Got a weird one. I have an OBJ that has a pretty simple geometry and has been UVMapped nice and clean. And yes, still pretty new to Poser.

I'm running P8 for this, BTW.

There are no overlapping polygons/edges/vertices. All polygons are facing out (checked them in C4D - they're all normal as far as I know in C4D - but no way for me to check in Poser), and actually spaced cleanly - no egde buted up against each other.

In the attached image, the area with "holes" is 2-quads each - pretty sure of the area though there may be 2 smaller quads to each side making it longer - again, no way to check exactly in Poser.

Color Map goes on fine. The second I put a Bump image on it, I get the holes you see on the right.

Anyone ever have this problem? Anyone have any ideas how I might be able to solve it? Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance!

-Lew

I would have to ask, what is your default unit of measurement?

The bump strength is measured in such.  I use the cm, so when applying bump map, the strength of 0.05 is that in centimeters.  If you use feet, then 0.05 is feet equaling 1.5 cm or 0.6 inches.

Once you set strength, then when you change the default unit it will track it, changing to the equivalent.

Maybe you can show screen shot of material room settings so better judgement can be made.

Do you have the quality values on the image nodes set to "None"?  .  The None option for some reason makes the image map very precise, so precise in fact that the map reduces by 1 pixel.

This effectively puts a white edge on your bump maps which contrasts too much with the actual bump map and leaves an odd line where one island joins another.

You can get round this a couple of ways.

1. Set the quality option on the node to "Quality" which blurs it enough to work, but reduces the quality of your image map.

2. Put Padding round the edges of your UV Islands on your bump map, so that the space around your UV Islands is a mid grey instead of white.

I dont know how you are generating your Bump Maps.  I use 3D Coat which helpfully adds the padding automatically, smearing out the edge of the uvislands out to match the color to the specific island.

Hope that helps.

John

Thanks Medzinatar!

Okay, "1" - yes, it's in feet! And .08333 starting, and I would - yes - love to change that to cm since it's more of an exact measurement system to begin with.

Changed it to .5 and the  hole "narrowed" - which can be seen in "2" on the left. In "2" on the right, I changed it to .02ft and the hole disappeared entirely.

"3" - applied the correct Bump map to the model on the right, and it even made the bump and total texture more of what I was trying to do in the first place. Rust is no longer deep gashes, but more like the scraping I was going for.

Now, you mentioned changing the default "unit of measurement". Can't find where to do that. In C4D, you go Edit>Preferences - and inside the dialog box is a tab to Units, but I can't find anything like that in Poser. Am I looking for the right thing, and/or have I just not found it yet or it's not exactly what I'm thinking?

Thanks again!

-Lew

I think it's working well to set the depth to much lower like .02 or .01.

-Lew

No problem, those image quality settings are a real pain if ya dont know they are there :)

What do your maps look like? Bear in mind that the "zero bump" level is black, not mid-grey. If your bump map has a non-black background, that can cause artifacts at polygon boundaries. I can't tell if that's the case here.

That area is almost white - VERY light grey and even. When I get home tonight I'll post that cross-section of the bump texture.

BTW, EnglishBob - LOVED Unforgiven! (just a guess as far as your usernamesake, aside from the fact that you're in the UK)

Got it in one. ;-)

When you post the bump, also let us see the random image that you tested with in the first post. A useful test might be to apply a pure black image as a bump map, and see if the artifacts arise in that instance.

Topis the actual bump map, and bottom is the random image I used as a test - it's a mesh UVMap of a condom - yes.

-Lew

Could you try a bump map which goes close to black? I used Paint Shop Pro's histogram adjustment on your example here.

Edit: I'm not sure why you want a bump map on something that is supposed to be smooth - a urinal, is it?

Well, it's older and deteriorated. So I wanted it to have a surface - not deep gashes, but something you can tell is no longer pristine, so if you ever get up close you'll be able to see a faint texture.

-Lew