creating Spec maps and Bump maps

Beowulf01 · Post #1by **Beowulf01** » 28.03.2005, 04:15

could some one give me a link to a tutorial of creating Spectacular maps and Bump maps? of at lest let me know what needs to be done to get this effect?

Post #2by **selden** » 28.03.2005, 12:33

They're both grey-scale images.

Specular maps are white where there should be highlights, black where there shouldn't. They can be used "standalone" or inserted as Alpha channels of PNG or DDS planet surface textures. For example, oceans would be white and continents black.

Bumpmaps are white at the hightest points, black at the lowest. They are used as separate images. For example, mountain tops would be white and valleys black.

Does this help?

Beowulf01 · Post #3by **Beowulf01** » 28.03.2005, 23:58

mostly, yes.
except for one thing

inserted as Alpha channels of PNG or DDS planet surface textures

ok i dont use the DDS simply becase i cant get any the DDS utility to work with paintshop pro.. i Downloaded everything at the Nvidia site, but could not find which file they are refering to here. "Dump the contents of "these required DLLs" into the Windows\System
folder."
??

guess i missed something.

Alpha Channel?,,,,

Rassilon · Post #4by **Rassilon** » 03.04.2005, 04:20

If your using paint shop pro the alpha channel is your masking layer...

Beowulf01 · Post #5by **Beowulf01** » 03.04.2005, 17:32

Thanks!

Dollan · Post #6by **Dollan** » 26.07.2005, 17:13

Coming in waay late on this subject....

Is it only those areas of a specular map that have an RGB value of 255, 255, 255 that will act as a reflector? In other words, can there be areas of grey? Or will that cause some kind of adverse effect?

...John...

LoneHiker · Post #7by **LoneHiker** » 11.10.2005, 01:47

Dollan wrote:Is it only those areas of a specular map that have an RGB value of 255, 255, 255 that will act as a reflector? In other words, can there be areas of grey? Or will that cause some kind of adverse effect?

No, the only areas that *will not* reflect anything are those that are RGB 0,0,0. The remaining 255 values all reflect to some degree according to their lightness. Lighter areas reflect more; darker areas less. So there are a total of 255 different levels of reflectance. Hope this helps.

Lone

LoneHiker · Post #8by **LoneHiker** » 11.10.2005, 02:12

Beowulf01 wrote:ok i dont use the DDS simply becase i cant get any the DDS utility to work with paintshop pro.

I have a nVidia plugin you can try. All you need to do is create a Plugins folder in your PSP Program Files directory and drop it in. The next time you run PSP you'll have the option to open and save DDS files.

Just contact me at my Hotmail.com address and I'll send it to you. My e-mail username is LONE_HIKER (you know how to complete the rest).

The zipped file is 211 KB.

The only condition is once you receive you agree to pass it along to anyone else who wants it.

Lone

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