I'm working on a V3 texture - something realistic -, and wanting to know how I can make a bump map. Could I just use the texture and make it 'grayscale' and use 'invert', or do I just make it 'grayscale' and leave it alone?

I've been toying with this for a while with Poser 5 [which I have] and have seen other texture maps with the bump maps in them and they are quite different from the ones I've made.

Is there a way to either 'invert' it or make it 'grayscae'? Is there a difference or another way?

Just wanting to know.

Replies are appreciated.

JBWStar

Attached Link: http://www.morphography.uk.vu/bumpmaps.html

The principle of the bump map is: white bits are sticking out, black bits are depressions, and mid-grey is level. A proper bump map will be edited by hand, although I've never made one for a figure, so that's where my knowledge ends.

In the final analysis, if it works, it's right. :) You may find the link useful...

Message edited on: 02/01/2005 04:09

I agree with what EnglishBob said. You can make a quick bump map by taking a texture and just turning it grayscale, but some things will be wrong... especially where things like eyebrows or body hair is involved. For instance, if you turn a texture map grayscale, the eyebrows usually translate to dark gray or black, which would mean their details render "concave" instead of "convex". To fix this in photoshop can be a bit tricky, but the basic notion is to mask out the eyebrows and then simply invert them (change them from black to white), or paint them over in white by hand using a very small brush size. Same goes for facial hair or body hair that may be present on the texture. Also, details like veins may need to be lightened so that they render as raised parts on the mesh surface, rather than depressed. In contrast, wrinkles should be darker in the grayscale than the skin color.

I like loading my textures into an image editor with an effects browser. Some filters like liquid can be useful in making bumpmaps that aren't simply the image in greyscale.