I was looking in materials at something I downloaded, and they used the gradient bump mapping, instead of bumpmapping. What's the difference?

Good question, I'd like to know that too.

See, ........ it is NOT a "stupid" question. I'd like to know, also. ;=]

I know the difference between displacement mapping, and bump mapping.. that's easy.. displacement changes the geometry, and bump mapping just gives the illusion of that.

Guess we should read the manual sometimes, Eh? The gradient bump map is for older poser models that use the old bum system.. you also need to use the p4 rendering engine in P5, if you use bum mapping.

Bump mapping works by bending the surface normal, thus illuminating the surface as if it were deformed. A bump map is a black and white image, containing height information. The renderer then is differntiating the bump map in order to get a vector indcating the direction in which the normal needs to be bent. Such a vector is also called....gradient vector. The gradient bump is a map containing these gradient vectors. The real world difference? Bump maps are easier to create, if you think of it as a "height map" you have an interpretation you can easily work with. Gradient bumps, on the other hand do not rely on differentations which makes them less vulnerable to artifacts with hard to differntiate geometry - e.g. triangles. So, if you experience aritfacts with a bump map on a triangle mesh, apply an emboss filter in Photoshop to it and use it as a gradient bump map.

They have a manual?

(I use the term loosly.....) ;)

To further this discussion and how this channel is useful. This is where .bum files should be plugged in because they use a technique like the embossing in PhotoShop that Stewer mentioned. Rule of thumb: If it's a .bum file it should go into the "Gradient_Bump" Channel. If it's an image map being used for bump it should go into the "Bump" channel. On a side note. I have deleted all of my .bum files from my system (I'm not saying you should) because they are huge. They haven't been needed since ProPack. Keep in mind that if you load in a figure or a prop that looks for one it won't find it (it's deleted). Just replace the file with the texture being used on the figure and it will give a nice match up when I adjust the bump. It has worked great for me and I saved about 1 gig of space. I have a lot of stuff. Cheers, Joe

Or like Stewer said. Click on the "?"

Well here is another question I know has been answered before, but I can't remember the answer :) On the bump maps, what color raises the bump, light or dark? Thanks

Hi Pokey: White hi Black low.. :)

Thanks Lawndart :)

No problem... The way I remember is I think of the hi mountain tops with snow on them. I NEVER used to remeber until I created a mental picture. Now I'm just mental! LOL Cheers, Joe

lmao!

HI LawnDart, thanks for the 'mental picture'! :)

Just out of curiosity - Do gradiations of gray matter on a bump map? If white is high and black is low, I assume these are based on a neutral gray being the plane, yes? If so, do light gray vs. dark gray make gradual highs and lows?

Yes they sure do. 256 shades of gray in total. That includes the absolute white and the absolute black shade. That's actually pretty funny. "gray matter" and "Mental picture". LOL