Bump Map Dark Fonts Revisted....

otherwhirl · **Joined:** Dec 29, 2013 **Posts:** 159

GIMP Version: 2.8.10
Operating System: Mac OS
GIMP Experience: Beginner Level

In a previous thread I posted I asked the question was it possible to map dark colors.
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=9541&start=0

A number of you responded with comments like "no," "impossible" etc.

Well... being the curious one and noob that I am to Gimp, I decided to test this possibility once more, as I had vaguely recalled having actually accomplished this before, as well as thinking it seemed quite odd that there would be NO solution for displacing and bump mapping the color black and like dark colors.

The result was it IS possible (see attached screenshot)
As you see I have applied both displacement and bump mapping.

Don't ask me what I did special , as I haven't a clue. All I did was follow the basic steps as taught to me by Wallace (what's up Wallace :cool

) who by the way was among those to comment that it was not possible.

Anyways guys, any thoughts?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Erisian · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 3:16 pm **(#2)**

This is a displacement map. What was said in the other thread is that bump mapping can't be done on black text. Displacement maps and bump maps are entirely different.

otherwhirl · **Joined:** Dec 29, 2013 **Posts:** 159

Ummm.... of course they are different. I did both . (I thought I mentioned this in my opening thread...)
So the point is it IS possible to make a bump map on black text.

Erisian wrote:

This is a displacement map. What was said in the other thread is that bump mapping can't be done on black text. Displacement maps and bump maps are entirely different.

Erisian · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 3:58 pm **(#4)**

I've had another look and I can't see any bumping on this text.

ofnuts · **Joined:** Oct 25, 2010 **Posts:** 4812

Erisian wrote:

I've had another look and I can't see any bumping on this text.

You need a better screen because there is one

molly · **Joined:** Apr 07, 2010 **Posts:** 14182

It will bump but black on black will not show so It is really pointless to use the black. As Erisian said, displacement is a different thing.

Erisian · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 4:36 pm **(#7)**

ofnuts wrote:

Erisian wrote:

I've had another look and I can't see any bumping on this text.

You need a better screen because there is one

To be honest, ofnuts, I need new eyes. Oh well, Erisian is wrong yet again!

Otherwhirl must have used grey in these examples if there is a bump and the people in the other thread only said that black was impossible to bump.

Wallace · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:52 pm **(#8)**

otherwhirl wrote:

Don't ask me what I did special , as I haven't a clue. All I did was follow the basic steps as taught to me by Wallace (what's up Wallace :cool

) who by the way was among those to comment that it was not possible.

Anyways guys, any thoughts?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

It wasn't me that said "it was not possible"... See below

Wallace wrote:

ek22 wrote:

Because bump map doesn't work on black. At all. Not even a little bit.

They will work on dark shades of gray.

This text image below was created using the "Bump Map" filter. The text started out as Black, then I added some brightness only of about +25 using "Brightness and Contrast" filter, to making it a dark shade of gray.
[ Image ]
Then by playing with "Levels" I was able to darken it a bit more.

Here are the settings I used for the bump map filter. Notice that "Invert Bumpmap" is also checked.
[ Image ]
Once the bump mapping was done, I did a slight "selective blur" and also a slight "gaussian blur" to the text.

One other thing I did was use the "Chisel" script to create somewhat of the same effect.
The "chisel" script was used on this image below. The color of the text was not changes, I left it "Black"(#000000).
[ Image ]

Erisian · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 5:59 pm **(#9)**

I've been experimenting and I am now totally convinced that it is impossible to bump map black text or anything black. It's obvious you can't get shadows on black but it seems you can't get highlights either.

GnuTux · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:24 pm **(#10)**

You can get highlights if you bump inside the Lighting Effects filter. :mrgreen:

Like you, I can't see any highlights when bumping black outside the LE filter, though.

Erisian · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 6:35 pm **(#11)**

GnuTux wrote:

You can get highlights if you bump inside the Lighting Effects filter. :mrgreen:

[ Image ]

Like you, I can't see any highlights when bumping black outside the LE filter, though.

I had forgotten all about that filter for bumping.

otherwhirl · **Joined:** Dec 29, 2013 **Posts:** 159

Hey Wallace you're right . I apologize.

It was EK22 who said that (the quote in your comment threw me off.. :cool

)

Wallace wrote:

otherwhirl wrote:

Don't ask me what I did special , as I haven't a clue. All I did was follow the basic steps as taught to me by Wallace (what's up Wallace :cool

) who by the way was among those to comment that it was not possible.

Anyways guys, any thoughts?

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

It wasn't me that said "it was not possible"... See below

Wallace wrote:

ek22 wrote:

Because bump map doesn't work on black. At all. Not even a little bit.

