When I use a jpg or bmp bump map in poser 5, if I set the bump strength to 1 all heck breaks loose in the image... The values in Poser 5 do not seem equivalent to what they were in Poser 4, there's not cross over that I know of. Should I just use gradiant bump maps, even for files that are NOT .bum files? The problem there is that as far as I know, gradient bump maps are disabled in the firefly renderer. So, what should I do?

I can't put my hands on the proper numbers right now. If you want to convert MAT Pose files, get the latest version of MAT Pose Edit, and use the batch converter to convert P4 bumps to P5. It's so slick. Beyond that, I'm going to bed. Someone else will step in with more info, I'm sure.

A value of 0.04 on the Bump channel is approximately equivalent to 100% strength in P4. Approximately, that is, because the Bump channel is much more efficient than P4's Bump facility. IIRC, true Poser BUM files (ie the red/green ones) plug into the Gradient Bump channel, others go to the Bump Channel.

I get pretty good luck on bump maps around 0.02. Hate to say this but you really have to fine tune each one. A delicate Vicki face might look better quite low. Around 0.005 even. I use the bump in the displacement node cause I don't know any better, :))and it reliably seems to work there. For buildings anything from 0.5 to 1 can work amazingly-- one reason why I love the FireFly renderer is the flexibility of the Material room and how realistic you can transform even the crappiest texture. The reason I hate the FireFly renderer is once in awhile it decides to crash when I use the Material room-- not often though, so love is ahead so far. Emily

On skin; for bump about 0.01 or displacement 0.02 If you're into the wild side, find a spotty texture (clothing) and set displacement to around 6.00. It becomes spikes...P5 is a trip.