First, before I get the standard, check WIKI, AU, or use the forum search, realize that for the last five hours, that is what I have been doing.
Question 1: I followed parallax mapping from Aum53 and received great effect (it looks amazing). But this doesn’t seem to be anything different than baking shadows into an UV before rendering (which would be better for speed). Does the shader only light the embossed sides in one or two directions, or should the shading on the emboss change along with regards to the positioning of dynamic lights (something that didn't happen in my tests. When I moved the light, bumps always stayed shaded the same).
Question 2: What I'm looking for is: parallax mapping which receives four maps- color, normal, bump, specular- that react dynamically to light. In other words, if my player holds a flash light and shines it at a rendered model all the bumps in the normal map are shaded correctly (aka Doom 3). I've reviewed sphere (very amazing stuff!), and think it will do this, but I'm not completely sure. If anyone knows, please let me know. I'd really like to do this stuff without spending more money though.
Question 3: Related to sphere: When going to the purchasing screen, it is a little confusing. What do I get when I buy it? Is it a download, boxed, or is it just the right to implement the features of the demo that I already downloaded.
Sorry for such a long post, but this is very important to how I proceed with my project. At my "real" job I create UVs with multiple skins and channels and the nifty software we have does the rest. Unfortunately, I can't use these methods at home.
Side note: I really think there needs to be a better way of cataloging shader related material on this site, as this is the future of gaming, and I think there many like me who feel in the dark. After searching for much of the last week, I didn't find anything useful (most was outdated), except the sphere engine which I must pay for.
