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Maps question

N-RArtsN-RArts Posts: 1,603
in The Commons

Hello.

Does anyone know what the difference is between Normal and Bump maps.

I've always thought that they were the same, but if they were, then Daz Studio wouldn't have options to add one or the other. 

Plus, what are positive and negative maps? I've never heard of them before.

Thanks ^^

 

Comments

  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,843

    Normal and bump bascially do the same thing give the illusion of height and detail, depending on the app. Think of normals as more advanced bump mapping.

    Some more info here

    http://blog.digitaltutors.com/bump-normal-and-displacement-maps/

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bump_mapping

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Normal_mapping

     

     

  • Richard HaseltineRichard Haseltine Posts: 108,079

    A bump map is a height map  -white is high, black is low, shades of grey are intermediate. At render time the render engien uses the height info, plus the geometry and smoothing, to work out which way the surface would be facing and lights it accordingly. A normal map uses the colour values to specify the x, y and z values of the facing directly, with no need to calculate from the height data. Bump maps are easier to make, but normal maps allow greater flexibility and speed.

    The positiive and negative valeus for bump, and displacement, are not mapped - they are the actual values of black (negative) and white (positive) relative to the geometry. Bumps in Iray can be tricky to use as they are set by relative, not absolute, values - in 3Delight that isn't an issue.

  • Daywalker DesignsDaywalker Designs Posts: 3,586

    Normal maps are generally done from a higher detail mesh than the one they are included with; it was common practice in video game modding to use the normal maps to give the impression of greater detail in a scene than what the lower end video cards could handle without slowing to a crawl.

  • N-RArtsN-RArts Posts: 1,603

    Thanks for the replies ^^

    Personally, I can't really tell the difference between a model with normal or bumps maps, and a model without them.  

    I think I still have a lot to learn about modelling and Daz3D.

    Thanks again ^^

  • FSMCDesignsFSMCDesigns Posts: 12,843
    devilsatdusk15 said:

    Thanks for the replies ^^

    Personally, I can't really tell the difference between a model with normal or bumps maps, and a model without them.  

    I think I still have a lot to learn about modelling and Daz3D.

    Thanks again ^^

    Probably because DS addons use normal mapping mainly for fine details as opposed to game models which use normal maps for the appearance of morphs, folds, detail, etc that you can really see a big difference in with or without them

  • N-RArtsN-RArts Posts: 1,603
    FSMCDesigns said:
    devilsatdusk15 said:

    Thanks for the replies ^^

    Personally, I can't really tell the difference between a model with normal or bumps maps, and a model without them.  

    I think I still have a lot to learn about modelling and Daz3D.

    Thanks again ^^

    Probably because DS addons use normal mapping mainly for fine details as opposed to game models which use normal maps for the appearance of morphs, folds, detail, etc that you can really see a big difference in with or without them

     surprise Oooh... Thanks for explaining ^^

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