Phoenix ocean shader as normal map

[stevesideas]

I have a scene where the camera starts close to the water surface and finally pulls up high above the same surface. I need the displacement of the ocean shader when close up but not when far away. Is there a way to convert the ocean shader displacement to a normal map ?

I saw this as more of a vray/shader issue than phoenix.

[vlado]

If you are using V-Ray's displacement, it will automatically reduce the tessellation of the surface as you get away from it, and will derive a normal map from the displacement to use for the normals.

Best regards,
Vlado

[duke2]

If you want to force it, set the displacement subdivision to something larger than your frame (if it's view dependent) and see the normal map in action.

[stevesideas]

Revisiting this thread because I need to establish if there is a way to use the phoenixoceantex as a normal map only. Basically no vraydispalcement modifier at all but just using vraynormalmap and phoenixoceantex in the slot. I am getting some results but I think it doesn't produce correct normals. Is there a way to getting the correct colour values from the phoenixocean shader?

[stevesideas]

I tried separating the colour values from the phoenixoceantex into monochrome RGB values which were then used as masks for red, green and yellow in relation to normal map colours. I kind of don't know exactly what I'm doing but I have a rough idea and it seems to have conformed the colour output of the phoenixoceantex into a more usable format for the vraynormal shader to understand.