Unable to Adjust Bump Maps in Material Editor

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  • After upgrading to the latest version of Enscape (2.5) I am now unable to adjust my bump maps in the Enscape Material Editor. There used to be a slider that would let me adjust the sensitivity of the bump but as soon as I apply a normal map the slider disappears and the software applies what I'm assuming is a standard value. As I'm sure you understand this is creating some issues with me producing architectural renderings.

    I'm currently running SketchUp Pro 2018.

  • Forgive me if I'm wrong, but I was under the impression that the normal map defined the actual height of the bump, so the height slider wasn't necessary. (If you want the height to be adjustable, you put the normal into the bump texture rather than use it as a normal.)


    I think that Enscape recognises "normal" images if they are named correctly in the same location as the albedo image.

    • Official Post

    Purebeaux  Gadget is absolutely correct - the height scale only works for bump maps. It is used to interpet the given bump map when translating it into a normalmap. When a normal map is provided the renderer simply uses it as it is.

  • I was able to adjust the bump sensitivity in previous versions of Enscape using normal maps from Poliigon which is my primary PBR texture source.


    So, now I need to use the Displacement map instead of the Normal?

    Clemens Musterle I totally agree with Purebeaux here, I too have been experiencing problems with the naming and the bump slider disappearing. Even though normal map and bump map exists in most of rendering software there is almost always a slider to adjust it anyway. I get that the naming affects this, but renaming my whole gallery (because poliigon is one of a dozen that uses normal to label its normal map) would be a huge pain.


    So why not jut adding a check box or just letting the slider anyway? It's weird changing something that was possible to do to not being able anymore. I see either I manually change the name, or I manually modify the map itself in photoshop... anyway, its time consuming for me.


    Also, the normal map is a suggested height projection, in the sense that sometimes I like to accentuate my wood floor lines.. and it now is more or less possible. It gives less control over our materials, thats what I think.

    • Official Post

    I was able to adjust the bump sensitivity in previous versions of Enscape using normal maps from Poliigon which is my primary PBR texture source.


    So, now I need to use the Displacement map instead of the Normal?


    In previous versions there was no automatic normalmap detection, so it's not unlikely that you might have added that normalmap, but essentially it only used the greyscale information of the texture and interpeted it as a bumpmap.

    I totally agree with Purebeaux here, I too have been experiencing problems with the naming and the bump slider disappearing. Even though normal map and bump map exists in most of rendering software there is almost always a slider to adjust it anyway.

    The bump height scale slider only works for bump maps - if a normalmap is detected it is therefore hidden. We could theoretically add something similar like a "normal intensity" slider as well, as a new feature to basically post process the normal map directly in Enscape.

  • The bump height scale slider only works for bump maps - if a normalmap is detected it is therefore hidden. We could theoretically add something similar like a "normal intensity" slider as well, as a new feature to basically post process the normal map directly in Enscape.

    Why not just change the function of the height scale slider to a "normal intensity" slider? It may be a different implication, but the visual result is the same to the end user.

    (And as per an existing request: if the Brightness of the bump image was changed to Contrast it would lessen the need for a normal too ;) )

  • Most PBR texture websites use normal maps.

    The previous sensitivity slider worked quite well when using normal maps. I could adjust materials to achieve the overall look I wanted (sometimes less bump sometimes more). Removing the ability to adjust this just doesn't make much sense to me.

    Based on your replies it appears that perhaps the slider had a placebo effect and wasn't actually doing much when using normal maps? I can assure you it was.

    Other than this criticism I've really enjoyed using Enscape and the improvements you've made (especially the asset library and what's to come for it).

  • I Think that Clemens is right, before the normal map was interpreted as a basic bump map, and "turned" it into greyscale in order to make it work... that means you was not adjusting the normal map, but only the greyscale version of it :) in other words, you were missing all the great stuff that makes a normal map better than a bump map :)


    the way normal maps works is quite different from bump maps, and they are not meant to be adjusted, as all the height information is stored in the very specific RGB colors of the texture... In a normal map not only height is stored, but also the direction of each pixel, which is why they are quite superior to bump maps :)


    So having a slider for adjusting normal maps was very misleading :)

  • In previous versions there was no automatic normalmap detection, so it's not unlikely that you might have added that normalmap, but essentially it only used the greyscale information of the texture and interpeted it as a bumpmap.

    The bump height scale slider only works for bump maps - if a normalmap is detected it is therefore hidden. We could theoretically add something similar like a "normal intensity" slider as well, as a new feature to basically post process the normal map directly in Enscape.

    Clemens Musterle Please add Normal Intensity property to Enscape. I am a Revit user thus there is only Bump map slider. But Enscape should be able to automatically turn the bump intensity slider into Normal intensity when being detected,


    When you produce a normal map from Substance Designer, there is always a guess work due to lack of normal adjustment in Enscape. I have to export and re-export from Substance to get it right.

    • Official Post

    I Think that Clemens is right, before the normal map was interpreted as a basic bump map, and "turned" it into greyscale in order to make it work... that means you was not adjusting the normal map, but only the greyscale version of it :) in other words, you were missing all the great stuff that makes a normal map better than a bump map :)

    Yes, this is correct. If you previously used a normal map in the bump map slot it was simply not interpreted as a normal map, but as a (brightness based) bump/height map. The result might still give a similar impression, but it's definitely not working as the normalmap was intended.

    So we did not remove a feature, but improved the interface, to actually support selecting normalmaps (without naming based workarounds).



    the way normal maps works is quite different from bump maps, and they are not meant to be adjusted, as all the height information is stored in the very specific RGB colors of the texture... In a normal map not only height is stored, but also the direction of each pixel, which is why they are quite superior to bump maps


    So having a slider for adjusting normal maps was very misleading

    While this is true, you can in fact do something similar to an "intensity" post processing on a normal map, which could make material fine tuning easier (you wouldn't have to rexport your normal map several times just for intensity tweaks). ;)

  • Not being able to adjust bump sensitivity for downloaded PBR textures I have invested in, financially, that only include normal maps will become troublesome.

    There needs to be a way to adjust this without having to do timely workarounds negating the simplicity of what makes Enscape so appealing.


    I've used other rendering engines before (Thea Render for example which is very similar to Vray) that allows normal map sensitivity adjustment. I can't be the only one that sees this as a negative.

    • Official Post

    Gadget  Herbo  Purebeaux  joeykeys  benjaminriendeau


    You guys might be interested in testing our latest Enscape 2.8 Preview 5:
    Releasenotes: Current Version 2.7.x + Preview Version 2.8


    This version now includes a dedicated normal intensity slider, that correctly rescales existing normal maps between 1% and 200% :) So no need to re-export normal maps for visual tweaks anymore or use 3rd party software to do so. Please let us know what you think about the results!