I'm well aware that bump maps can't be used in 3D printing, but a couple months ago a user provided a step by step process on how to "burn" the bump map into the geometry so it can be printed. Unfortunatley, I haven't been able to locate this in the forum and was wondering if anyone had any idea how to do it. I predominantly use Sculptris and Hexagon but I am slightly familiar with blender.
In Lightwave 3D there is something called a "displacement map" that can be mapped onto objects like a standard bump map. The result can be exported into the geometry. You have to subdivide (NURB) or have a very high polygon count to make it work. I think there would be something similar in Blender; although I haven't used it in maybe 10 years? Aha: http://wiki.blender.org/index.php/Doc:2.4/Manual/Textures/In fluence/Material/Displacement
Yes. "Displacement map" is the term. 3dMax does it too. Displacement maps are usually black and white, similar to a bump map but they effect the geometry directly rather than just the render like a bump map. The cost is you need to have a suitably dense mesh so the details show up.