Bump / Specular Mapping

Almost... now for some finishing touches...

The first step in the finishing process was to apply a 'bump' map. This lovely little tool allows the texture to have a little bit of depth to it (Rather than attempting to feign texture by a pretty pattern). The above image is the bump map. This was created from the map guide I used for the face. It's pretty easy to do. All you need to do is 'Desaturate' the original image (Make this a copy of course! You don't want to accidentaly overwrite your texture map!) and then run 'High Pass' through it (Found under 'filters' -> 'other')

Now, applying the bump... First step is to go to the material editor for the skin. Making sure you're in the 'parent' (Not the UV Map, but the material editor with options like specular level and so forth) scroll down to 'Maps' where you now have a large list of different custom maps to use. Under 'bump', you can add the new texture. In addition: under the bitmap options for the texture should be a large box labelled 'bitmap' in the top right. When selected, you're given the list of bitmaps again: one of which should be 'mix'. This allows you to blend textures. So in addition to the bump map, it's also a good move to add 'noise' to the second box (Thus helping to create the effect of skin pores or a stubble). The value below shows how much of a mix you're making. 100% didn't work for me, as they almost seemed to cancel each other out (80 worked better, and 50 was too rough)

Now, it's a subtle difference, but it's there. The skin now has a slight roughness to it, particularly around the stubble area. The light catches it well and it's a little bit more prominent. It's probably only noticeable on a 19'' screen though...

The final step (on the tutorials at least) was to add the specular map to the scene. Specular maps basically tell the program what areas are shiny and what aren't. To be fair, in hindsight, Oran-Nayer Blinn does a better job of realistic texture when it comes to light. But I decided to give this method a spin. The above map was made using the bump map from before (Again, edit a copy, not the original!), and changing the 'levels' option to make sure that the background was pretty much completely black (Open 'Levels' and drag the slider on the far left). It was then simply a case of using the brush tool (Turn hardiness down to 0% and also turn down opacity) to draw out the key areas which reflect light. Once done, it was blasted with a quick Gaussian Blur and 'Texturizer' (To add a bit of roughness to it). In the same way the bump was added; we throw in the texture on the 'Specular Levels' part of 'Maps' and...

There we go! I look a bit bronze though. What's even more worrying is that I look vaguely Roman... give me a toga and I'll fit right in... Seriously, I could have sworn I saw that guy in Gladiator...