Chaos Corona for 3ds Max > [Max] Feature Requests

Corona BumpConverter Texmap - Additional Bump

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cjwidd:
It would be nice to have an 'additional bump' slot for the Corona BumpConverter Texmap - as is true for Corona Normal Texmap.

romullus:
How does that even makes sense? Additional slot in Corona normal is needed because there's no other way to mix normal and bump maps, but for bump converter you just need to add another mix node and there you have it - your request is completed, just with far greater control than you would have with just additional slot in bump converter.

cjwidd:
This paradigm reappears a lot in Corona Renderer development (i.e. "It is always better to err on the side of offering more control to the user"), but it isn't a bulletproof approach in the context of usability. Mirroring features across a feature set isn't unreasonable, and in the case of the CoronaBumpConverter, it would literally be matching a feature that already exists in a parallel implementation, namely the CoronaNormal Texmap.

I view the CoronaNormal Texmap and CoronaBumpConverter Texmap as sort of companion (parallel) implementations for shading bump detail either through an RGB or greyscale map, respectively. The CoronaNormal is required (default) for using normal maps with Corona Renderer. The CoronaBumpConverter is NOT required for using greyscale bump maps, but it does facilitate their use.

I think what I'm considering is a way to obviate the CoronaMix node for a situation in which a surface is defined by a greyscale bump map, but there is a need to enhance that surface bump with at least one more greyscale bump map.

maru:
Sure, let's discuss. There is one issue that comes to my mind:
Let's assume that we have an "additional bump" slot inside the Corona Bump Converter.
How would the user know if that slot accepts "regular" bump maps that work out of the box, or also the special kinds of bump maps that need the Bump Converter treatment?
Or maybe it should accept both types? (if possible)

cjwidd:
To be sure, what I am proposing in this thread is really far, FAR down on the list of 'nice to haves' for Corona Renderer, but it did occur to me, so I figured I'd post to the Feature Request thread for the record.


--- Quote from: maru on 2021-09-27, 15:38:25 ---How would the user know if that slot accepts "regular" bump maps that work out of the box, or also the special kinds of bump maps that need the Bump Converter treatment?
Or maybe it should accept both types? (if possible)

--- End quote ---

Frankly, I don't totally understand the Corona Bump Converter - I basically only use it if a bump map is being troublesome, and so I've gotten into the habit of just using it all the time, thinking it will only help, not hurt. In that way, I'm not sure I'm prepared to distinguish between 'regular' and 'non-regular' bump maps as it pertains to the Corona Bump Converter.

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