There are three maps that are primarily used for the Metallic Roughness workflow. I encourage you to check out this article I wrote of the basics of PBR if you want to learn more about the workflows. There is the Metallic Roughness workflow and the Specular Glossiness workflow. When It comes to maps required for Physically Based Rendering (PBR) there are two different types of methodologies used which require different maps. They are normally limited to rendered images and movies. Games do not use these as much do to their real time rendering requirement. This extra performance however comes at a cost which limits its use. It gives little indication as to the original low poly meshes shape or silhouette. Like the Bump Map the Displacement Map uses grey scale values for its map.ĭue to the fact that the Displacement Map actually creates the additional geometry it gives the best result. This is primarily due to the fact unlike the Normal and Bump Maps the displacement map actually modifies the geometry. Height Map / Displacement Mapĭisplacement Maps are a step up once again to Normal Maps, however they are also the most resource intensive. For high quality renders and movies this isn’t a great choice. Using Normal Maps is great for games as it comes down to a performance over quality scenario. If you look close enough you can still see the basic outline of the low poly model. However its biggest disadvantage is it does not change the geometry. ![]() The Normal Map works great in most scenarios as it does a great job faking detail on flat surfaces, curved surfaces and around edges. A Normal Map uses a RGB map with each color dictating the X, Y & Z axis this far better accuracy and removes much of the disadvantages of a Bump Map. Unlike a Bump Map which utilizes a grey scale texture map to denote up and down. This being the case they are a very popular choice and used heavily in games. A Normal Map is still a relatively low resource intensive algorithm but is not as efficient as a Bump Map. Once again a Normal Map does not create extra geometry it simply fakes it. Normal MapĪ Normal Map is a step up from a Bump Map and has a little more smarts about it. When it comes to altering the appearance of round objects or edges they don’t create great detail and the illusion the create falters.īump Maps are best used for flat surfaces and small details such as a brick or a licence plate. The algorithm bump maps use simply givew the appearance of altered geometry, they don’t actually alter the geometry. So the question is why not always use Bump Maps? While they are useful they have some considerable disadvantages. Black indicates the lowest part of the faked geometry and White being the peak with Grey being somewhere in between based on the shade. It’s because of this these maps are very popular despite being around for some time.īump Maps utilizes a grey scale texture map. ![]() They are the least resource intensive as they utilize a simple algorithm to alter the appearance of the model. ![]() Bump MapĪ Bump Map is the most basic form of maps that alter geometry. Some of these maps have alternate names so they are sometimes difficult to identify and understand the difference. They are applied to a low poly mesh to fake the detail of the high poly mesh. These maps are generally used in place or a high poly mesh. The first group of maps are maps that have the ability to alter fine details of a model’s geometry. Prior to this there was a reliance on manipulating shaders of the model which did not necessarily translate well between render engines.īelow are the maps I am going to focus on. ![]() Over the past few years texture maps have grown in popularity particularly due to the Physically Based Rendering (PBR) pipeline which standardizes ways of texturing. Texture maps are applied to a 2d representation of a 3d model also known as a UV. This can include its color, fine detail, how shiny or metallic it looks, whether its transparent or if it glows. What is A Texture Mapīefore we begin it is best to have some understanding of what a texture map is.Ī texture map is a way of applying properties to a 3d model so as to alter its appearance using 2d images. I for one am still unfamiliar some of them so I have done some research and collated all the most popular maps and their usage. When you first start creating 3d models it can very quickly get overwhelming keeping track of the purpose of each texture map.
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