All posts relating to Maxwell Render 1.x
#269053
I've just recently begun to use displacement in some projects and I'm now
thinking about another upcoming project where I'd want to show a pebble like surface.

Looking for opinions on how far, given a decent grayscale map, can displacement go creating a 3d look of something smooth like river rocks (pebbles)? If it can be done, is there a preferred way of making a grayscale map?

Also, how far can displacement go when intersecting an object -- is it possible for displacement to make an object appear to be embeded in the displacement.

The idea of having to model and randomize lots of pebbles is not the most appealing, so...

Thoughts on the subject much appreciated.

jvm
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By Maximus3D
#269054
You can use displacement for pebble like surfaces with ease, here below is one example i created a while back. It shows what you can do.. but there are other similar examples can you find on the MXM Gallery.

Image

/ Max
User avatar
By oz42
#269056
Max,

Firstly; this is a very, very impressive material.

I remember seeing this when you first did it and it looks like the pebbles actually undercut but obviously this is impossible with a height map. How did you achieve this effect or is it just an optical illusion?
User avatar
By Maximus3D
#269058
Ozzie: Thank you :) yes it looks like some pebbles do slide under others but that's more of an illusion because you cannot do that with standard displacement, you can achieve that effect with Modo's vector displacement feature. However you can still fake a similar look by carefully painting your maps in a way so you shade the parts that will undercut other parts slightly darker, it's difficult to explain like this but think of how roofshingles lay ontop of eachother and a displacementmap for such roofshingles would look like fishscales where one scale fades in under the other and so on..

This is what the dispmap for the pebbles material above looks like, it could use a bit of retouching to improve the look of the pebbles but for a relative quickie it's kinda neat. :)

Image

Btw, a download link to the above pebbles mxm is here for those of you who wanna play with it.
http://maximus3d.net/files/MXM_River_Pebbles.zip

/ Max
User avatar
By oz42
#269094
Max,

thanks for the explanation and thanks (very much!) for the material. I'll have a look inside and see how the magic is done. Cheers.
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By jvanmetre
#269105
Maximus3d-

Thanks for the mxm and your thoughts.

Attached is a quick render of an object with the pebbles...trying to better understand what is happening with the mxm --
been playing around with the settings, and still haven't quite figured it out.

Image
jvm
User avatar
By KurtS
#269109
some hints:
- subdivide the object/surface that is going to be displaced. I guess in this case the rectangles in the mesh should be like 10x10 millimeters to achieve a nice and quick result.
- lower the height, h= 0.6 is at least 3-4 times more than you need in this case.
- don't use a larger surface than neccesary for your renderings.

Why are there a holes in the surface where the cups are?
User avatar
By jvanmetre
#269123
KurtS-

Thanks for the hints.

The opening in the surface -- just curious to see if it makes any difference in how the cup works with a displaced material.

jvm
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By jvanmetre
#269151
Here's an update to the pebbles...

Trying to figure out what might be causing what appear to be striations in the pebbles?

Image
jvm
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By jvanmetre
#269218
Bubbaloo-

Thanks for your point...here's an updated image.

Seem to get a ghosting effect, but overall very pleased.

jvm

Image
Image
User avatar
By Maximus3D
#269219
It could be specular highlights which exist in the material, you can get rid of those with a couple of small adjustments. I only added that to get a certain "wetness" to the pebbles.

/ Max
User avatar
By jvanmetre
#269220
Max-

I see the corresponding pebbles on the displacement map...is it a matter
of isolating the area in the map or making a change at a higher level?

jvm
User avatar
By jvanmetre
#269223
Max-

Thanks...wasn't necessarily going to tile it and now that you mention it, I won't . :)

jvm

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