Fake Bumping

[DEElekgolo]

1: So here I have the halo 3 beta spartan diffuse texture and the normal map opened in photo shop
http://img4.imageshack.us/img4/3589/screenshot13328086.png
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2: I would change size of the diffuse bitmap so that it matches the size of the normal map. In this case, 768x768

http://deelekgolo.wmclan.net/FakeBump/screenshot2.Png

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3: I would select the BLUE channel of the normal map and hit ctrl+c to copy it.

http://deelekgolo.wmclan.net/FakeBump/screenshot3.Png

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4: Then I would paste it over the diffuse texture with the Multiply blending property.

http://deelekgolo.wmclan.net/FakeBump/screenshot5.Png

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5: Press ctrl+L and change the levels until you get the desired effect.

http://deelekgolo.wmclan.net/FakeBump/screenshot6.Png

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6: Before...

http://deelekgolo.wmclan.net/FakeBump/screenshot7.Png

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7: After

http://deelekgolo.wmclan.net/FakeBump/screenshot8.Png

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http://deelekgolo.wmclan.net/FakeBump/

There is much else to do after this(edit the multipurpose map, shaders, etc) I'll add later.

And now a little explanation. Normal maps store information on the tangents, normals, and bi-normals of a high poly object. This image explains a lot.
http://main.halodev.org/system/files/special/nmimgs/NormalMapIllustration.jpg
So using the red or green channel of a normal map to fake bump would only show up as if you where using pre-defined light on your texture.

[PopeAK49]

Cool I guess? I think a better example would be if you had before and after images ingame. Then maybe I can say it's awesome.

[Spartan094]

Acutely the only thing thats helping with the Fake Bumping is the armor and alittle bit of the rubber. It makes it look more sharpand intense (depends on how you set the levels at). In the normal the R and G channels help the rubber mostly while the B channel helps the armor more.

Never the less its still good to have a tut our there to do it the "right way" as dee calls it but meh.

http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc286/Brandon094/normalwithoutpurple.jpg
Well all i did was gray scale the normal, then added the blue channel back on as a multiply like dee does it. Adding the RG channels when you have the blue channel on already on the diffuse really only helps the rubber parts mostly.
Here is the diffuse with all the channels attached to it
http://i214.photobucket.com/albums/cc286/Brandon094/diffusewithRGB.jpg


And pope ill do that. brb

[DEElekgolo]

Using the bi-normals and tangent in your bitmap only makes specific parts brighter then the others, which is what I mean by pre-defined light. From the looks of your image, you simply desaturated the normal map and multiplied it over the diffuse. The rubber looks noisy and pixelated and the hard edges are extremely blackened.

[Spartan094]

Using the bi-normals and tangent in your bitmap only makes specific parts brighter then the others, which is what I mean by pre-defined light. From the looks of your image, you simply desaturated the normal map and multiplied it over the diffuse. The rubber looks noisy and pixelated and the hard edges are extremely blackened.
Its a quick thing i did in photoshop, it looks like that because i didnt decrease the level down

Here you go PopeAK49

Normal diffuse without anything on it (not even the detail map slot is filled)
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/6bb74ef57b955aaf6e6e0df2e99ddfe818f58aef.png

Now here is dee's fake bump tutorial thing (no normal map added to it, does not use my shaders nor the fake bump in the detail slot)
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/5a2ec845b622f3f1591f62ff2a2081a66a8fec4f.png

Here is the one i just posted on my last post.
http://screenshot.xfire.com/screenshot/natural/747e43d775bdfa0613003de0a00dce110c5d87bb.png
which is better :3 but it still doesnt really look different in halo ce by that much.

[Higuy]

Dee's Fake Bumps look alot better imo.
Though I barley use photo shop, this could come handy for a few other things =)

[DEElekgolo]

What happened to the fake bumping method you have been using this whole time before I told grunt? You know, this one:
http://www.modacity.net/forums/picture.php?albumid=94&pictureid=792

[PopeAK49]

Okay now those are good examples. Nice job! It's great.

[Disaster]

Wow, desaturating the normals is a terrible idea. Normal maps contain datata for 3 axis's XYZ (Tangent, Bi-normals, and Normals) and when desaturated, will not give an acurate ambient occlusion map as it will contain the X and Y information and will look really odd. Whereas the blue channel contains the Z information and when multiplied, it will accurately represent the depth from the normal.

[DEElekgolo]

Yeee

[Spartan094]

Yeee
Disaster told you before you went on modacity and posted the tutorial, don't act like he just told you.

Tbh i dont care for my shaders anymore, its old. It's released, Lmao ill let the public decide what they want to use, they want to use yours, cool, if they want to use mine, cool. I don't care anymore. This is why i hate Halo 1's engine, it doesnt allow normals.

Tbh, all my method is is just adding just a gray normal to the detail slot 1 by 1, nothing more. I never fake bumped the acutal diffuse. But i dont care about my shaders anymore. The public can choose which one is best sutted for them. I'm done here.

[DEElekgolo]

Disaster told you before you went on modacity and posted the tutorial, don't act like he just told you.

No.

[Hunter]

Disaster told you before you went on modacity and posted the tutorial, don't act like he just told you.

Tbh i dont care for my shaders anymore, its old. It's released, Lmao ill let the public decide what they want to use, they want to use yours, cool, if they want to use mine, cool. I don't care anymore. This is why i hate Halo 1's engine, it doesnt allow normals.

