Bump And Specular Mapping

Now that the modeling and texturing process was effectively finished, the next step was to add bump and specular mapping to the face textures to make it appear much more realistic.
To start with I opened the render map up inside Photoshop, created a new layer underneath the render map layer and filled the image in a mid grey colour. I also copied my render map layer and kept it hidden, just in case the bump mapping went wrong.

Now under Image Adjustments, I chose Desaturate to turn the render map black and white. Then again under Image Adjustments I chose Levels to make the white bits whiter and the dark bits darker.

Then under Filter, Other and select High Pass. This option disregards most of the image and leaves only the highlights and pieces of the shadow that stand out. I set the value to 2.

I saved the image and imported it back into 3ds Max and applied it under the Bump setting in the material browser for the face texture. Next I wanted to create some depth in the texture by adding noise to the bump map material. I did this by blending/mixing the bump map with a noise map. I also changed the mix amount to 68.3, as I found this a good balance between the bump and the noise maps.

Back in Photoshop I added a couple extra details to the bump map to add some subtle details to the map within 3ds Max. 3ds Max picks up the lighter colours within the map as being areas that will rise slightly, and the dark areas are left as background. So with a soft small brush size I used a white colour and painted small lines around the mouth, nose and eye areas where there are creases and lines in the skin, then used the blur tool to soften the lines more.

Now back in 3ds Max I can see where the lines have been raised up slightly to give subtle detail around the eyes, nose and mouth.

The bump map is now finished and I can now begin on the specular map.
Inside Photoshop with the bump map image, I copied the bump layer, renamed it to Specular, then selected Levels from the Image Adjustments selection.
I moved the black arrow about halfway to the right giving the image a dark picture, then dragged the white arrow over about halfway to the left which lightens up the picture. Moving the grey arrow across so it was next to the white arrow gave me the dark picture back whilst still keeping white highlights in the picture.

I created a new layer and selected a white soft brush in a low opacity to paint in highlights on the face and ears.

To finish off the specular map I applied a Gaussian Blur (value set to 10) under the filter options to blur the highlights into a more organic flow which should make the map appear more life like within 3ds Max. I also added a 'Texturizer' filter (scaling set to 79% relief set to 4)on top of the blur to give the highlights a more grainy skin like texture.

In 3ds Max I loaded the specular map into the face material and tweaked the specular and glossiness levels. Below is the finished model, complete with texture, bump and specular mapping.

Now to animate the face.