In our last "Residential Revit" series post we talked about finding custom materials for your residential renderings and images. This week, I want to show you how to make a "bump map" from those images you find using the resources in our last post.
A "bump map" is essential when rendering with Revit. The bump map is a high contrast, black and white version of the rendered texture. When paired with your rendered material in Revit the bump map will tell Revit how to slightly displace the texture to add realism.
The images below illustrate before and after a bump map is applied to a wood floor (I've over-bumped the second image for effect). Notice how the wood floor in the bottom image looks "rougher". That is because of bump map... I did not model the wood grain... ;)
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| Wood Floor Texture with no Bump Map |
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| Wood Floor Texture with Bump Map and Set Very High |
So, how do you make this "bump map"?
I extracted a piece of "BIM After Dark - Volume 1: BIM can be Sexy" to walk you through the process... It is way easier than you may be thinking.
