Bump/Normal/other types of mapping

[Brian Beuken]

While the topic of shadow mapping is on the board, it is maybe a good idea to keep in mind that though the OpenGLES2 spec does not give us a lot of different buffer types, it does give us the ability to use multiple versions of texture samplers, at least 8 according to the spec.

So its quite possible, and often very desirable to use these in detail methods such as bump mapping. Here's a great explanation of the principles here (though the method is slightly different on OpenGLES2.0)

In fact passing large amounts of data of any kind, is nearly always going to have to be done via textures for static data, and frame buffers for more dynamic forms of data.
The ability to use a texture as a large store of info can make for some very exciting features.

The downside is most of these results are best seen in the Fragment shaders which for the majority of SBC's will cause a big drop in real time peformance. But some of the higher end systems can handle it, and FPS speed is not a priority for some sections of your work.

Feel free to post examples of your efforts here