Rhino 3D Tip: Bump Map Best Practices for Rhino

Bump maps add convincing surface relief without heavy geometry. Use them to keep models light, viewports responsive, and renders crisp.

• Quick setup in Rhino
  • Open the Materials panel and create or select a material.
  • For a Custom or PBR material, locate the Bump (or Height) channel and load a high-contrast grayscale texture.
  • Start with a modest strength (5–20%) and adjust by eye under good lighting.
  • If the surface looks inverted (valleys appear as peaks), use the Invert option in the bump texture settings.
• When to choose Bump over Displacement
  • Prefer Bump for fine, shallow detail: grains, scratches, pores, and subtle grooves.
  • Reserve Displacement for silhouettes that must break the mesh outline (deep stones, rough masonry, carved edges).
  • Bump is faster to display and render, making it ideal for iteration and real-time reviews.
• Get the scale right
  • Use real-world texture sizes; set texture repeat to match the material’s true scale (e.g., wood grain, concrete formwork).
  • Confirm object mapping: Planar/Box/Cylindrical/UV as appropriate, and avoid stretched patterns.
  • If details look too large or small, adjust texture repeat instead of cranking bump strength.
• Lighting and previews
  • Check results in Rendered or Raytraced view with a directional light or HDRI to reveal relief.
  • Increase viewport texture quality if the bump looks blurry (Options > View > Display Modes).
  • Use a neutral, clean material color to evaluate bump without albedo distractions.
• Normal vs. Bump
  • Bump uses grayscale height for shading; Normal maps store per-pixel surface orientation and often look crisper.
  • Use Normal maps when available; keep Bump for quick height-based effects. Avoid stacking both heavily; pick the dominant one.
• Texture quality tips
  • Use 16-bit height maps for smoother gradients on close-ups; 8-bit is fine for general scenes.
  • Keep textures tileable to avoid seams; test with large surfaces to catch repeats early.
  • Mind color space: treat height/bump maps as data; avoid unwanted contrast shifts from sRGB conversions.
• Performance guidelines
  • Favor 1–4K textures; only go higher for hero shots.
  • Use Bump for the majority of materials; switch to Displacement selectively for silhouette-critical elements.
  • In complex scenes, create low/med/high material variants to swap during look-dev versus final renders.
• Troubleshooting
  • Flat look: increase light grazing angle, verify mapping, and raise bump strength gradually.
  • Crunchy noise: lower strength or smooth the map; check for overly sharp high-frequency details.
  • Seams on polysurfaces: unify mapping or consolidate to UVs where continuity is important.

For renderers like V-Ray and Enscape, the same principles apply—keep bump subtle, scale accurate, and test under realistic lighting. Explore Rhino, V-Ray, and Enscape solutions at NOVEDGE, including Rhino, V‑Ray for Rhino, and Enscape. Their team can help you choose the right toolset and licenses for your workflow.

You can find all the Rhino products on the NOVEDGE web site at this page.