geophysical bumpmaps

a few years ago i got into geophysical 3d height mapping... essentially bumpmaps. and even before that i was doing 3d ascii graphic bumpmapping, though i didnt know the name for it back then.

now, i'm not really sure this hasnt already been covered in one or more threads here, and not really sure the feature doesnt already exist in something like 'surface' filters. but, i'm going to post this anyways.

basicially, what we were doing was using a grayscale map to input into a surface to alter the height of the surface according to the grays. the lighter the gray, the higher the surface would be.

in 'surface' filter types, you have the hdri and height stuff somewhat there already, but it doesnt seem to translate the same way as an inputted bumpmap... and there's where may be my confusion.

nonetheless, i've been wondering lately if it wouldnt be possible to use an imported bumpmap to re-surface a filter and if an imported image couldnt also be used to re-light a surface.

if there was a component that could cache an imported image and keep that imported thoughout the filter and even be uploaded with the filter as a part of it, that would be my desire here.

i find the height controls in a surface filter dont always seem to match up right with the lighting of an image even when i use the original image as the height data and that just seems odd. but again, this may just be a confusion on my part. and if so, perhaps someone can straighten me out on this.

nonetheless, the request here is for an imported height bumpmap and an imported lighting map other than the hdri. i'd just like to import an grayscale into a component for both of these.

now, knowing that i may be just missing something in all this, i'll go play with FF some more and try and figure out what i'm missing here. so, this may end up not being a request of a feature and rather a request of understanding

vlad,

yes, i remember part of that discussion. this was meant to express and refresh that and maybe just a touch more. the biggest difference, to me anyways, was adding the extra import INTO a specific component type, call it a 'cache' component for now. this cache component could hold a small image, particularly a gray scale image of say not much better than 256 x 256 and be used as a mapper for height and lighting, either, or. this would also allow semi-hdri effects on simple filters. or maybe the imported image would have to be a bit larger, maybe 1024 x 1024. not sure. or maybe the image size wouldnt matter that much, except in the speed of rendering.

but yes, you are right about the copyright part. and i dont see a good way around that except as you say, allow this for user's filters only. if you had stock imports then versatility is lost. if you allow it for uploaded filters, then copyrights would inevitably be violated by someone.

hmmm, so, the only other way would be to have an editor within the editor. this sub-editor would allow the creation of a grayscale map within FF itself. but that seems a bit clumsy too. sorry, just thinking out loud here.

i know you can do part of what i'm trying to convey here with threshold and some other things, but that is limited since the threshold is dependent on other sources and not as manipulatable as what i'd like to see.

i'll think on it some more. but i'm encouraged by the 'for user's filters only' part. i may also experiment more with hdri. it might be i can accomplish some of what i'm talking about with specific hdri's tailored to a specific image.