Week 5 Class Practical: Part 4 - Procedural Maps and Bump Maps

Next I had to create a plane object and test out the various types and features of procedural mapping. After adding this shape, adding a lambert material to it and opening the render node window I started to add various procedural maps and observe their effects. I have also added some of these procedurally generated maps as a bump map applied to the plane as they seem more suited for that purpose. A bump map is a technique where these textures can be used to simulate bumps, creases and wrinkles in an object, making for much more complex objects without the need for more complicated geometrical modelling. Below are examples of these textures applied as both normal textures and bump maps.

Fractal
This map seems like it would be good to mimic terrain textures, such as grassland or mud, especially effective if used as a bump map.

Brownian
Similar to fractal, brownian seems that it would be effective as a bump map for a thick or bumpy suface, like a painted wall or a muddy floor etc.

Marble

As the name suggests this texture is used to simulate marble quickly and effectively using a "filler" colour and a "vein" colour.

Noise

This texture seems like the most versatile out of all of the procedural maps I have tested. This texture has a magnitude of options that can make incredibly different looking outcomes useful for map different situation as shown by the vastly different textures created in the screenshots below.

Granite

As the name suggests, this texture is designed to replicate a granite like surface. It seems like it would be very useful if texturing a brick wall for example.

Cloud

Another pretty straight forward texture. This one is a soft, smoke-like texture used to replicate a cloud. It could also be used to replicate a smoke cloud from a fire etc.

Crater

This texture is quite interesting as by default it outputs in RGB which would suggest it is most suited for normal mapping. When normal mapping the RGB output equates to the X, Y, Z coordinates in Maya. As a normal texture it looks like it represents the lines found in a topographic map, however it could also be used to mimic a heat map. When used as a bump map it more closely resembles a bumpy landscape.

Ocean

This is the final procedural map I will be covering in this exercise. This texture is quite interesting as the options relate directly to things such as "wave height" and "turbulence" like you would see in the ocean. The slider for "time" on this map seemed to almost animate the water, with waves passing over the texture. With the right use of transparency this texture would be very useful for creating a believable body of water.