heightmap for multiple items

Support Materials and Textures
1

Hi folks,

I was able to render a heightmap for one object.
Unfortunately, I have multiple objects in my scene. This runs me into these problems:

  • The gradient goes from RGB(0, 0, 0) to RGB(255, 255, 255) for each object, not the group of objects. Therefore the pawn would be as tall as the king.
  • The fallen pawn’s material does orientate on the objects coordinate system but obviously I want it to orientate on the world’s coordinate system.

chess-heightmap.jpg512×512 15.2 KB

I am a programmer and not an artist. So, maybe there is an obvious solution I do not see. But I haven’t found one searching on Google…

Any ideas?

2

Without knowing your setup it is hard to guide you. Please post some pictures, so we can see what you are doing :slight_smile:

3

I followed the instructions of this tutorial, except that I applied the material to every single chess piece in the scene.

en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Blender_3D:_Noob_to_Pro/Landscape_Modeling_III:_Exporting_as_a_Heightmap

EDIT: I had to fragment the URL because I’m not allowed to post a single link here. Don’t know why… Sorry for that.

EDIT2: Some ideas. Is something like this possible?
a) After grouping the chess pieces, can I assign one single material to the whole group?
b) Can I somehow join the objects to one single object (and then apply my material)?

4

I figured out a way how to render a correct heightmap with multiple objects.
You have to remove any linked material on every object. Then join the objects by selecting and hitting CTRL+J. Now you can assign one material to the joined objects like in the tutorial mentioned before.

The result:

chess-heightmap-correct.jpg512×512 7.3 KB

Any better workflows are welcome!

EDIT: Oh, and I had to convert the object’s types to “Mesh (Delete Original)” before joining. I don’t know why, but it works.