[TUTORIAL] The right ways to do Displacements

[Daedalus]

Hi everyone,

I just thought I'd show you all a short movie I created a while back to help my friends with their displacements (previously, they had been creating massively large maps because they didn't create them properly.)

http://files.filefront.com/the+right+wayavi/;8953522;/fileinfo.html

The first way is the correct way to make a displacement; the second way is the way people should avoid, unless you really need to be able to see the displacement from all sides.
If you need to see multiple sides, simply use Ctrl+Select to select the sides you need, THEN click Create.

If you find it helpful, please let me know!

Also, if anyone needs some tips on any aspect of mapping, let me know!

[drpepper]

cool post.
from the video i gathered that displacements dont need really massive brushes and can be done with the thinest possible setting. what about cliffs and walls (tf2 has a lot of cliffs)?

[Daedalus]

Cliffs will generally have 2 sides or so, depending on which part of the cliff you're working on.

If you want to do a wall, just select the side, and make a displacement out of that. Try to plan ahead and work out what side of the displacement will be viewable, and use ctrl+click to select the sides that need to be made into a displacement.

One thing to remember with displacements, is that they'll have a set number of triangles, regardless of their physical size. You can raise or lower the triangle amount via the 'Power of' option when creating a displacement, but you have a very limited range.

If you're wishing to make a large displacement, say 1024x1024, to maintain a realistic looking surface it's best to use 4 lots of 512x512 displacements, and select them all using ctrl+click before painting the geometry. If you just create a large 1024x1024 single brush for your displacement, the triangles become huge and can look pretty unnatural.

[Dox]

Good info, thanks. I was using alot of triangle brushes and and vertex editing them all individually :)

[Shazam0527]

Ok, umm.. I didn't understand what I was looking at in the movie.. it was so small, no sound, and too fast..

[Swift]

It is actually not a tutorial. It's more of a tip. Deadalus had some friends who where creating displacements out all of 6 faces of a brush, while selecting just one face to create into a displacement was the way they should of gone.

There are many things you can do with displacements; many ways to propperly edit/manipulate/shape them. It would ofcourse be fantastic if someone would capture a movie of all he knows about how he 'works' displacements. Show us some advanced rockformations. Some kick-ass stuff! Defenatly looking forward to that.

Btw, don't shoot the pianist for posting this topic.

[Snipergen]

displacements are still a bitch to sew but well its logic, vertices and edges, thats how it works :(

[drpepper]

displacements are still a bitch to sew but well its logic, vertices and edges, thats how it works :(
QFT........