Hey did something change with the bump node quite seriously after 4.2 because changing the distance had almost zero effect but changing strength seemed to have the effect that changing distance In the vid did
Hi Sam AAngelAzrael ,
As far as Cycles is concerned, no changes have been made to the Bump Node, from 2.80 to 4.3. (I didn't check before 2.80).
In 4.4 a Filter Width slider has been introduced, but with its default value of 0.1 shouldn't make (much of) a difference.
In 4.5, the default Distance has been changed to (a, in most practical cases more sensible) 0.001.
Now, I don't know about EEVEE. There may or may not have been an adjustment to how the Bump is calculated in EEVEE, to make it more like the Bump in Cycles...Although I am pretty sure, that that wouldn't affect the behavior of the Distance Slider.
Maybe it's just that you were trying to change the Filter Width, instead of the Distance...
As Grady already mentioned, some screenshots might be helpful to see what's going on and what might be causing that.
gradyp so first is fully rendered cycles and below that is in preview I can be happy with this but It's just not changing the same way as in the vid which got me concerned.
I'm also having problems with translucency that the steps on the other thread aren't helping with. Should I make a separate thread for different questions about that stuff?
Hi Sam AAngelAzrael ,
I can see in your screenshot, that you have changed the Filter Width; that is not the same as changing the Distance. That n might be your concern. I'd recommend, that you don't touch the Filter width, just leave it at its default (0.1).
You can ask about theTranslucency in this post, or make a new one, that is up to you.
I notice, however, that you have nothing plugged in in the bottom Colotr Ramp. That can't be right.
I think I changed that looking for a reason why the distance had little effect. Have changed it back and it seems to have no effect. Also plugged the sheen color ramp back in which little effect too on aesthetics. I have no idea why distance isn't changing the model much. 
for reference this is the same thing with bump strength at 1 and distance at 1. a little more detail in the darker parts I guess but nothing massively different in terms of bump intensity
I don't see much of a difference in the Bump either between those last 2 images.
Are you using Cycles or EEVEE? Viewport Denoising?
Can you show use your whole UI (with at least: 3DViewport, Render Settings, Outliner and Node Editor), not just the ant and then a comparison of 2, with only Distance changed?
Yeah, there is some, but not really a ton of difference there.
Maybe the Colors of the Color Ramp are too close together, so the Bump is very subtle anyway?
Denoise might also be 'smoothing away' some of the details.
I'd definitely Apply the Scale, by the way.
Also, with a Strength of 0.2, athe difference between a Distance of 1 and 0.1 will be smaller, than with a Strength of 1.
And it is also possible, that, because the ant is so small, that the difference between a Distance of 1 and 0.1 is relatively small. Maybe a Strength of 1 and a Distance of around 0.001 would be better.
Then there is Lighting, which has a huge impact on Bump.
TLDR: there are many factors that affect how Bump looks, but the Bump Node hasn't changed.
Okay thanks I'll play around with it more and apply the scale thanks
looks like it was a combination of the roughness overpowering the bump as well as the bump distance being too high to see notable difference between those values so yeah bringing the distance down a whole lot makes the change much more obvious
I have to agree with Omar... The ant itself is looking really good. Denoising can affect fine detail, esp if it's already really subtle.
