Strange Shadow On Sphere

Maya
1

ok....i am just doing a test on a sphere with the fast simple sss shader. everything is working just fine, except when i apply a bump map.

i have it all connected fine...it is a 2d fractal....connected to a 2d utility....connected to the normal camera of the sss.

when i render it out i get a really strange shaded effect on the sphere where it is like a stair step pattern. really blocky and terrible looking.

i have the raytrace rays for my point light set at 24. is this high enough?

my AA in the render options is are min 1, max 3.

seems to really only be a problem with the bump applied.

2

hmm....i bumped up the light radius and that seemed to smooth it out.

was that the problem? what exactly is the light radius doing?

thanks!