Displacement - a few questions ...

[Metin_7]

Hi,

I've got a few questions concerning the VRay Displacement modifier.

1: What is the exact difference between 2D and 3D displacement? In other words: in which situations is it best to use which type?

2: How does the 2D displ. Precision spinner work? Is it the amount of map sampling and does increasing the value always increase quality or can it also cause bitmap pixels to become visible because of the precision?

3: What does the Tight Bounds option do?

Thanks very much in advance.

Cheers,

Metin

[Metin_7]

Hey guys, whassup? You all on vacation?

[J_Bug]

I wish I could be a little more helpful but I think this is a job for Vlado or Peter since this information can’t be found in the manual.

1 2D is for bitmaps and 3D is for procedurals. 3D can also work with bitmaps. In the upcoming build I've read that 3D will have something like LOD where distance from camera plays a part in the rendering detail. In this case it would seem that 3D is to be used for everything. Not sure but I think the 2D is just left over from older version of VRay. It may be faster in some cases

2 Your statement sounds as if it makes sense but I'm not exactly positive about the pixel visibility. Sounds like filtering would come into play here.

3 Apears to be some higher level of filtering

--Jon

[J_Bug]

Hey, Just found this from a link on another thread...

http://www.seraph3d.com/tutorials.htm

Seraph has two tutorials on Displacement

--Jon

[Metin_7]

Thanks for your replies Jon.

Although the tutorials you mentioned are very interesting, they don't deal with the functions of the VRay Displacement modifier and don't contain any explanation that would answer my specific questions about the modifier. I guess Vlado himself or a hardboiled VRay expert like Torgeir is needed here to help me out.

Cheerio,

M7

[J_Bug]

Looks like I may be your only hope :P

I'm having problems with displacement myself now so any word on this topic to clarify would help.

--Jon

[Metin_7]

A progressive online manual would be a very useful thing. If we can download each VRay update, why isn't the manual updated with the few new functions that are added with each VRay update? Shouldn't be too much work and it sure helps VRay users out of their lack of knowledge concerning new functions. It would also cause a lot of repeatedly asked questions to disappear from this forum. Even a frequently updated comprehensive online VRay f.a.q. would already help a lot.

Just my 2 cents.

Cheers,

Metin

[Metin_7]

Maybe realizing an ever-growing VRay knowledge base would be a nice thing for VRay.info, Torgeir? Maybe even the official VRay manual itself could be shaped over there, complete with clarifying screenshots. The VRay developers and veteran users from this community could then add their knowledge about certain functions using some kind of entry form.

Cheers,

Metin

[Psy]

one reason is, is that it is truly a horrible idea to have developers write manuals.

they code well, but explaining how their code works to someone with no understanding is like teaching someone another language. it can be done, but is extremely hard and frustrating.