Tbh, all my method is is just adding just a gray normal to the detail slot 1 by 1, nothing more. I never fake bumped the acutal diffuse. But i dont care about my shaders anymore. The public can choose which one is best sutted for them. I'm done here.

No need to take comments personal. Both techniques look exactly the same. Here is an idea, learn how to make the stuff your self, so you dont need to rip, then you can make it better :)

[FRain]

Baking the bump is cooler. I can make a tut for it.

[Delta4907]

If anyone wants a colored example, meaning the armor is colored, here:
http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk356/DELTA-49/spartans.jpg
I personally like the way the armor turned out, rubber could be better but oh well. (FYI, visors aren't done yet)

There are many methods for fake bumping. I just took Spartan's method and changed it a little bit. If anyone's interested, here's what I did: I made a new image, and placed the red channel from the normal as a layer, then placed the green channel over that, making it the Darken blending property, then placed the blue channel over that, making it the Multiply blending property. I then used this new image as the detail map in the shader. Made sure the detail mask was set at reflection mask inverse, and that's all there was to it.

[t3h m00kz]

Reminds me of the H3 beta for some reason.

[Spartan094]

Reminds me of the H3 beta for some reason.
How? In the halo 3 beta the armor looked like he flew thru a car with vegetable oil and came out all dirty (the Red material map was what made it look like that) and i liked the h3b shaders alot better then the h3 retail shaders.

[Delta4907]

How? In the halo 3 beta the armor looked like he flew thru a car with vegetable oil and came out all dirty (the Red material map was what made it look like that) and i liked the h3b shaders alot better then the h3 retail shaders.

I think you mean you like the retail shaders better than the beta shaders. Although in my opinion, I liked the beta's visor better than it is now.

[Llama Juice]

Can you not have bump maps on bipeds or something in CE? 'cause you could just take the blue channel and put it into the bumpmap slot..

Also, just a note about normals... the R and G channels don't always act the same between programs. There isn't really a uniform way to do it really... different programs use the information differently and so depending on what you're going into you might have to invert certain channels. For example, Maya and UT3 use the green channel opposite of each other, so for one you'll leave it fine and have to invert it for another.

[Rentafence]

I can't stand fake bumps; it just makes everything look grungy. For Halo 1 at least, I like everything nice and clean looking.

[Sel]

Lighting and cubemaps are a big part of the bumping process in halo, they won't work with these bumps properly and will at worst cause visual anomalies, and at the least won't look right.

[DEElekgolo]

Can you not have bump maps on bipeds or something in CE? 'cause you could just take the blue channel and put it into the bumpmap slot..

Also, just a note about normals... the R and G channels don't always act the same between programs. There isn't really a uniform way to do it really... different programs use the information differently and so depending on what you're going into you might have to invert certain channels. For example, Maya and UT3 use the green channel opposite of each other, so for one you'll leave it fine and have to invert it for another.
In halo CE you cant have bump maps on dynamic objects. Only on the BSP model. And even so, halo CE uses the oldest form of normal maps so there isn't really any depth added with a normal map.

[MetKiller Joe]

Anton and I used this same process a couple of months of back to give BiMyrrha's rock texture more depth.

It is pretty cool. You are just amplifying the black and white, but it is a nice effect nonetheless.

[Llama Juice]

In halo CE you cant have bump maps on dynamic objects. Only on the BSP model. And even so, halo CE uses the oldest form of normal maps so there isn't really any depth added with a normal map.

The blue channel of a bump map is just in and out data, which is the same as a normal bump map, so you should be able to either use it directly, or tweak it a bit for it before using it.

Wasn't sure about the bump on dynamics though... silly HCE

[DEElekgolo]

I'm slowly making the change to unreal engine.(60%)
*high five*

[Limited]

You just destroyed the integrity of the normal map...>_<.

Also I agree with rentafence, I'm not a fan of these fake bumps, it makes them look dirter than normal and I can tell you, chief is not a dirty guy.

[Delta4907]

So from Halo 2 to Halo 3, Masterchief hasn't gotten one spec of dirt on his armor? He must be using OxiClean.

[Limited]

So from Halo 2 to Halo 3, Masterchief hasn't gotten one spec of dirt on his armor? He must be using OxiClean.
Theres a big difference between dirt and scratches/dents.

He doesnt have dirt on his H3 armor, he does have new scratches/dents though.

[Advancebo]

Well Bungie used different bitmaps for campaign and multiplayer. Multiplayer had cleaner spartans, campaign had some dents and scratches.

[Delta4907]

http://z.about.com/d/xbox/1/0/x/J/halo3cutout2.jpg

The lower calf and boot areas look like dirt to me, as so do other spots on the armor.

[klange]

http://z.about.com/d/xbox/1/0/x/J/halo3cutout2.jpg

The lower calf and boot areas look like dirt to me, as so do other spots on the armor.
They didn't keep any of that in the actual campaign, though.

[Warsaw]

That is the awesome skin that Bungue decided to swap for the craptastic plastic looking one in the final version of the game, and thus can't really be counted. Though I do agree, dirt on the MCs armour is a perfectly logical and probable occurence.

[Roostervier]

http://con.modacity.net/fr/7980006ri4.jpg

Looks like it has dirt on it to me, heh. But I get what people mean about the fake bumping.

[Warsaw]

Why yes, yes it does. Still plastic though. =þ

The bit about fake bumping is that it doesn't make it look dirty, it makes it look cluttered and/or too busy, thus taking away from details that actually matter because the baked stuff is just as bold as the actual details.