Quote - OK here is my lil test.

I made a quickie model (excuse the texture) this morning.  From left to right

No Bump or Normal Map
Bump Only
Normal Only

The model was made in 3d coat, which auto generated the Normal and Bump map at the same time.

I rendered with the default bump value of 0.08 but the bump map hardly showed up, this one is with a value of 1, which shows up some details as well as the Normal Map (also value 1) but distorts other parts too much.

As I said I don't know the full mechanics of it, but I am very happy with the results with the Normal Map :)

John

In addition to "properly made" I should have also required "properly used".

When you plug in the bump map, you have to correctly specify the depth to interpret it. When you say you used a "value of 1", without specifying units, I don't even know what depth you dialed in. But the point it that unless you enter the matching depth that the modeler used, it will not evaluate to the same virtual surface.

Which actually shows an advantage in USE, not in capability, now that I think about it.

Fugazi gets a point for accidentally showing a useful difference.

Because of how the bump map is encoded, I argued that it is better and more powerful because you can change the bump depth at will to vary the strength of the effect. But having done so, he has inadvertantly demonstrated that the bump map does not result in the smooth transformation of normals to the exact desired target virtual shape, UNLESS he correctly enters the key information - what is the correct depth? 

So this is interesting. When using a bump map for specific SHAPING, you probably will not know what exact depth to use. The normal map, being that it doesn't ALLOW you to change the depth and has it hard-coded, does not vary from the desired virtual shape.

Fugazi gets 1 point, but only because he doesn't know the correct value to type in to Bump depth. If he knew, then it would look the same.

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Renderosity forum reply notifications are wonky. If I read a follow-up in a thread, but I don't myself reply, then notifications no longer happen AT ALL on that thread. So if I seem to be ignoring a question, that's why. (Updated September 23, 2019)