the most common cause for rendering slowdowns in current tech. It’s also fairly limiting because the parallax effect causes it to look like it’s “below” the surface it’s applied to.