Bump/Normal

[alexos]

I don't know if it's something that can be done within the plug-in or if it depends on the main engine, but it would be nice if we could have bump and normal acting together, rather than the latter superseding the former like it is now. I know it (sort of) can be achieved using the boolean nodes, but it's not quite the same thing... Oh and while I'm on the subject, LW's native add, subtract and suchlike do work with Octane, right?

ADP.

[voon]

I never quite understand the difference ... aren't bump and normal both shifting light vectors to create an illusion of relief? What's the difference then?

[mdharrington]

i think bump is strictly meant to be a 1 vector offset along the poly normal....greyscale
whereas normal is a 3 vector offset of the poly normal, so you could see why a normal map would override bump...

AFAIK

[alexos]

The difference - apart from the source material, as mdharrington says - is that within native LW you can use both at the same time so if you want, say, large craters pocketed with smaller craters or suchlike it's just a matter of connecting two different inputs. Whereas within Octane (again: not sure if it's the plug-in or the main engine) if you try and use both, the normal node will always prevail over the bump. You can of course use the multiply node, but it's not quite the same thing... Just nitpicking, I guess.

ADP.

[voon]

Can you not just use a normal map including the fine detail, like the small scars/pockets in your example? Other than that, texture mixing to create a more complex map out of several others sounds like a logic approach rather than using bump and normal in this case?

[alexos]

Well, as for the first case (custom-built normal map) it's certainly a possibility, but you do have to create the map first - and in case of large meshes the pattern quickly becomes apparent. Mixing or multiplying textures should work, but for some reason I'm not having much success in mixing different procedurals or procedurals+bitmaps on the normal channel. It's certainly not a show-stopper, but, you know.

ADP.

[mdharrington]

technically you should be able to combine bump and normal...

but you would have to add/multiply the bump over the proper channel in the normal map....I am assuming it's the green channel, but normals are always confusing especially for the different apps and channels being flipped/reversed....and then it would be just input on the normal input not the bump

whether or not octanes nodes will let you do that is another question...