Sculpting with UVs and displacements.

Atom · May 1, 2018, 7:15am

I started messing around with creating my own displacement maps and companion AO map. I have included them both in the ZIP file. This is my first serious attempt and I hope to make a few more.

The BLEND file I used to create these maps I pulled down from post #863 from this thread. I used that as a starting place and modified it by adding in squashed thin cc0 shipyard quad based models from the multiple offerings.

With the output from Manuel Bastioni being all quads I just could not resist giving this technique a try on a human model.

shipyard_displace_and_AO_maps.zip (5.36 MB)

Craig_Jones · April 26, 2018, 9:44am

Very cool application, Atom, that looks like a serious cyborg threat!

DERBENDER · May 1, 2018, 7:16am

Thats what I tried too, when it came out.
Here are some of mine, over a year old now.

Good to see ya back, Atom,can you catchup with the latest developments?

Atom · May 1, 2018, 7:16am

I have tweaked the displace texture a bit to allow a more fuller range between 0 and 1.I still can’t break the 3x3 sub division memory barrier, however. When I try that Blender 2.78c crashes.

Shown here is the 2x3 Manuel Bastioni mesh.

Here is the new AO.

Atom · May 1, 2018, 7:23am

In this image I have weight painted the model. I reduced the weight in the lips and eye socket area considerably.

Sir_Richfield · April 26, 2018, 9:54am

While we’re at it…
Two years ago, according to Imgur.

Atom · May 4, 2018, 1:08am

I put together another 4K matched image set for displacement. This one is more column and pipes based. Minimum curved angles and no diagonals are present in the maps.

Attachments

shipyard_04_displace_and_AO_maps.zip (5.37 MB)

Atom · May 4, 2018, 1:08am

I put together another 4K matched image set for displacement.

Here is the map in use applied to several objects that make up the Phaser.

Attachments

shipyard_05_displace_and_AO_maps.zip (9.53 MB)

Atom · May 4, 2018, 1:08am

And the classic sphere using the new map.

Atom · May 4, 2018, 1:09am

I applied the latest map to the Stanford Bunny posted at this link.

Atom · May 4, 2018, 1:10am

Here is another 4K matched image set for displacement that is more pipe based.

Here is the rabbit using this pipes based displacement map.

Attachments

shipyard_06_displace_and_AO_maps.zip (12.4 MB)

YAFU · May 2, 2018, 12:17am

@Atom, you had been a little absent in the forum lately, right? If I remember correctly, you had shared nice stuff with the community before, thanks for that. And thanks for these new displacement maps.

A question guys, do you still use the old method with Displace modifier for this? How does this work with Cycles Microdisplacement?

Atom · May 2, 2018, 12:17am

I still use the original method leveraging the displacement modifier. Mainly because I typically export the result as a mesh for further processing in other packages.

Atom · May 4, 2018, 1:11am

Here is today’s displacement doodle. This one is using the shipyard_05 displacement set.

And a revision with a little more attention to UV layout.

Atom · May 4, 2018, 1:11am

I created a variation on the 4-color by height concept. In this material there are 4 shaders by height. Use the Greater Than Nodes to dial in color areas based upon the displacement map height you happen to be using. I also added a psuedo switch to a few shaders so you can quickly switch from diffuse to glass, emission or glossy.

Rendered result.

mverta · May 2, 2018, 12:18am

Lord have mercy is this a cool technique. Anybody know how to get Maya or Modo to set-up UV’s the correct way for this?!

YAFU · May 4, 2018, 1:14am

Oh I understand.

Here I have tried the new Displacement node available in 2.79 master/buildbot with Bunny and map from message #1592:
https://docs.blender.org/manual/en/dev/render/cycles/materials/displacement.html

This version with a bit of Random Walk SSS:

I have used three levels of subdivision in Subsurf modifier, higher value fills my 15GB RAM and blocks my PC (slow disk for swap memory). I am using displacement node and Bump node (I do not even know if I am using the nodes correctly :o)

Atom · May 2, 2018, 12:20am

Looks good. I like the SSS version a lot. I do run into physical memory limitations using the modifier version sometimes.

Sir_Richfield · May 4, 2018, 1:34am

In general microdisplacement is great and is the better method to use with Atom’s textures, as they still have a few objects that don’t work good with the “old” method.
(They’re great, though, and I’m happy someone else is still out there making those. )
However, the kind of usage michalis had in mind has issues with microdisplacement, as it can’t “stitch” the object together at places where the UV-Map isn’t connected.
I don’t have an example ready, sorry. But it’s easy to test.

What works great, though, is to combine both methods:

Lazy object and almost no “loops”, I know. Sorry.

PaintGuy · May 19, 2018, 4:01pm

Hi, maybe someone can help me… I want to create a cool looking realistic canyon in blender. I want to paint my own displacement map so it has a unique terrain.

So I painted my own displ. map 3000 x 3000 px and saved as .png (see above). I subdivided the plane 12x. I unwrapped plane and I did micro-poly node setup and settings in Blender 2.78 for micro-poly displacement as per a tutorial.

Problem: When I apply the displacement map to the plane it looks inferior. Anyone have ideas what I am doing wrong? Is the disp. map too small? Do I need the map to be larger like 5000x5000?