Bumping your materials

A common trick to make an object look more realistic is to use a bump map. A bump map allows relief to be added to the surface of the object without the need to add extra triangles.

In ShadingTypesDemo.swf, an example of bumping has been implemented. Select PhongShader and check the Bumpmap checkbox. See how this changes the details of your object.

Note

At the time of writing, Papervision3D has some problems regarding bump maps and external models. This issue is visible in the shading types demo when the model is rotating. Around the UV seams (these are visible as very thin black lines when using the PhongShader without bump map), you'll notice some dark smudge.

A bump map in Papervision3D works with an ordinary bitmap as the source and can be used to apply bumping to a bitmap material. Based on the information found in the image, each pixel is shaded darker or lighter, which adds the bumpy effect. The image can be in normal colors or grayscale. Papervision3D will internally...