Have you tried using the Pointiness output from the Geometry node?
From the manual:
An approximation of the curvature of the mesh per vertex. Lighter values indicate convex angles, darker values indicate concave angles.
It being approximated per vertex makes the result depend on the mesh density but I guess the idea of ‘curvature’ is a little weird for a mesh anyway.
Putting the Pointiness value through a color ramp does give you something that at least looks similar to a curvature display, after you play a little bit with the range. Depending on what you wanna use it for it might be enough.
Yeah, unfortunately pointiness is Cycles only at the moment.
Alternatively I found that the Mesh Analysis > Sharp Overlay can give you a similar result in edit mode. Or is that the thing you already mentioned trying?
I dont think this is in terms of surface curvature what I am looking for.
The zebra system is good to check if two surfaces flow G0 G1 G2 into each other.
The curvature map is easier to use when looking for noise deformations on a surface.
Obviously the best are surface curvature combs
This will serve well using also the shader based evaluation for checking the surfaces next semester when my students starts using sub-d in Blender for modeling.
I love that one ! it makes quick poly mesh based concept modeling in blender with sub-d and booleans very useful when rendering the concepts before doing a clean cad in Fusion.