Quote:

...you need 3ds max to do it. You simply paint your texture ...then Render to Texture which bakes the effects into a finished texture.



Texture baking works in many other 3d-modelling / rendering applications. So you dont need Max. You can do it with Cinema4d, Lightwave, XSI or even the free Blender.

But the advantage of a shader with height-, normal- and spec-map is simply the real-time lighting. A texture will look different when light comes from above or comes from below. The little bumps will always get the right lighting. With this in mind it can become more realistic than texture-baked scenarios.

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