I had a quick question: Since Bump Mapping makes a texture look more 3D, why don''t all 3D games use it as much as possible? Is there a downside? Is it a big load on the user''s computer? Is it too hard and time consuming for an artist to develop it? Thanks

It''s a load on the users computer.

It slows down the rendering (GPU has to do a lot more work/calculation), and is very time consuming for artists. Bump mapping is pretty cool, but I am waiting for displacement texturing :o)... much more realistic than bump mapping (you can actually see the bumps, so it''s not really a flat surface).

Billy

quote: Original post by Anonymous Poster
It slows down the rendering (GPU has to do a lot more work/calculation)

Do you think the slow down is worth the improvement? Would one be better off just using that extra rendering power for other things such as higher polys in the models?

quote:
Bump mapping is pretty cool, but I am waiting for displacement texturing :o)... much more realistic than bump mapping (you can actually see the bumps, so it''s not really a flat surface).

Sounds interesting. Any idea when it might come out?