Bump Map Normal Map Basics?


HumbleChief
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56 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

Try searching it online.  Bump maps and normal maps aren't specifically a Chief thing.  Tons of information out there. 

Did a bit of searching and got just a bit more confused. Thought maybe Chief had a tut or library of maps? Saw the latest vid from the NKBA show and Scott was showing a wood floor with the grooves showing up so nicely and I thought that might be a bump map thing? ...but no clue how to accomplish same. I'll keep at it and thanks as always Michael.

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1 hour ago, HumbleChief said:

Thought maybe Chief had a tut or library of maps?

 

Not specifically, but they do have a few of them scattered about.  In many cases, Chief and others just use the actual texture file as the bump map but the normal map is a different story.  To find the normal maps that Chief has installed you can either navigate to the specific referenced file for the texture in question or navigate to the appropriate folder and search "normal"...

 

In C:\ProgramData\Chief Architect Premier X9\Referenced Files\CoreCatalogFiles.zip for example, we currently have about 82 such files...

5a8331dd2191b_pic1.thumb.jpg.ff3cfec18e7ab7f3dc308acacac44806.jpg5a83320e0c3c2_SpanishTileNormal2016.thumb.png.185794cf02b90a18bcb0a3a080fa0657.png

 

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48 minutes ago, Alaskan_Son said:

 

Not specifically, but they do have a few of them scattered about.  In many cases, Chief and others just use the actual texture file as the bump map but the normal map is a different story.  To find the normal maps that Chief has installed you can either navigate to the specific referenced file for the texture in question or navigate to the appropriate folder and search "normal"...

 

In C:\ProgramData\Chief Architect Premier X9\Referenced Files\CoreCatalogFiles.zip for example, we currently have about 82 such files...

5a8331dd2191b_pic1.thumb.jpg.ff3cfec18e7ab7f3dc308acacac44806.jpg5a83320e0c3c2_SpanishTileNormal2016.thumb.png.185794cf02b90a18bcb0a3a080fa0657.png

 

VERY helpful as usual Michael - appreciate it!

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In chief I find that bump maps are suitable for most things.   What is nice about bumps is you can adjust right from the DBX to suit intensity.


With 'normal' you have to do all your tweaking outside chief.  Generating a normal map from a 2d picture takes some software and even then it is 'faking it'.   There are a few programs out there.  Crazy Bump is one of the best know and people regard as easiest to use if you enough to justify the cost.    I  use an online converter which gives good results and is free.

 

It can be a pain to extract the texture file you are looking for to modify.   Chief has them all compressed.

 

EG, here were 7 different normals I made trying to find the right texture for this brick.  In the end, the bump map looked just as good and took one shot.  Normal 6 was the best for me.

 

You can take almost any of those normal maps and use as a bump map and adjust right from the dbx the intensity and get good results. 

 

 

 

 

 

Gamston.jpg

NormalMap (1).png

NormalMap (2).png

NormalMap (3).png

NormalMap (4).png

NormalMap (5).png

NormalMap.png

NormalMap (6).png

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On 2/13/2018 at 2:06 PM, Kbird1 said:

IIRC @KirkClemons started a thread on this , with a Tutorial he made , linked on his Blog , I am not sure if he got around to Finishing it or not ? I'll try and see If I saved the link but hopefully he will see this post and pop in here....

 

Maybe in the Symbols Forum?

 

M.

 

 

Yes, I finished the tutorial, for creating Normal maps and bump(height) maps. The article is here:
https://kcclemo.neocities.org/creating-height-and-normal-maps/

It hasn't been updated for the new types of maps that X10 now supports but is still relevant and last I checked, the online normal map generator is still up and running.

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13 minutes ago, solver said:

 

Where may we find information on the new maps?

 

At the moment, they are only briefly mentioned in the feature overview video:

https://www.chiefarchitect.com/videos/watch/2412/3d-rendering-features-added-in-x10.html

 

As for how to use them, they are in the material properties dialog, same as the bump or normal maps:

ao-maps.thumb.jpg.040c834d51fc4b8be901060d97107c6a.jpg roughness-metal-maps.thumb.jpg.a844503319adbf9ab3f37aef031174df.jpg

 

Creating these maps would only require a photo editor such as GIMP or Photoshop.

 

If you want to see some examples of what these maps typically look like, this site offers several PBR(Physically Based Rendering) texture downloads:

https://www.poliigon.com/

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