Hello

Maybe you can help me? I have tried searching the forums and maybe I've missed something, but I can't find the answer to my question.

It's really simple actually:

I don't add bumpmaps to me creations because my graphic card is not good enough- however, I have been using some templates meshes that are for texturing and recoloring, and some of them allready have bumpmaps included in them... Do I have to do anything with these? Paint them all black so they will not show on my textures, or can I just ignore them?

Maybe this is a stupid question--- but I'm a NOOB (:D) and it's much to learn in the beginning.

you have nothing to do witht hese really
but just in case bumpmapping is very simple
when u r done making texture for ur skin...and when finished...open up the bumpmap and put a copy of ur base texture (coloured skin u make) over it and desatureate it and save
so in case someone has them enabled they see more detail...

If you are not going to be very careful with bump maps and cannot see them, do NOT do what Owaizoo recommends. You will generally end up with an incorrect bump map.

Just dump in a solid paint bucket fill 50% grey - RGB 128,128,128. Black or white will not work well. That will essentially give you the effect of no bump map at all.

If you DO work on bump maps and can view them, you can start with the technique Owaizoo describes, but it's not usually as easy as desaturating and being done. You must also reduce contrast, and correct any areas that are incorrect - with bump maps, darker areas look lower, lighter areas look higher... but if you, say, have a white logo on a black tee shirt, the logo shouldn't look bumped out from the tee shirt... or if you have a plaid print, you don't want the dark lines in the plaid to look lower than the rest of the fabric. Same with things like a light tie on a dark shirt, or anywhere fabric overlaps, buttons, zippers, and all sorts of details. It requires a lot more thought than just desaturating.

I have seen hundreds of badly done, lazy bump maps, and only maybe two or three outfits that have benefitted from the use of it - for that reason I (and the fact that my graphics card does not display them) I leave them out of all the meshes I create as I really don't think they're necessary, nor do they add much to the finished product in most cases. When in doubt, leave it out and rely on texture.

You can't just ignore it if it does have bump maps included - leaving the original bump on a redone outfit will look Very Bad for anyone who can view them, as will anything that is not perfect and correctly done. I always do the 50% grey dump described above. That's the safe way, and recommended if you cannot view and adjust them yourself.

Ok, thanks a lot HystericalParoxysm And also thanks for explaining it very well. I understand more now. Back to meshing