can't control Bump/spec maps,basic mistake?

Bronco

hey guys

Im pushing to get up there with my fellow great polycounters of the next gen type...but naturally ive hit a brickwall at the bottom run of the ladder and am finding it hard to progress.

My problem is none other than bump and spec maps...Im having a really hard time controlling the intensity of them.

I make the diffuse map..in this case a gritty,rusty enviroment prop object for a gritty scene. I then put a 50% grey over the top and increase decrease the whiteness and darkness of areas as relevent.
I then put the diffuse map in a max material editor slot,spec in the spec slot and bump in the bump slot..whack them all upto 100% and boom...that bump is about what I want (in this case) but the spec is so shiny its almost blinding...yet if I delete that white line down the middle to almost nothing it makes hardly any difference to what I render out in the max viewport....Heres the results



As you can see the spec is far to intense but if I toned that spec down some it would make hardly any difference in the viewport or render.

I have the same problems with bump maps on some of the other objects im doing in this project.

Am i making a simple schoolboy error or is there a certain lighting set-up I need to get the true effects of bump and spec maps?

Thanks for your time as ever guys.

John

Eric Chadwick

Max's default material divides specular into 3 different channels... strength vs. width vs. color. You might try instead the D3D viewport shaders, not the renderer, since it will be more accurate for a game-like look.

Also I find it helps to remove all other ingredients, just focus on a gray or white plain surface with the spec map on it, get that looking col then build upwards with bump,diffuse,etc.