Bump maps, normal maps, heightmaps, etc...

[Piflik]

OK. Short answer:

Bump Map: A black and white Map that contains height information, but it is just a shading trick. No real alteration to the geometry. Often used for very fine detail (like skin pores) or in games.

Normal Map: Similar to Bump Map, but more powerful. Instead of only height information it has two separate 'Channels' for Up/Down and Left/Right, that say in what direction which part of the face is looking, relative to the Facenormal (hence the name Normal Map). It also fakes the appearance by shading, so the illusion is destroyed when looking perpendicular to the Facenormal. Used mainly in games to add high detail to lowpoly models. Not so much in the Film Industry, since it is easily revealed and Polycount is not so much an issue, so in Movies it is often Displacement Maps. If used in Film, it usually takes the role of the Bump Map, adding only fine detail.

Displacement Map: Looks similar to a Bump Map (only B/W height information), but it alters the Geometry. Needs an adequate number of faces to work properly. Many 3D Packages can subdivide the Mesh automatically during rendering, but for games you'd really need the high poly-density, so it is not used in the Games Industry (since everything you can make via Displacement Map you can do by modeling without increasing the Polycount...).

For more and more detailed information ask Wikipedia or omniscient Google. ;)

[amade]

As already mentioned I've been through google, wiki and other sources and I've got a pretty decent understanding of what type does what. That's not what I'm looking for. I'm looking for a clarification of the terms used.

I found in a thread a few days older where people discussed the differences between diffuse and colour maps, some say they were the same while some say they're not. Bump mapping is also one of those vague subjects because some people refer to normal maps and heightmaps as bump maps while others say bump mapping is a type of mapping by itself and not a general category.

[Piflik]

They are all separate types of Maps, but with similarities:

Bump Maps and Displacement (or Height) Maps both just have height information in B/W, but the way that information is applied to the rendering is different (shading trick vs. real geometry).

Bump Maps and Normal Maps both use a similar technique to apply the information (via a shading trick), but contain different types of information (height vs. direction). Normal Maps are sometimes referred to as a subtype of Bump Maps, then called Normal Bump.

(Color and Diffuse are in fact not the same...but some programs combine them into one, most notably 3ds Max. ;))

[sundialsvc4]

Terminology, among humans, is always to a degree ambiguous.

[rd1010]

Piflik's answer is exactly correct so if someone is using the term differently chances are they don't know what they are talking about.

[sundialsvc4]

Piflik's answer is exactly correct so if someone is using the term differently chances are they don't know what they are talking about.
Dunno. When not splitting hairs on a technical point, people can and do "pick up not-exactly the right word, and use it anyway." So you might encounter a book or an article or a posting that uses not-quite the right phrase. Yes, there is a precise technical meaning for each. Yet sometimes the author is just trying to convey the idea of, e.g. "you can give the appearance of texture on something by doing this nifty digital-only trick that has no corollary in the real world." (Which can be mind-blowing, in and of itself, when you first encounter it as a n00b.) Articles at a higher level would be much more exact.

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