Texture : My wall is so smooth that the ants can slip down

I am trying to learn some texturing skill but after trying for an hour, my wall is still so smooth. The 1st image is the effect that I wish to achieve and the 2nd image is my smooth wall. Can anyone show me where goes wrong with my setting?


You are trying to apply a bump/normal map? Make sure you checked the “normal” mark in the texture window (influence>geometry>normal) and render (F12) your scene to see the effect.

oh yes…I am trying to apply a bump map. Are you referring to the bump mapping space? I tried using all the space but not working even after rendering.


Ok, just for reference, try this:

open a new file, delete the cube, add a sphere, set it to smooth (object tools panel under shading), add a new material (leave it as is), add a new texture (type clouds), check “normal” and de-check “color”, and render (F12). Don’t do anything else except these steps.

What do you see?

PS: how is your mesh set up and what mapping is applied to the texture of your wall?

Here is the setting & render image. The following is some information which might help:

a) First I model a brick, then use array to create a row of bricks, use duplicate to duplicate a few rows of bricks, joint them to an object
b) Select all the bricks in edit mode, select smart UV project (no mark seam, do nothing), create a new image and save the image (assume save as X).
c) add material/ add texture –> under texture open the image file X, mapping coordination –> UV, uncheck color, check normal = -1
d) Add another texture –> use noise, uncheck color, check normal
e) Select view textured, mode texture paint, under texture select the noise texture.
f) Paint



If you were trying to recreate my post, i see you didn’t check the “normal” mark in the material window. The first one under “influence>geometry”.

As for your specific problem, someone else needs to step in, because i haven’t done texture painting myself.

If you are trying to paint to a procedural Noise texture, it won’t work, Texture Paint only works on Image Texture maps, and your model has to be UV unwrapped to do it as well.

If you want to use the Noise as a base for painting, then:

  1. UV-unwrap your model to a New Image Texture, then save the blank texture.
  2. Set up your procedural Noise, but apply it to the Color channel (probably best using Mix at value 1.0)
  3. Bake this procedural texture to the New Image texture you made in 1), and save it. After successfully baking it, you can disable the procedural texture in the Color channel.
  4. In Edit mode, select All and then in the UV Editor , select the newly baked image. This preps it for viewing and Texture Painting
  5. Load this baked Image of the procedural Noise into the Normal channel of your model’s Material, use the UV Mapping option, and then go into Texture Paint. You should see the baked Noise texture (now an Image) displayed on your model, and you can then paint to it.
  6. Once painting is done, if your graphics card supports it, you should be able to see the bump mapping using the GLSL display mode when you switch back to Object Mode.