How to create Bump Maps with Photoshop

Note: A more complex but usually preferred method to construct Bump Maps is with "Normal Mapping" (not to be confused with "Normal Map", which is just another word for "Bump Map", and by "Bump Map" I mean a special RGB map as outlined in this tutorial, not a "Height Map". Hope you followed that!), where you construct the Bump Map from high resolution geometry. You can read a tutorial on this at http://www.ionization.net/tutsnorm1.htm . Regardless, you must read this tutorial so you are familiar with the format we require bump maps to be in. Also see the "Normal Mapping" downloads at the bottom of this page.

Bump Mapping!
Fig 1 - Bump Mapping is Cool

Note: You will need the Normal Map Plugin-in from http://developer.nvidia.com/object/nv_texture_tools.html . Place it in Photoshop/plug-ins/filters. I also recommend downloading the DDS plugin-in, which goes in Photoshop/plug-ins/file formats.

1. You will need a greyscale image as the base for the height map. If you have a base image go to 2.

If you wish to make a height map of an existing texture, probably the diffuse texture, open the texture in Photoshop. Go to the tab "filter > sketch > photocopy". This will give you a black and white image. Black areas will be recessed and white areas raised. It usually helps to smooth out some of the details to give less noisy gradients in the bump map, so you may want to try a light Guassian blur.

2. Go to the "Window" tab and select "Show Channels". Make sure you have a Red, Green, and Blue channel. If not, select Image > Mode > RGB Color.

In the channel window, click the 'Create New Channel' icon on the bottom right, just left of the Trash Icon. The new channel named "Alpha 1" will appear.

Channels Window

3. Click one of the Color channels, Press CTRL-A then CTRL-C to copy the channel to memory for use in a minute.

4. In the channel window select alpha, red, green and blue channels (shift + left mouse). Channel tabs will turn blue when selected.

5. Go to the "Filter" menu and select "nvTools/NormalMapFilter"

Filter Plugin Window

Height generation: - 3x3 or 5x5 (sharper image) are best and scale sets height. You may need to experiment with these settings to get the result you want.
Height source: - "Average RGB".
Alpha field: - "Height".

Click "Ok"

6. You should now have a color normal map present. You now have two choices, depending on whether you want to have a specular map or use this as a special parallax bump map. If you don't know what parallax mapping is, and don't need a specular map, skip this step completely.

To use this as a parallax map: Select the alpha channel then click CTRL-V to paste the Heightmap image into the channel. You should now apply a gaussian filter to only the alpha channel, to smooth out the surface so the results look more pleasing when using parallax mapping.

To use a specular map: Simply paste your greyscale specular map into the alpha / transparency channel.

Note: The usage of your bump map depends on the shader it is used in. Make sure not to mix up bump maps intended for parallax with bump maps intended for specular mapping!

7.Save as TNG as 32 bit, if you have an alpha (spec) channel, or save as 24 bit if you are not using alpha.

Also make sure that "bump" or "normal" or "_nm" is in the name of the texture, otherwise the engine will not know it is a bump map, and will not be able to correctly compress the image.

Note: I strongly recommend testing your texture, as it can take a lot of tweaking to get things looking their best. Please please please read MaxShaderPlugin or MakingYourFirstLevel and give it a try in 3dsmax6's realtime viewport or RealityBuilder! It should only take an extra 5 minutes, and it will ensure your brand new map actually looks as good in reality as it does in your preview.

Miscellaneous

http://www.ati.com/developer/tools.html (Normal Mapper and Normal Mapper UI): ATI's program for creating normal maps from high and low resolution input meshes (exported from Maya or Max via the included .NMF plugins). See the normal mapping tutorials for more details on how to use it. Includes a GUI for the ATI NormalMapper program. Requires the Microsoft .NET framework update from Windows Update.

MAX6ExportNMF.dle: .NMF exporter for Max 6. Use to export models for use with ATI NormalMapper stand-alone.

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