Bump maps

 
 
 

Bump maps are grayscale textures you map to objects to create the illusion of surface relief (elevations and depressions) on an otherwise flat object.

With bumps maps depressions and elevations look real, but are not, because they don’t alter the geometry of the surface the way Displacement maps do. Bump maps just change the direction of the surface’s normals based on the bump map’s Alpha Gainvalue.

Use bump maps to create very shallow reliefs. For example, you can make objects look like they are embossed, have shallow rolling hills, and so on.

Because bump maps are not true surface relief, they:

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