Hi all,
I’m trying to do something that seems like it should be simple - and I’ll confess that I’m very new to Blender. I’m trying to use color maps and bump maps of textures to create overhead views of backgrounds. I have a set of color maps, each with a corresponding bump maps (both are jpegs), that are overhead views of surfaces (e.g., grass), and I want to combine the two maps to create an overhead view of the lawn with texture added from the bump map. It seems like it should be as simple as adding the color map to a flat surface as one layer, adding the bump map as a second layer, and rendering the image (which I’ll use in Photoshop as a background for 2-d images). I don’t want to waste folks’ time with something that seems like it should be simple, but I’m a bit lost here, and any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.
First of all, realistic grass is not “simple” if that is what you are trying to achieve so don’t feel bad for asking. A simple bump map and color map will work great…from 10,000 feet up. Here is a nice tutorial on realistic grass http://www.blenderguru.com/the-secret-to-creating-realistic-grass/
I have achieved decent grass in photoshop actually try googling that too.
Welcome to the forums, adn Happy Blending! 
Thanks for the link and quick reply. I was thinking it would be simple because I have a collection of hi-res textures from Dosch Design (all overhead views of the ground - grass, dirt, sidewalks, etc.) and I was hoping I could just create a plane and then load the color map and bump map onto it to create my backgrounds. I think that part of my question is about basic operations in Blender that I need to spend more time learning. Thanks again.