[Steven Houtzager]

I have a plastic material with a bump map set to 6. It looks pretty good at the edges, however I would like for it to show up at the flat middle areas. There are 2 emitter planes lighting up the scene and you can kind of see the 2 planes reflected in the teapots.

Is there a lighting trick?

http://www.intuitionusa.com/1/pots.png

[rusteberg]

it's there..... combination of light and material

[itsallgoode9]

yeah, like rusteberg said, it looks like your combination of materials and lighting is making the texture disappear in that area. The lighting you have setup is kinda coming from two different sides, which looks nice in your render, but what is happening is that the two sides of lighting is not letting any shadows show up on your bump map, in the areas that are fully exposed to both lights. It is showing up in the bottom because the curvature of the teapot is sorta blocking out the light from certain angles, turning it in to a more directional light rather than being so diffused.

I'm looking at the painted wall beside my desk and seeing a good example of this right now. The sun is setting and coming in the window at an angle, so the areas where the sun is hitting the wall directly, the bumps created by the paint are showing up very strongly. The areas in the room where the walls are only receiving 100% bounced like (very diffused, and non direct light) you can barely see the texture.

Hopefully that made sense

[Steven Houtzager]

I hear you humming. I have gotten better results with different lighting. But check this image.

http://zeus.3dtotal.com/getgalleryitem. ... on&id=3909

It has a bump map at all angles on the cloth.

SH

[Bubbaloo]

It's all about the lighting. Place an emitter on both sides of the model for bump throughout. It's ok to have a fill light in front, but if it's too bright, it will wash out the shading of the bump. Best would be to use displacement.