again!

the artifacts dont seem to be because of shadow errors.. even when shafdows are turned off the bump mapping appears to be splitting normals or something similar to cusping edges..

here is the model non bump mapped wiht no shadows

http://home.btconnect.com/symbiont-design/stuff/nobump.jpg [home.btconnect.com]

here it is bump mapped with no shadows

http://home.btconnect.com/symbiont-design/stuff/noshadows.jpg [home.btconnect.com]

and here is my vop net

http://home.btconnect.com/symbiont-design/stuff/vop.jpg [home.btconnect.com]



cheers all..

try using a shadingNormalVop after the bumpMap vop.

Luca

that doesnt seem to malke a difference

you could try using displace along normal instead…

-cpb

What are the uv's like in that area? Are they nice and even. I'm wondering if it's an artifact from the way the map is applied rather than the actual bumping itself. Could you post an image with a grid mapped onto it.
Also try saving your bump map image as a .rat file. This is Houdini's own format for texture maps and is the recommended format, it will give the best results.
Finally try turning off the extrapolate derivatives option.