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FEBRUARY 24, 2004 Cinema 4D Displacement Mapping
In Depth: Displacement Mapping First, let's take a quick look at the Material Attributes. The manager has changed a bit since the upgrade, but if you're in the new version 8, you can still access the old palette by double clicking the material icon.[an error occurred while processing this directive]   The last little bit in the menu is "Displacement." If you read my first tutorial, you may have caught a glimpse of C4D while I was talking about AE displacement. Basically, the difference between "Bump" and "Displacement" boils down to how the geometry is handled. Both formulas are based on a interpretation of luminance values in a height map (primarily, but not necessarily, grayscale). Bump Map When applying a texture containing a bump map, the render calculates the shadows that might be cast according to the pixel value in the height map. Bump mapping, while fast to render, has several limitations, including its perceivable effect (camera angle).   Displacement Map A Displacement map, on the other hand, uses the height map to actually move the points of the polygons in your model. For this reason, it helps to have a pretty dense mesh. Throwing a HyperNURBS object in for good measure is a way to ensure a smooth displacement. With the same height map, a displacement render will produce a better looking image. In addition to the strength the effect has on the material, under displacement's attributes, you have the ability to control the height, or distance that the points will be moved.  Although both images are rendered with the exact same height map and model, you can see how much better the displacement texture worked out. Prev 1 2 3 4 Next Related sites: • Animation Artist • AV Video • Creative Mac • Digital Animators • Digital Media Designer • Digital Post Production • Digital Producer • Film and Video Magazine • The WWUG Related forums: [an error occurred while processing this directive] 
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