Bump Mapping

[Slaiv]

Before I begin, let me just clear this up. This isn't a deeply moral/politcal debate; it's not serious at all. There.

 

Bump mapping. It's all the rage in game developement. But is it any good?

 

Before I argue about how it should be used, let me give a very short, very simplified version of what it is- it's a technique used in graphic modeling to make textures look like 3d polygonal additions to the model that the textures are being applied to.

 

My opinion is no. I do believe that it has its uses, though. I believe it should be used on far-away objects in games. This is explained by my main point- the textures look 3D if you are far enough away from them, but when you move closer the textures look pretty bad. I dunno, maybe it's just the transition form a 3D-looking object to just a texture, but I think they look bad.

 

I have looked, but can't find any examples of this technique up close and far away, but you can get an idea by downloading the 1st Far Cry demo, and looking at the barrels.

 

What are your opinions?

[Wookiee]

I think bump maping definatly has its place if implemented properly for instance decals should be bump maped but arnt (shrugs) i think seeing a depressed footprint or a bullet hole with ridges and depretions would be nice.

 

on that note i think many companys have ether stuffed bump maping up or used it to frequently.

 

also some vid cards handle bump maping well others definatly do not

 

the apitamy of bump maping will be when it is implemented with n-patch to actualy mold the contures of the added pollys to the bump maping as now it is just an optical ilusion... just my 2 cents :)

 

Da Wookiee

[Slaiv]

That's kind of what I'm saying; if it's implemented correctly, then it's great. It's just that so many times devs try to use it in the wrong places and end up making the game look worse, not better.

[eMbry00s]

Another example, Water of Morrowind.

 

You two have pretty much said what I would have said. damn.

[Breton Thief Oriana]

Yes, but George W. Bush says that god doesnt like bump mapping.

 

That being said, everything has its place in games...even sprites (ooh...sprites..yay). Sprites kicked a** when we had them, then we got lazy and decided to go for things on a tech based game, leaving all the story that sprite games had because they didnt need to invest in huge graphics.

 

EDIT: if you cant tell about the first sentence, im kidding...

[Slaiv]

I agree, sprites own. RM2K3, anyone?

[Wookiee]

farcry uses sprites to help the fps absolutly horible plot but nice engin flexability

[ohGr]

in my opinion, bump mapping will be replaced by something much easier on the video card and better looking, look at halo, run around at a night time level, pul out the torch, BANG, a big performance drop by looking at the bumpyness of the walls, it will get replaced by Hardware Displacement mapping soon, which not only looks better, but is much easier on the video card.

 

Hardware Displacement mapping is similar to bump mapping, only it literally makes bumps in the mesh, a tire for example, it can make actually cave ins and outs of the tire, the tracks wont just have a RGB map applied to them, their mesh will be changed with the feature.