POV-Ray : Newsgroups : povray.general : Help: The normal map is not working : Re: Help: The normal map is not working Server Time
18 Mar 2026 17:49:58 EDT (-0400)
  Re: Help: The normal map is not working  
From: Bald Eagle
Date: 16 Mar 2026 09:10:00
Message: <web.69b8007bb63eec032e86b3cc25979125@news.povray.org>
"Kenneth" <kdw### [at] gmailcom> wrote:
> "LanuHum" <Lan### [at] yandexru> wrote:
> > Hello! I created a picture with a gradient. I want to use it as a
> > height map for a sphere. However, only gray stripes are visible on the sphere.


> I ran your code--using the same 'normal' image that I copied here-- and it seems
> that a gamma of 1.1 that you used is not a good value for a bump_map. I changed
> that value to 2.2 (and boosted the bump_size to 10) and it looks much better.


Good work digging a little deeper into this.
I was just checking in during morning coffee, and then heading straight out.

Depending on what the final use case is, he might want consistent/believable
shadows to go along with that deep scalloped surface.
Also, it seems a little silly to evaluate the function to make an image that
then gets used as a bump map - when he can just plug it straight into an
isosurface and get better results without all of the extra workflow and
processing.

However your experiments are not without value.  I think it would be a nice
demonstration scene if you made a grid of spheres each with different gamma
handling and bump sizes - AND had them all cast shadows onto a plane.

If you share your thoughts about how the image gets converted to gamma 2.2 or
srgb-modified rgb values, and I can pipe that into the isosurface equations for
a parallel rendering and comparison.

- BE


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