Normal Displacement and Bump Maps

This week we had to learn the difference and properties of different uv maps. The main focus was on using normal maps, before we are going to do this on our character models we tried this on a cube because the way that it is done can get overwhelmingly complicated fast.

The overall task was to create a cube (the left) and create a higher poly version of a crate (the middle), then 'bake' the high poly crate onto the high poly crate. Once the cube is 'baked' all of the detail is then imprinted on the regular cube
(the right). Even though the geometry of the cube is not altered at all, it acts like the higher detail model, including the effects that it has such as lighting and casting shadows. Even though up close you can tell the differences in the models, from a distance or a tiny scale it would not be apparent to the viewer. This logic lowers the amount of polygons that need to be in a scene.


Normal maps, a map of what your geometry's normals are, This can create an illusion of anything form height to to lighting. This takes advantages of real-time rendering of how your model maybe affected by different angles of effect, in all three axis' in a 3D space. The only main problem with this map is that it is difficult to texture because of the way that the colour is done on the uv map.

Bump Maps, a map that is greyscale that acts like a pseudo-height map. It creates an illusion of raised or lowered details on a surface. Anything above 50% appears to pull up out of the mesh while below 50% appears to push into the mesh.  A problem for these maps is that they can easily be broken if the camera views the map from a wrong angle.

Displacement maps, this is a height map that affects the geometry of a model unlike a bump map that only gives and illusion. This generally applied to lower poly versions of models to have high quality detail while keeping the mesh easy for animating and rigging. A big problem with these maps however is that they require major processing power to create all of the alterations on the mesh because the geometry additions are rendered in the scene.