/3/ - 3DCG

>>393684
>>393688
True, i might talk a little bit too-specific for software i use all the time. Sorry about that.
In general, shader decides how to use which channel - best example is frostbite engine, where on rgba channels of specular are kepts maps for specular, gloss and lighting (if i rememebr correctly)). i've encounteres many times a diffuse maps where only one channel data was used for actual diffuse (saturation and hue was defined by engine shader), and every channel contained different data, everything to conserve space (i've made few titles for nintendo wii / wiiware, shit was extreme).
>>393686
>>393691
as before me people stated - displacement is actually geometry-modyfying function, where you actually change mesh (its done by gpu shader) accordingly to height of map, however, due to pixel-texel-mesh ratio, without additional tesselation of mesh (which is somewhat young in practical uses, even if theoretical usage has been described in around 80') it may not produce best results. Thats why parallax maps (im talking normal rotation + height, in whatever setup, it may be compiled into one file witch channels, it may be in separate files) with tesselation produces so far best results, talking from experience with UDK and UNIGINE.

>>393693
"This is the difference between "it looks like it has a bumpy surface" and "it has a bumpy surface"."
cannot go simplier than that.

Of course, engine-optimization is another tale, and there may be situations when bumpmaps could be used instead of normalmaps (or even those mentioned emboss bumpmaps, welcome in the year 1999), or any other hacks, but it's really complex topic.

>>393666
fuck, i mean bumpmap + normalmap = parallax map
Now i remember why i've stopped visiting /3/

jesus fucking christ, so much heresy here.
bumpmap = heightmap, basically.
combine bumpmap with normalmap, you get displacement map (rgb+a)
WHICH MEANS you have nromal rotation + normal elevation.
Bumpmap, or grayscale image in general (call it whatever youlike) dont store any information about normal rotation, and talking about slopes when seeing black to white gradient on bumpmap is retarded - the whole surface is still flat, the normals of surface are still flat.
There is a reason for using normalbump in 1999, and reason for abandoning it.

Also, fuck you, i have 9 years of gamedev industry experience, and most of You are talking shit.
this guy:
>>393534
actually have some knowledge, you should listen to him and stop bitching.