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Bump maps and shading preferences

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selden:
Normal maps usually are more precise, although bumpmaps are easier to understand. Traditionally, bumpmaps could use only 8 bits of resolution (i.e. a total of 256 different height levels, although 16 bits usually are possible these days) while normal maps provide 8 bits in each of two different directions.

Unfortunately, I don't see any mention in the Anim8or documentation ( http://www.anim8or.com/learn/pdf/anim8or_manual_v100_da.pdf ) of Anim8or's bumpmap resolution. Hopefully I've overlooked it or Steve can provide some clarification.

FWL:
Thanks for your response, Selden!

I will try them both and see what fits my needs the best.

Steve:
seldon is right. Bumpmaps and normal maps both have a precision of 8 bits. The derivative is computed based on a single value for bumpmaps while normal maps have 3 8 bit components that represent the derivative so are normally more accurate.

Note: It's possible to use higher resolution 16b or even 16b or 32b floating point bump and normal maps on GPUs but if the input image is only 8b then it wouldn't help. Currently Anim8or doesn't support fp textures because there are few texture maps in fp format.

FWL That's one reason why GPUs are better that built-in Intel graphics ;)

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