Tool for bump map

[anhdung86]

I find one tool for convert photo to Bump Maps, It's ShaderMap CL and it's free! (link: http://www.renderingsystems.com/index.php)
Then i try to bump map some thing, this is the result:

Base Texture:


Result:


After use this tool to convert photo i have 3 pictures:
Displacement pic:


Specular pic:


Normal pic:


I read the doc of RF about Bump mapping and know we must have 3 picture: Base Texture, Bump Map and Specular Map. So in 3 pictures above, what's Bump Map and Specular Map?

[Voltare]

I believe the bump map is the middle one, and the spec map is the bottom one....


an easier way....there is a tool in the tool folder of Rf, called Texture image Converter....it can create all the maps you need for bumpmapping in Rf.

[anhdung86]

i used Texture image Converter but with it i can't view the resuilt immediately like ShaderMap CL

I believe the bump map is the middle one, and the spec map is the bottom one

Thankz but is there any problem if we don't use Displacement pic (The top one) ? And what's the effect of this pic?

[Jay]

The first pic - base texture - is the unchanged base texture.
Displacement texture - I believe they use a displacement map, which is not really bumpmapping. A Displacement map displaces the originial flat polygon structure and with that produces an ultra high amount of polys. Luckily this is all done in hardware, so it does not have the same effect as if you were feeding the graphics card your polygons. Displacement maps are too polygon-costy for real games. Normally paralax mapping is used instead
Specular texture - this modifies how light is reflected / how much light at one point i believe.
Normal texture - This is the actual bumpmap for normal mapping. What it does is allowing per pixel lighting and contains the actual 'height map' of the texture.

RF can use Normal mapping (which has generally better results) for actors and EMBM Bumpmapping for world geometry.

[anhdung86]

Thankz for help Jay, so i can't use this tool for create Bump Map and Specular Map ?
Sorry because i'm new with RF and didn't know much about Bump mapping and i just want to find a useful tool for convert texture better than Texture Image Converter

[Graywolf]

AFAIK, the "displacement" map listed, should be usable as the bump map for EMBM(which requires a greyscale heightmap, correct?)

And, of course... the specular map is is for specularity....

[anhdung86]

No, i think displacement map can't be used as greyscale heightmap for EMBM. I only use Specular tex and Normal tex for dot3 bumpmapping. Is there any tool for creating greyscale heightmap better than Texture Image Converter??

[bernie]

The free program "Gimp" (As good as photoshop) will create a normal map and you can then convert it to greyscale by desaturating it.

[paradoxnj]

What's wrong with Texture Image Converter? It does what it needs to do.

[metal_head]

I like the result,I should play a little with the program and see what it can do thanks for sharing,anhdung86!

[anhdung86]

@metal_head: you're welcome, but when i use this tool (CL map or another program name CrazyBump), the actor look pretty but it's very dark in some face (included it's lighted or not), i don't understand why

[metal_head]

Yeah,you're right..I don't know why is this happening..

[paradoxnj]

That is because the DOT3 bump mapping on actors uses a hardcoded light direction as opposed to using the nearest light as it should.

[metal_head]

Thanks paradoxnj.I want to ask if dot3 bump mapping can be used in the level editor not only on the actors,because the enviroment bump mapping only makes the bump mapped objects look shiny like they're wet.

[paradoxnj]

I think that was started but never finished. Jay/QoD, please correct me if I am wrong.