[Oldenburg]

Hi, I've had Lightwave for some time now but this is my first real effort to create something. This due to lack of time.

I made a simple bullet. The objectice is to make a life like bullet that would have been burried for a few years. So it would be rusty and scratched. This is just the beginning and not finished by a long shot.

http://www.rawd.net/bullet.bmp

My question concerns the following: as you can see I bump mapped it. But the problem is that the sides of the gun are still perfectly straight. How do I solve this problem? I know I can do a displacement map but that would require a lot of poly's. And I just want to make a simple bullet.

Any tips, tricks?

[kumar]

Nice Bullet. Here is a link i think should help. How many layers are on there,,, looks one,,,, turbulence to me. Hmm,,, a HDR image and a floor will really make it sweet.

http://www.3dluvr.com/davewilson/mak...ingOfArach.htm

[Mark]

Bump mapping will indeed leave the geometry unchanged in your bullet since it is only a surfacing attribute. It works purely by displacing the surface normals to simulate the effect of there being detail on the surface.

If you really want to move the surface, then you need to apply the texture as a displacement map (you can find the controls in the object properties panel) - this will physically move the vertices of the object to add the surface detail. Be warned though, you will need a sufficiently complex object to get a smooth finish. I'd suggest subdividing the object once then ensuring that it's a subpatch object before trying to apply displacement.

Also, the other question you need to ask yourself is what enironment is this going to be seen in, and how close up. Do you really need to add a full displacement mapping to the surface, since Lightwave is going to have to recompute all that geometry at render time? Remember, realisim is always a trade off of render times against what can actually be seen. A good 90% of it all is about faking it.

[Oldenburg]

@ Kumar

Actually they are two dented procedures. I used them for Color, Specularity and Bump.

What is a HDR image?

The link was a great help. Thanks.

@ Mark

I tried subdividing. I had an insane amount of poly's. Even then the result was not really satisfying. That made me realise that you are right. I would never use this bullet at this size. So I would never even be able to see the result in a scene even if I had a proper result.

About that faking part: I'll try to get some tips from my girlfriend. I just hope she won't agree on your 90% part

[Mark]

roflmao