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Since this morning I can't make any bump map work properly, they always appear pixellized, in OpenEXR format or with 32 bit Float, either in 2.8 or 2.9, it doesn't seem to be the Terminator effect either, so I don't know what I'm missing here, can it be a graphic card problem (even though it used to work fine before)?.

Here is a screenshot of the result:

enter image description here

The file is here:

moonboots
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  • In your screenshot, it looks as though you were using a png-file format for your bumpmap (instead of EXR, as you wrote). Is this intentional? – haarigertroll Nov 27 '20 at 12:08
  • actually i've tested several formats, png or exr, and it doesn't change anything, but I'm going to upload a file with the exr packed as well, I realize it's not the case here – moonboots Nov 27 '20 at 12:13
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    Have a look at the bump mapping section here https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/latest/render/eevee/limitations.html?highlight=limitation%20bump#materials – lemon Nov 27 '20 at 12:36
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    Or confirmed by Brecht https://developer.blender.org/T58522 – lemon Nov 27 '20 at 12:47
  • thanks but could you please ellaborate? It doesn't work with Cycles either – moonboots Nov 27 '20 at 12:48
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    I'm not aware of all the technical aspects. But the chapter in the documentation is the same since several versions. Procedural inputs are ok, but images have this 2x2 pixelated thing. – lemon Nov 27 '20 at 12:50
  • Ok so I guess we need to avoid bump and prefer normal maps for the moment, thanks – moonboots Nov 27 '20 at 12:55
  • If I understand well, it works again. Do you have a file that works well to be compared with the former one? – lemon Nov 30 '20 at 14:20
  • It looks like the picture was not a proper 32 bit Float png, my last test was better, needs confirmation though... – moonboots Nov 30 '20 at 15:03
  • So I have the confirmation that there's a problem even with a 32 bit Float, a quick trick to smooth it is to use a very light SSS (in french): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6eoZt0W2UA0&feature=youtu.be – moonboots Nov 30 '20 at 17:53
  • @moonboots, merci de partager l'information mais je ne suis pas sûr de comprendre une vidéo en français. – lemon Nov 30 '20 at 18:16
  • sorry I thought you were french, actually he just gives a very low amount of SSS with very low Radius values and it smoothes the pixellisation, tell me if you want me to write a full answer to make it clearer – moonboots Nov 30 '20 at 18:20
  • @moonboots, actually I'm (and you're too, I think?)... was a little joke ; ). I've just gave a look at this short video. The trick is interesting and simple.You should write an answer about that maybe? – lemon Nov 30 '20 at 18:23
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    oui français ;) ça marche je vais rédiger une réponse – moonboots Nov 30 '20 at 18:26
  • Though, just tested it on your file. Not so simple to tune. – lemon Nov 30 '20 at 18:37
  • I realized that my file was probably not 32 bit Float, maybe a wrong move with Krita – moonboots Nov 30 '20 at 18:39

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My problem was that my image was 8 bit, it needs to be 16-Bit Float or 32-Bit Float. It won't work either if I paint (or blur) a 8 bit image and convert it to 16 or 32 bit, it needs to be 16 or 32 bit before painting. Also it needs to be PNG, not JPG, and the Image Texture needs to be set to Cubic, not Linear.

moonboots
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    Thanks, compatriote (!! : ) – lemon Nov 30 '20 at 19:13
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    et vive la France of course – moonboots Nov 30 '20 at 19:14
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    cocorico for the update – L0Lock Oct 11 '22 at 18:47
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    @L0Lock Thanks ;) it was a lingering problem and it took me time to find the answer, for a long time I thought Blender was not able to correctly manage b&w image for bump maps – moonboots Oct 11 '22 at 18:57
  • that would have been sad. – L0Lock Oct 11 '22 at 19:33
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    BTW, png is fine-ish because it can do 16bis, but ideally you want 32bits if you can, so that would often be tga raw or exr. Though, one way to get away with decent-enough details is to have a map that was made using 32bits and then down sampled to 16 or even 8 bits but with dithering. It will not be as good, but in many cases it's decent. That's often the only thing used in video games that look HQ. – L0Lock Oct 11 '22 at 19:35
  • ok thanks for the precisions ;) – moonboots Oct 11 '22 at 19:44