They will work on dark shades of gray.

This text image below was created using the "Bump Map" filter. The text started out as Black, then I added some brightness only of about +25 using "Brightness and Contrast" filter, to making it a dark shade of gray.
[ Image ]
Then by playing with "Levels" I was able to darken it a bit more.

Here are the settings I used for the bump map filter. Notice that "Invert Bumpmap" is also checked.
[ Image ]
Once the bump mapping was done, I did a slight "selective blur" and also a slight "gaussian blur" to the text.

One other thing I did was use the "Chisel" script to create somewhat of the same effect.
The "chisel" script was used on this image below. The color of the text was not changes, I left it "Black"(#000000).
[ Image ]

otherwhirl · **Joined:** Dec 29, 2013 **Posts:** 159

One thing I totally LERRVVV about this forum is it's ACTIVE :mrgreen:

So it seems the whole gang's come out to comment about this dang on bump map/black dark gray discussion. :clap

Now, obviously my eyes ain't 'all that' neither if the color I was able to bump map you guys are unanimously calling it 'dark gray'. (Looks black to me... however it may in fact be dark gray technically)

Weird though, as it's the EXACT same 'black' that i've been using and is in my color settings/favorites.

otherwhirl · **Joined:** Dec 29, 2013 **Posts:** 159

Hey Molly I used both together to create the final effect of "photo reality" and "texture".

The image without both the displacement and bump mapping looks significantly flatter.

molly wrote:

It will bump but black on black will not show so It is really pointless to use the black. As Erisian said, displacement is a different thing.

Wallace · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:43 pm **(#15)**

otherwhirl wrote:

One thing I totally LERRVVV about this forum is it's ACTIVE :mrgreen:

So it seems the whole gang's come out to comment about this dang on bump map/black dark gray discussion. :clap

Now, obviously my eyes ain't 'all that' neither if the color I was able to bump map you guys are unanimously calling it 'dark gray'. (Looks black to me... however it may in fact be dark gray technically)

Weird though, as it's the EXACT same 'black' that i've been using and is in my color settings/favorites.

The color #000000 (hexadecimal) known by the name (Black), is composed of 0% red 0% green and 0% blue (RGB).

As you can see form this image below. All these colors do look black, but only one is "pure black" ie. #000000...

ek22 · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 7:59 pm **(#16)**

Wallace saves me with the greyscale. I was just about to jump in here with the hex for black and checking whether it's true black or not, yada yada. The fact still remains that you cannot bump map true black (HEX 000000). If you bump any of the blackish grays, ONLY the lighter highlights will be apparent. The shadows still won't show because your eye simply can't tell the difference. As was already demonstrated by Eris and the blind gimpers crew up top. If you ever find yourself in a bind and NEED to bump (highlight) A black shape, I recommend what I've recommended before. Duplicate the black shape layer, lock the alpha channel, fill the shape with medium grey (HEX 808080) and bump that. It will actually be bumpable (bumpable is a word now because I said so.) Once you have this bumped grey shape you go to layer mode, grain merge and merge it down, voila, highlights bumped onto black. As far as I can tell, this is the only way to bump true black.

Wallace · **Posted:** Wed Jan 29, 2014 8:33 pm **(#17)**

ek22 wrote:

Wallace saves me with the greyscale. I was just about to jump in here with the hex for black and checking whether it's true black or not, yada yada. The fact still remains that you cannot bump map true black (HEX 000000). If you bump any of the blackish grays, ONLY the lighter highlights will be apparent. The shadows still won't show because your eye simply can't tell the difference. As was already demonstrated by Eris and the blind gimpers crew up top. If you ever find yourself in a bind and NEED to bump (highlight) A black shape, I recommend what I've recommended before. Duplicate the black shape layer, lock the alpha channel, fill the shape with medium grey (HEX 808080) and bump that. It will actually be bumpable (bumpable is a word now because I said so.) Once you have this bumped grey shape you go to layer mode, grain merge and merge it down, voila, highlights bumped onto black. As far as I can tell, this is the only way to bump true black.

Yes I certainly do agree, and I've also added the word "bumpable" to my dictionary. :hehe

otherwhirl · **Joined:** Dec 29, 2013 **Posts:** 159

@ Wallace & EK22

Well...
This has certainly been a mouthful of bumpable hexables yada yada LOL..

Honestly, if i can just figure out what it is I did (which was SUPER SIMPLE) to achieve the look (which is what it all comes down to at the end of the day...) then i'll be fine.

So long as the image looks black when it should that's all that matters. If you look at the image I uploaded that's what I mean.

Thanks again guys!

ek22 · **Posted:** Thu Jan 30, 2014 1:42 am **(#19)**

*brofist bump*